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&), 6EE:C9>M RESEARCH METHODS Classroom observations, conversations with students, and interviews were audiotaped. I spent approximately five hundred hours with Elizabeth and her students. I took field notes during all of my observations and reworked them, supplemented with audiotapes, into narrative form as soon as possible after observations. I attended school events—football games, the fall musical—and collected all written materials generated by the classes: drafts, final essays, journals, assignments, curricular guides, senior project documents . Detailed consent forms were signed by the teacher, all students, parents, and the principal. Formal interviews with students followed a “semistandardized” approach (Merriam 1988). Questions were formulated in advance, but many interviews retained an informal feel, as interviewees were allowed to wander from the questions and many responses were followed up with impromptu probes, questions, and reflections from me. Interviews took place during the term, usually after class or sometimes scheduled at a time convenient for the student. They generally lasted for one hour. I also informally interviewed students in class throughout the year. General Questions 1. Tell me a bit about your background: where did you grow up? How would you describe your family? Friends? Community? 2. What are your future plans? 3. What are you hoping to get out of this class this term? Thus far, how would you assess the class? 4. How would you describe the stories and poems you’re reading in this class? How do they compare to what you’ve read in other English classes? Which has been your favorite / least favorite so far? 5. How would you describe the other students in this class? Are you friends with any of the other students? 6. What kinds of experiences have you had in the past with multicultural readings, classrooms, or activities? When did you first begin to learn about issues of race? What was your first memory of learning about race? How do those experiences compare to this class? 148 Research Methods Questions about Texts and Class Discussions 1. What does this text mean to you? What is it about? 2. What does this text tell you about the author and his/her feelings or beliefs? 3. What does the text tell you about ________ culture? 4. Is this text representative of the culture? Explain. 5. What is your personal response to the text? 6. Could this text take place where you live or help explain anything going on in your world now? 7. Is this a good text for an English class? Would you assign it if you were a teacher? Explain. 8. What do you think this text teaches students? 9. What is the author’s attitude toward racism/sexism/classism in this text? Do you agree with him/her? 10. The teacher said in class that this text ___________________. What do you think she meant by that? 11. The teacher has said that texts are shaped by gender, sexuality, race, and class, and that our readings of them are also shaped by our own gender, etc. Do you agree? Can you give an example? 12. Have the readings shown you anything about race, gender, or class that you hadn’t heard or known before? 13. During the discussion in class of ____________, some students felt that the story was saying _______________________. Did you agree? Explain. 14. You believe then that ____________________ is true. How would you feel if you discovered it wasn’t true? ...

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