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Diversity and Discourse Ethnography Paper

Research Questions
For my ethnography paper I decided to research: (1) How do you manage a classroom of culturally and linguistically diverse students? (2) How do you teach a diverse classroom about language and the dominant discourse of society while respecting and staying sensitive to their primary discourse?

Primary Sources:
Anderson, Eric. My own field notes from Cameron Shinn’s 9th grade speech class.
Baker, Megan. Interview

Major Findings
After doing my ethnography paper I found that there are numerous answers to my research questions. Every classroom and teacher is different and there are some answers that might be more effective and appropriate for different classrooms than others depending on numerous aspects such as age, range of diversity and the amount of differences in language backgrounds. But I found some possible answers that might work for teaching diverse classrooms about language while also helping to preserve their identity in regards to their primary discourse. The most important things that I learned are that every student should be given equal opportunities to gain access into the dominant discourse community. It is important to teach students how to access the dominant discourse while also preserving their primary discourse, and the most effective ways that I found to do this were through code-switching, through bringing an awareness to our students about language and how it allows for access to power, and through being patient and accepting with students from different backgrounds and at different levels and asking that they do their best in regards to language use and understanding that every student is unique.

Implications/ Future Questions
This case study raised numerous future questions for me. After completing it, I would now like to know how the students feel about the methods teachers use and whether they are effectively able to use the tools that are given to them. I would also like to know how these kinds of questions differ and how language and discourse differ in more homogenous schools as opposed to those that are more diverse.

Secondary Sources
Delpit, Lisa. “The Politics of Teaching Literate Discourse.” Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York: New Press, 1995.
Fecho, Bob. “Critical Inquiries into Language in an Urban Classroom.” Research in the Teaching of English. Volume 34 (2000): 368-395.
Gee, James Paul. “Literace, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction and What is Literacy.” Journal of Education. Volume 171.1 (1989): 5-25.
Rose, Mike. Lives on the Boundary. New York: Penguin Books, 1990.