26
2009 Authority And Its Impact On The Performance Of The Students In Writing Classroom Qi Ding [MINI ETHNOGRAPHY]

mini ethnography

  • Upload
    qi-ding

  • View
    230

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

mini ethnography

Citation preview

Page 1: mini ethnography

2009

Authority And Its Impact On The Performance Of The Students In Writing Classroom Qi Ding

[MINI ETHNOGRAPHY]

Page 2: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

1

Authority And Its Impact On The Performance

Of The Students In Writing Classroom

I am a graduate student in Ball State University.

In one course I take Eng 605 – Foundations for

Teaching Writing, I am required to do a

mini-ethnographic research, studying cultures in a

writing classroom by observing classes. Since I just

did a research on teachers’ authority, I desire to apply

it in my mini-ethnography. What I am concerned about

is how a writing teacher manifests his authority and

its impact on the performance of the students in the

writing classroom.

What I observe is the Eng 103 composition class

of Dr. Holbrook, who has been teaching writing for

more than 40 years, but he prefers to be called Bill,

even by his students. His class is from 11:00 am to

12:15 am each Tuesday and Thursday in RM 106 RB

Building. The classroom where he teaches is not a

computer classroom so all the students registered in

Page 3: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

2

this class bring their own laptops.

Bill presents less authority in his class through his

attire, his attempt to keep close to his students, the

salutation his students call him and his interaction

with his students.

Each time I observe the class, Bill wears the same

style clothes: shirts but without a tie, jeans, sneakers,

sometimes a cap, and carries a school satchel for his

laptop and teaching materials. These are not formal

dresses that will pose much authority of a professor.

The students have no formal books but each of them

has a black folder, a packet of all the teaching

materials compiled by Bill himself with a page number

on each sheet. Therefore, I speculate though Bill

shows less authority through his attire, his experience

– more than forty years in teaching, and his profession

showed in the self-compiled textbook are ways

presenting his authority implicitly.

Page 4: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

3

The first time I attend his class, I notice that the

seats arrangement in the classroom is a bit strange.

There are three rows of desks and seats along each

side except the last row against the wall. Therefore,

all the students either sit face to face or sit facing

the wall. This may be a factor that I think will affect

Bill’s authority, since the location of teachers in this

classroom is not right in front of the students, then

the students feel less power of the instructor. As for

the students, they can sit wherever they like, but it

seems most of them will sit in fixed seats.

Bill does not seem to like the position behind the

teacher’s desk, which is located at the left corner of

the classroom and not far away from the students but

Bill will not stay there except when he needs to control

his computer. Most of the time, I see him give

instructions either in front of the students back and

forth or walk in different rows among them. When the

Page 5: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

4

students have questions, he prefers to approach or sit

beside the one who has questions. If there is no seat

beside the student, he will kneel down, trying to keep

eye contact with the student. Obviously, he is prone to

be a member among the students.

In his class, all the students call him Bill directly.

And the interaction between the students and Bill

features Bill’s authority. Before the class, they greet

each other, “Morning, Bill”. “Bill, I have a question.”

“Bill, I need you.”… That is the language the students

use when they have questions. It makes me feel they

are more familiar and equal friends than the teacher

and the students.

The students make jokes of him in class, which

surprises me. Bill asks,” Listen to me. If you have the

time, would you listen to me?” One of the boys answers,

smiling, “I have no time.” Once, Bill jokes to the class,

“Am I all in charge of the class?” One student answers,”

Page 6: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

5

No, somewhat.” These interactions that the teacher

and the students make fun of each other

bidirectionally leave me an impression that this is a

mutual respect classroom, where the students are

granted power to express themselves freely.

Bill asks for permission when organizing groups. In

peer editing class, he tries to divide the students into

groups. He asks,” Can I get … and … together?” “Would

you guys sit next to each other?” He leans against the

wall when he assigns the group members and after

they move, he says “Thank you” to them. When a

student answers “No”, he doesn’t mind and just

rearranges it. There is no command. And the student

will answer no, so it seems there is really not much

authority in the classroom.

The languages he uses when he gives advice and

instructions are different. Here is a dialogue when he

is offering help to a student.

Page 7: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

6

S, “Do you like me to…?”

Bill, “No, I will hope….”

