Sunday, January 31, 2010
A little intimidating
Last week's class and reading left me feeling a wee bit intimidated. I am not an academic scholar. My classmates discuss their desire to study how people "negotiate" identity in different situations. Huh? The prof discussed different filters through which we frame our understanding of the world -- feminist, post-modern, critical post-moden feminist. ????? I'm sure I have a filter, just don't ask me to tell you what it is. How do you learn to analyze using a particular genre of thinking? I just think. Most of the time, that is.
Sidewalk
I'm reading a fascinating ethnography called Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier. It's about street vendors of printed media in Greenwich Village, New York during the 1990's. I lived in NYC near where the research was conducted. It was enlightening to read about the culture of the vendors I used to pass on the street everyday and to learn how this informal economy came to be, as well as learn about the culture of these individuals. It puts panhandlers in a different life. Our economy doesn't provide economic opportunity for such individuals to support themselves.
Monday, January 25, 2010
If it doesn't kill me...
Okay, this class both excites and terrifies me. Just need to put that out there.
The idea of me conducting qualitative research is intriguing. Me and Jane Goodall -- out in the field, observing and taking notes. Then again, the idea of me doing this is scary: What if I really suck at this? Oh well, guess it's better to discover that now rather than when someone pays me to collect qualitative data.
My focus for this class is ESL. I'd love to be able to observe how English is taught to immigrants who come from a culture so radically different from that of western culture. I recall from my LVGS executive director interview that Dr Ruth Colvin is creating an ESL/literacy training for immigrants from either Ethiopia or Sudan. These immigrants share no cultural reference points with us in the USA, which makes it difficult to use the LV ESL tutoring method. It would be interesting to observe how these immigrants are currently taught English.
Or, I might simply sit in on any ESL class to which I can gain access. In this case, however, I don't know what my focus might be. Why would I be observing them? What am I trying to learn/understand?
Oh well, back to my reading.
Felt the need to reflect while the feelings are still hot.
The idea of me conducting qualitative research is intriguing. Me and Jane Goodall -- out in the field, observing and taking notes. Then again, the idea of me doing this is scary: What if I really suck at this? Oh well, guess it's better to discover that now rather than when someone pays me to collect qualitative data.
My focus for this class is ESL. I'd love to be able to observe how English is taught to immigrants who come from a culture so radically different from that of western culture. I recall from my LVGS executive director interview that Dr Ruth Colvin is creating an ESL/literacy training for immigrants from either Ethiopia or Sudan. These immigrants share no cultural reference points with us in the USA, which makes it difficult to use the LV ESL tutoring method. It would be interesting to observe how these immigrants are currently taught English.
Or, I might simply sit in on any ESL class to which I can gain access. In this case, however, I don't know what my focus might be. Why would I be observing them? What am I trying to learn/understand?
Oh well, back to my reading.
Felt the need to reflect while the feelings are still hot.
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