Teachers are advocates for student education. Teachers must strive to understand and connect with students beyond brief, everyday classroom interaction. It is crucial for teachers to reach out and go that extra mile to make sure they are doing everything for the better interest of their students. In many cases teachers go about meeting such standards by getting to know each student on a personal level, which includes knowing their likes, interests, skills, and other valuable information that will help the teacher construct a well-rounded classroom community. Successful classroom communities also come from knowing the parents and their thoughts and experiences with the school community. Teachers that establish a successful and productive learning community are more likely to function better in a way that fosters each student’s learning abilities.  With such a rationale teachers become ethnographers with the goal of bettering their classroom community and building relationships.

As a future teacher I set out to be an ethnographer on two students in my classroom. I chose two students that had different strengths, needs, and interests, to observe and learn from. Through a series of perspectives I explored each student’s community, including classroom observations, neighborhood observations, holding a family visit, and other aspects that those students are involved with on a daily basis.

Student E

I am from…

Mario to Lego’s.

I am from…

Being a big brother to wanting everything to be my way.

I am from…

Sponge Bob to writing my name.

I am from…

Trying my hardest to wanting to make friends.

I am from…

Trying to pretend to being logical.

I am…

Me.

This poem gives an outsider only a glimpse of Student E, but after spending time of him it becomes more evident that he has so much more to offer and share. Student E is a very intelligent, creative five year old that sees the world from many different perspectives. He is part of the Mesa Verde Elementary school community and part of a very busy, energetic classroom. The classroom is very student centered and involves a familiar routine to its students. Student E is an active participant in our everyday activities, much of the time offering his classmates his unique insights. For example, one day the class was working on making three letter words using our zoo phonics sounds and animals. When I asked the students to share some of the words that they created one girl said the word, “cold.” After asking her what that word meant, Student E replied, “No, that word has four letters, cold.” Student E used a higher level thinking skill and came to the conclusion that the word, ‘cold’ had four letters and not three, so it wasn’t a word we created in our activity.

However, there are some aspects of the classroom setting that I have observed Student E having trouble with. Although, Student E is an active participant, he is socially lacking. In other words, it is not the difficultly of the material, but the interaction among classmates that is a struggle. Student E is the type of student that likes for things to go his way and when things don’t, he gets frustrated easily. This has a negative impact on his ability to make friends or build relationships with other students. I have observed him desperately trying to befriend other students, but he usually is not successful because of the way he approaches the students. During my family visit with his mom, she agreed that he needs to understand that everything can not be his way and other ways for him to treat people. She also said that her goal for her son is to learn more social skills and ways to compromise or work with other students.

Also during my family visit, Student E’s mom gave me a more detailed look of her son and the process that has lead him to where he is. She explained his love of letters and things that are logical. She would work with him on a wooden alphabet puzzle to learn the letters. Once he was efficient at those she tried teaching him other skills, such as pretending, which was a skill that turned out to be more difficult for him. Student E had no interest in playing with action figures, but preferred games of logic, like his Leap Frog game. Another thing that his mom said was a challenge for him was learning names. Coming from a very large family that included sixteen local cousins, it was something she thought he needed work with. To learn his classmate’s names, she would tell him to learn one other student’s name each day and she would ask him after school.  This is a mom that is very involved in her child’s education. She continually works for the betterment of her child and holds high expectations.

I also had the opportunity to eat lunch with Student E to give him the chance to talk to me about whatever he wanted to tell me. I discovered that his favorite movie is Sponge Bob Square Pants: The Movie, which explains his fascination with sea life. One of his favorite things to do after school is play Mario Party on his Wii Nintendo system, which has Mario, “the guy with the mustache.” He also always likes to talk about the different things he makes with his Lego’s. He told me, “I use the small Lego’s, but Abbey (2 year old sister) she use the big Lego’s.”  Student E along with the other students where every excited to have me eat lunch with them.

After observing, meeting with family, and sharing lunch with Student E, I feel I have a better grasp on his strengths, needs, and interests. This data and documentation will help to develop instruction that will encourage Student E to be successful. It is clear that Student E learns best with more hands-on activities that have distinct guidelines and is presented in a clear way. These are things that I will now be aware of and include appropriate activities that reach this student. A couple of the next steps I would take is to include more situations about social issues to allow him to make connections with his personal life. Also, to make sure the material is challenging enough for him to use higher level skills. Overall, Student E is a very unique and wonderful student, whom I can’t wait to see in the future.

