Ethnographic Eyes: A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Observation

Whether you realize it or not, there is a hidden side of classroom life: everyday practices so ordinary and so routine that they often become invisible. The challenge to classroom observers is to understand and reveal these implicit patterns. For Carolyn Frank, ethnography provides the perfect lens through which to view them.

Ethnographic Eyes extends ethnography beyond the work of university researchers and proves what an accessible and instructive observation tool it can be for inservice and preservice teachers. Frank draws on extensive experience in teacher education, demonstrating how ethnography can help you see beneath the surface of classroom life, gain new understanding of diversity, and recognize that difference can be a resource for community building. Along the way, you'll learn how to record, analyze, and represent the particular kind of classroom culture that is being created. You'll also discover how an ethnographic perspective can help you expand your cultural perspective and reflect critically on your practice.

Teachers who are interested in taking their own ethnographic journeys and better understanding their students and communities will find all the guidance they need in this book. Professors interested in using ethnography with their preservice teachers will particularly appreciate the book's theoretical framework and open-ended assignments.

A former teacher, Carolyn Frank is currently an assistant professor in the charter school of education at California State University, Los Angeles. Frank is also a research fellow of the South Coast Writing Project.