S, “My third question is…”

Bill, “What I might do is…”

That’s a dialogue in his class. From the language he

uses “I will hope” “What I might do”, the equality to

the student can be seen here. It seems to me that he

just offers an option. Though he is the instructor,

there is no need for his students to follow him. That’s

why I find when giving advice he even gives up his

authority since he is not forcing or depositing his idea

to the student as an authoritarian but to consult,sort

of equal communication.

When he reminds the students who miss the class

to hand in their assignments, Bill presents it on the

screen “If you miss Thursday’s class, send all material

for WP3 to Bill in attachment or copy paste. Here Bill

uses to “Bill” so that it makes me feel he is an equal

Page 8: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

7

counterpart to the students.

When some students ask for a direct answer for

their classroom tasks, Bill just encourages them to

find it out on their own. There is one group asking what

if they cannot find detailed information in what they

are required to read in Bill’s handouts. Bill answers,”

You are clever enough, try to find”. He joins in the

group and when the students find out what to do, he

gives them a thumbs up. He does assign challenging

tasks and will not give students answers directly, but

encourage them to discover by themselves.

However, I find Bill uses different languages in

giving instructions, which shows more authority. When

giving instructions, he uses imperative sentences.

“Should be on your second essay.” “Control time spent

on the essay.” “Need to give your classmates ideas on

how to make the essay expanded.” “Should post survey

result”. Sometimes it contradicts when I see him sit on

Page 9: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

8

a table, swinging his feet, which I think is a signal that

the teacher wants to pose less formality and less

authority, but meanwhile gives instruction with

imperative sentences, which is more similar to building

up authority by giving commands.

Comparing the languages he uses, I find a rule

that when he gives instructions on the tasks the

students need to do, he uses imperative sentences to

give commands, while if it is advice on students’

writings, he expresses in an equal, collaborative way.

Baffled in the change of his languages, I am wondering

whether this shift is a coincidence or a purposeful

behavior. In a later interview with him, I try to seek

an answer. As he states in the interview himself he

wants his classroom to be relaxed but professional.

Students are always absent-minded, caring about their

own business like text message in their cellphones in

classroom, so the instructor has the responsibility to

Page 10: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

9

convey his requirements clearly so that the students

can bear them in mind. I think that is why he uses two

different languages. If the requirements are not

expressed in an authoritative way, they may be easily

ignored by the students.

He would prefer to share his private life with the

students, which I do not think an authoritative

instructor will do. In his class, he often takes himself

or his own family life as examples. When we talked

about that point, he explained that was because he

was not a teaching robot and he was delighted that his

life experience could offer the students some

guidance. He mentions himself to give the students

instructions on how to give detailed description of a

skinny person in their draft. He talks about the life of

him and his wife to instruct the students to write and

understand some expression in the stories they read.

When he begins to introduce short stories and their

Page 11: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

10

authors, again he takes himself as an example, saying

he would divorce his wife and marry one author if she

were at BSU to express his appreciation of the author.

After class, after all leave, except one or two

students, he chats with them for a while, like “How are

you doing?” and exchange their plans for weekends.

For me, I do not prefer to share my private life with

my students because in most cases, if an instructor

even shares his personal life with his students, the

relationship between the instructor and the student

will be too close to lose the authority of the instructor.

It will cause trouble in controlling the class and giving

instructions. But maybe age and experience really

mean something. Bill himself also thinks that his age

and experience make him unique and the students will

not challenge his words in the interview.

Less authority does bring a relaxing, equal and

free classroom. In Bill’s class, I find the students

Page 12: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

11

needn’t ask for permission when they need to leave

their seats or move in class time. In some cases,

several students leave their seats to approach Bill,

asking questions they meet in group work or go to the

restroom.

Bill even dances, jumps or poses some dance

gestures in front of the class. He is really enjoying

himself and relaxed. However, I am wondering

whether this kind of relaxing classroom sometimes

causes problems as well.

There seem loose rules in Bill’s classroom, maybe

as Bill mentions this class is one little family. Bill does

not comment when the students are late for class. It

is normal that around four students will be late each

time. Searching in his syllabus, though there is a

regulation about attendance, I have not found any rule

related to being late. I think that is why the students

come late since the teacher’s authority has not been

Page 13: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

12

demonstrated by regulations in the syllabus and Bill’s

silence when he is faced with the situation just

strengthens the students’ impression that being late is

nothing serious.