Student Z

I am from…

Being the baby to four older siblings.

I am from…

Playing tricks to making people laugh.

I am from…

Matchbox cars to Halloween pumpkins.

I am from…

Tia’s house to chocolate cookies.

I am from…

Being the tallest to two black poodles.

I am…

Me.

Student Z is the youngest of four siblings that all attend Mesa Verde Elementary. Within our classroom community, Student Z is all smiles and always playing jokes. His main audience is the people who sit at his table and the one’s he is always trying to make laugh. Today I heard him singing words from a popular Brittany Spears song, “hit me baby one more time.” Student Z is the student who occasionally needs a little push to concentrate on the task at hand. I have observed that he is easily distracted or loses focus quickly, but is completely capable of understanding the material. With a little motivation and encouragement he is on his way again. During my ethnographic study on Student Z, I observed him during other classes and recess. I was surprised to find that like Student E, he also lacks at some social issues. During recess and lunch he is very reserved and keeps to himself; however I have not noticed a push to be included by the other students. It may just be that he enjoys alone time and has no desire to be included during certain activities.

My family visit was a great opportunity to meet the whole family and learn about all of the children. I was welcomed by four rambunctious children; all every excited to have a visitor. Student Z was also very excited to share some of his favorite Halloween decorations with me. One thing this family does every year is have a family theme to their Halloween costumes. I thought this was a great family tradition and shows how involved his parents are both at home and school.  He also shared his passion for cars of any kind. When I asked him where he likes to play with his cars he replied, “everywhere.” His mom also shared with me his favorite movies, Speed Racer, Herbie, and Cars.  It is clear to see that all of these movies involve cars, which truly is Student Z’s main interest. Another interest of Student Z is reading or listening to books on CD. The family listens to the Harry Potter series while working around the house or in the car. During my visit, Student Z was very unusually shy, but when the other siblings wanted to talk with me he started acting very silly. It seemed to me that he wanted to redirect the focus back on him, which was the reason for the visit. Overall, I felt very welcomed and comfortable with my visit with Student Z and his family. They exemplified being very caring, loving, and involved parents in each of their children’s lives. It was truly a wonderful experience to have such a great learning opportunity.

After my family visit, I took that time to explore his neighborhood and put myself in his shoes. His neighborhood reminded me a lot of the one I grew up in with kids playing outside in the street, going to house to house, and walking to a nearby park. It seemed to be a neighborhood that is like one large family and the children are everyone’s. This is a neighborhood that gives the kids room to wander and explore without concern or worry. I envisioned Student Z playing outside with his athletic older sister or walking with older siblings to play soccer at the park. This neighborhood is also very close to local entertainment, including walking distance to the mall and movie theater. Overall, the neighborhood was definitely kid centered.

As with Student E, I also had the chance to enjoy lunch with Student Z. At first he seemed reluctant to talk with me, but after I shared some things about me he began to open up. He told me stories about going over to his Tia’s house and all of the different junk food she makes for him, like chocolate donuts, cookies, sticky buns, and whatever else he wants. I also had the honor of meeting his Tia during my family visit. We continued our lunch talking about our dogs and some of our favorite movies and food. I discovered that Student Z is full of stories he loves to tell.

Taking the time and effort to get to know Student Z turned out to have a very positive and beneficial outcome. I learned about his strengths, his interests, and concluded on some of his needs. First, I think it is important to have a variety of activities available, so that students like Student Z will find the value and be less likely to get distracted. Also as a teacher bringing in more material that fosters Student Z’s interest in cars would hook his interest across the curriculum. Student Z needs the opportunity to share his thoughts and ideas with more of his classmates, which is something to incorporate when planning.

Becoming an ethnographer on two students gives only a snap shot of what could be learned from doing this with all of the students. Honestly, at first I doubted the benefit of doing such an assignment, but in the end realized how powerful and resourceful it can be. One component of the assignment that I thought was most valuable would be the family visit. Although I met with Student E’s family at a local public place it still allowed for a more casual conversation outside of the school community. However, the visit to Student Z’s home was much more of an experience. It allowed me to see a glimpse of his life and I could really allow myself to be in his shoes. This turned out to be a great and lifelong experience. It is evident that by doing this with all of the students would have a huge impact on a classroom’s community and the relationships that grow from such an experience.