Mid(ish)term Research Project
Literacy Ethnography in the Classroom
For your midterm, you will write up findings from data collected during you’re the first half of your field experience. Your focus will be on a specific research question related to the Discourses, social languages, genres, and/or cultural models (Gee, 2001, pp. 721) that you notice among students, teachers, and/or curriculum.
There are 3 PHASES to this assignment, as described below:
PHASE I: Designing a Research Protocol
Rough Draft Due October 15 (printed, in-class)
Final Draft Due October 18 (electronically)
Recommended length: 2-4 pages
Description: Early on in the semester, you will map out a research protocol that will help you focus your data collection throughout your field experience. Your research protocol will include 1) a well-designed research question with a brief justification for why it’s important to you and how it’s helpful for teaching (1/2 page), 2) a description of your research site and your focal participants (de-identified) (1-2 pages), 3) a description of the amount and types of data you hope to collect (e.g., field notes from # of visits, # of interviews with # of participants, and type and # of classroom artifacts etc.) (1 page).
For best results, base your research protocol on the methods sections in Kirkland & Jackson’s (2009) and Skerrett’s (2014) research articles.
PHASE II: Constructing Your Data Record
Due October 29: A list of contents in your data record (how many pages of notes, interview transcripts or notes, assessment artifacts etc.), an excerpt of most interesting artifact(s), and (if necessary) a schedule for the remainder of data collection process. Data records will easily exceed ten pages. The more data you collect the more better.
Due October 31: Hypothesis and Data KWL (Wolsey & Lapp, p. 196).
Throughout this phase, you will engage in constructing your data record, using your research protocol as a guide. Although you may modify and adjust your research protocol, it’s important to do so only if you can provide a sound reason behind the change. You will be expected to keep track of what you have collected and what have yet to collect in a mode that you can share with others. You must be able to prove that you have collected a substantial amount of data by the due dates about. You will submit a complete KWL chart (Wolsey & Lapp, 2017, pp. 196, FIG 9.9).
PHASE III: Communicating Your findings
Prepare a 7-10 minute research report on the findings from you field experiences, citing the data that you collected from field notes and interviews. The research report should align with the standards in the educational research discipline. It should include the sections of a typical educational research presentation (basically your KWL chart): (1) Your research question, (2) an overview of your data, (3) Categories of your data, (4) Examples of evidence that addresses your research question, (5) Conclusions and limitations.
PRESENTATIONS WILL OCCUR ON October 8, 10, 15 & 17.
Midterm PROJECT DUE DATE Summary:
| Rough Draft Protocol | October 15 | Hard copy | 15 points |
| Final Draft of Protocol | October 18 | Electronic | 25 points |
| List of contents in your data record | October 29 | Hard copy | 20 points |
| KWL Organization of your data | October 31 | Hard copy | 10 points |
| Powerpoint presentation slides | November 12, 14, 19, 21 | In-person presentation (powerpoint slides) | 30 points |
| TOTAL Points: 100 |
Content Area Reading 2019 