The loose rule can also been seen when he changes

his lesson plan due to absence of students though we

know his students only use sickness as excuses for

their absence. On Thursday’s class before the Fall

Break, eight students are absent. Bill received the

e-mails from some of them for sick excuses before

class. We know, in fact, they just make up an excuse to

go back home a bit earlier, but given that so many

students are absent, he changes his lesson plan. This is

a bit feminist model to me that the instructor will

change the lesson plan because of his students.

Bill will require the students to take notes, but

obviously, not everyone has formed this good habit.

Some of the students take notes with pen though they

Page 14: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

13

have laptops, most of them take notes through

computers and some don’t write anything. Thus, I

conclude if Bill does not demonstrate authority in a

way, like using imperative sentences, his requirement

is just ignored to some students. It seems that not all

students possess the ability to sense what they must

do if the instructor does not assign it in a

masculine-authoritarian manner.

To my surprise, students are slow on one hand to

sense the instructor’s authority when there is no

explicit language but on the other hand they are so

sensitive to the authority of the teacher.

Bill will raise his voice when he is mentioning

something important and underscore once in a while

with gestures. He will not directly prevent the

students who try chatting in class when he is giving

instructions but he will implicitly forbid them. Two

students try to chat. Bill says, “Listen”, without

Page 15: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

14

referring to anyone, just raising his voice as a hint. But

I find the students trying to talk receive the hint

clearly and stop immediately.

I also find though Bill creates such a relaxing

classroom -- one girl is observed to chew bubble gum

and blow a big bubble and put her two feet on the chair

beside her to make herself more comfortable, the

traditional teacher-and-student relation has

somewhat makes students realize teachers’ authority

automatically. Sometimes, when Bill happens to

approach the student browsing on the facebook, he

does not blame but only says,” Good facebook” and

leaves, but the student closes it afterwards quickly.

Obviously the student still senses Bill’s authority in

these situations, though the instructor tries to less

demonstrate his authority. I speculate the student

does not really take Bill’s comment as a compliment but

a euphemistic blame. Maybe there is an implicit

Page 16: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

15

authority even if the instructor does nothing. The

students will feel the existence of the authority, just

because an instructor is an instructor and students

are students.

Another example is when Bill is walking around,

giving instructions for writing, a cell phone rings.

Because the students are doing group work and move

their seats, the bag with the ringing cellphone is left

unattended. Bill just asks whose it is. When a girl

raises her hand and says sorry, Bill only asks,” Do you

want it?” After he gets a yes answer, he takes the bag

with the cell phone to the girl. However, the girl keeps

saying sorry. Bill even comforts her, saying, “That’s all

right. We are one little family here.” while in his

syllabus, there is a clear regulation concerned with cell

phones: CELL PHONES

If you bring a cell phone, BE SURE that

PHONES/PAGERS ARE TURNED OFF or on vibrate

Page 17: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

16

Another point that puzzles me is this class seems

a half teacher-centered and half student-centered

classroom. In this class, there are few questions and

answers between the instructor and the student or

discussion between them. Only one question and one

answer in the four classes I observe. Most of the time,

Bill only gives instructions and after giving the

instructions, he will ask students to raise questions to

check whether they understand and accept these

instructions. If the students have understood the

instructions, they will work on their own or collaborate

with their peers according to the instructions.

Therefore, their only question time is when the

students comes across problems and ask for help. In

the later interview with Bill, he explains to me since

there is so much material to cover in one class, his

class has been more teacher-centered. So I judge

that the way he organize the class is more traditional.

Page 18: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

17

I interviewed 5 students from different majors in

Bill’s class through e-mail. They are volunteers and I

am curious about their impression to Bill’s class, Bill

himself and how this kind of authority will influence

their performance in class and in their writing. It is

such an coincidence that 4 of them refer to the word

“personal” or “real” when they describe their

impression to Bill’s class or Bill himself.

Erika Fancher who recently changed her major from

Telecommunications to Creative Writing thinks Bill is

harsher than her previous writing teacher, which really

surprises me. But she thinks this harshness doesn’t hurt

feelings and pushes her to explore different levels of

writing and to new horizons. She highly comments on the

class and her performance and Bill’s class even influences

her to change her major.

Lawson Heimach thinks Bill is unusually real and

though his performance is adequate, he would like to

Page 19: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

18

participate more to make it more enjoyable.

