Showing Them That I Want Them to Learn and That I Care About Who They Are: A Microethnography of the Social Organization of a Secondary Low-Track English-Reading Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to construct a description and interpretation of the social organization of one rural secondary, low-track English-reading classroom, using an inductive analysis of the actions of, and interactions between, the low socioeconomic, predominantly black students and their white male teacher. Field notes and interview data were triangulated with secondary data to generate a description of the social organization and a partial theory of the teacher’s actions when working with low-track, at-risk students. Results from the interpretation of the data revealed that the teacher’s effectiveness was defined by his ability to do the following: (a) create a culturally congruent social organization in his classroom that accounted for the cultural backgrounds of his students, and (b) vary his teaching style to allow him to effectively communicate with his students during lesson interactions resulting in increased opportunities for student learning and improved student attitudes toward learning and school in general