Middleton Ethnography
The following artifact is an ethnography of Middleton Middle School that I wrote in 2010. The ethnography includes observation notes and a map of the classroom under study. This ethnography was completed as part of Professor Debra Yates's Introduction to Teaching course. As part of this course I was placed in Mrs. Oxford-Lyman's art classroom, where I observed her first period seventh grade class. During the first two days of my observation I recorded my initial observations and responses in stream-of-consciousness notes. This allowed me to familiarize myself with the classroom, its layout, and its inhabitants' interactions, creating a "time-capsule" artifact of my first impressions, for future reference and reflection.
This activity demanded an intense awareness of and understanding of the classroom environment, a direct alignment to Danielson's Domain #2. Specifically, recording the appearance and organization of the room in my notes and in my classroom map illustrates how Mrs. Oxford-Lyman designed her classroom to her students' needs. My ethnography makes note of how Mrs. Oxford-Lyman addresses the storage-intensive needs of art while managing spatial limitations and traffic flow. Her seating arrangements promote classroom management while the decorations stimulate the stduents' creativity.
The Middleton ethnography allowed me to learn from the practices of a successful art educator while reflecting upon a vision of my own future classroom.
This activity demanded an intense awareness of and understanding of the classroom environment, a direct alignment to Danielson's Domain #2. Specifically, recording the appearance and organization of the room in my notes and in my classroom map illustrates how Mrs. Oxford-Lyman designed her classroom to her students' needs. My ethnography makes note of how Mrs. Oxford-Lyman addresses the storage-intensive needs of art while managing spatial limitations and traffic flow. Her seating arrangements promote classroom management while the decorations stimulate the stduents' creativity.
The Middleton ethnography allowed me to learn from the practices of a successful art educator while reflecting upon a vision of my own future classroom.