Dana Hernandez thinks Bill lets the class be

individual and encourages newer thoughts, yet still

expects them to be on task, well behaved, and

responsible for work due in class. She is excited about

the class and the various assignments that she is

expected to accomplish. She enjoys the feeling and

mood in the class as well as the feeling and mood she

has when doing work, papers, and other small

assignments.

Nicole Greenboam thinks she has learned a lot

from Professor Holbrook this semester and is doing

well in the class. Because she loves the class so much,

her attendance/participation grade is 100%.

Mark Miller thinks that Bill is more personable and

is more willing to help him with his writing than

previous composition instructors. But Bill’s class is

much more challenging than previous composition

Page 20: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

19

classes. The grading scale is also stricter than in

other composition classes. He feels that he is doing

fairly well in the class, and could definitely participate

more in the class though.

In light of the interview with the students, I am

surprised at the different impression the students

have on Bill from what I expect. One of the students

Nicole calls Bill “Professor Holbrook” not “Bill”. Though

all of them mention Bill is real, personal and helpful

they think he is harsh and strict which, in my previous

view, are the features of a masculine-authoritative

teacher.

After reading the requirements in the syllabus

made by Bill, I can understand why the students will

comment him in such a way. He sets a high standard

for students’ assignments. As he tells me in the

interview, he would prefer to assign his students

challenging writing tasks, which are relevant to their

Page 21: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

20

future academic and professional need and to real

world critical thinking. They need to make efforts to

accomplish them, which is not easy. Then, they could

learn and improve. I think it is his high expectations

and requirements in writing to the students that leave

them an impression of harshness and strictness.

He sets a LATE WORK POLICY, which specifically

regulates the due time of in-class and outside

assignments. Failure to turn assignments in on time

without earlier permission will adversely affect grade.

He lists the grading in details, final essay, participation,

attendance included, but even aspects like cover sheets,

essay outlines, email assignments are considered and

granted credit points. His students need to focus on

each step of the writing procedures. In the class I

observe, he happens to hand out the draft of the last

assignment, where he lists the percentage the student

get according to this detailed grading. His harsh grading

Page 22: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

21

scale is a reason why his students think he is strict but I

think it is the harsh grading scale that improves their

writing.

There is also an important part in his syllabus. He

especially presents the part “Effort Expended” in bold,

from which, I feel he has really a high expectation to the

students and values their efforts. No wonder his

students think his harsh and strict.

Bill sets up a high expectation and requirement to

his students, but meanwhile he focuses on the equal

voice of his students. When looking through the

writing project, I think the content of it promotes the

multivoice of the students. The students can express

exactly what they want. The classes I observe are the

third writing project of the students. They are

required to write an argument on community members

who reinforce their philosophic and moral perspectives.

Though the topic is settled -- a spiritual or moral value,

Page 23: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

22

the students can express their own voices by

interviewing family and community members,

considering what family or community values are most

valuable in their argument without the interference of

Bill.

Given the interview to the students, all the

students regard that this mode of teaching help them

improve in writing, they like this kind of class and are

almost satisfied with their performance in class. I may

conclude that authority exhibits itself in varied ways

and the students may feel it in a different angle from

the instructor. When an instructor intends to

manifest less authority, he may mostly focus on how to

create a collaborative and relaxing classroom but for

students, they weigh more on their grades and

assignments. If the assignments are easy to finish,

good grades are easy to achieve and the expectation

of the instructor is lower, the teacher is more likely to

Page 24: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

23

be regarded as a less authoritative one, but the

student are also aware that only challenging task

benefit them in writing.

My cultural background may also influence my

attitude to Bill’s authority. In China, students consider

teachers as absolute authorities in class and most of

the classes are totally teacher-centered. The more

authoritarian teachers are, the more likely their

requirements are to be accepted and satisfied by

students. The dominant American culture is different.

Students have been accustomed to a less authority

educational environment since student-centered,

feminist and collaborative pedagogies are popular. So

for me, Bill poses less authority compared to my

previous experience while his students understand

even if the instructor is so approachable, relaxing in

class, it does not mean he lacks authority. He tells me

in the interview, to push his students to expend more

Page 25: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

24

efforts on revision, he “threaten” them in a humorous

way but his students understand he is deep and

serious.

From Bill, I realize the less authoritarian and the

more collaborative the classroom is, the assignment or

the requirement on writing given to the students must

impose the instructor’s authority explicitly, then the

students can be pushed to an advancement

Page 26: mini ethnography

AUTHORITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS IN WRITING CLASSROOM

25