Megan Little's Instructor Page

W Aug 26: Welcome and introductions, content-based and skills-based goals of this class, overview of the class website, sample data interpretation exercise. Assignment: peruse the class website and buy the course reader.

Unit 1: Ethnographic arguments

M Aug 31: Discussion of class policies, requirements, and grading. Official UT email check. Create class website user IDs and passwords. Introduction to unit 1: ethnographic environments. Assignment: Forum Posting (FP) 0, reading: Foley, “Introduction” and Foley, “The Great American Football Ritual.”

W Sept 2: In-class FP 0 response. Class discussion of Foley. What is ethnography? Comparison of text-based and video ethnography. Assignment: FP 1, and read portions from Foley, "Working and Playing Around in the Classroom."

M Sept 7: Labor day holiday

W Sept 9: FP 1 due and in-class response (workshop on quotation and analysis). Class discussion of Foley, "Great American Football Ritual" continued. Class discussion of quotation strategy, Assignment: read assigned portions of Foley, "Working and Playing Around in the Classroom" and selected portions from Mead, from Coming of Age in Somoa

M Sep 14: Class discussion of Foley and introduction to Mead (if time), in-class mind-mapping. Assignment: FP 2 and Read assigned section of Mead (page 81-92)

W Sep 16: FP 2 Due Thursday by 5pm; in-class discussion of formal paper prompt; finish discussion of Foley, "Classroom" and discussion of Mead, "Introduction," excerpts from "Experience of the Average Girl" and "Our Educational Problems"; Assignment: read paper prompt, continue working on FP 2, and read Graff, "As He Himself Puts it; The Art of Quoting"

Th Sept 17: 5pm, FP 2 Due (will be grading these starting Friday morning)

M Sep 21: Continued discussion of Mead; discussion of Graff and "Quoting"; In-class workshop of introduction genres and prime real estate (from FP 2); in-class workshop on quotation and analysis (what to do with that second later of bread). Assignment: FP 3Continue drafting your formal paper

W Sep 23 Peer review session and FP 3 due for formal paper 1 (required); Assignment: continue working on and revising formal paper

M Sep 28 Formal Paper 1 due, anonymous evaluation of unit 1. Assignment: read Glesne, "A Bit of Historical Context" from Becoming Qualitative Researchers

Unit 2: Oral history and case study

Sep 30 W: Introduction to unit 2. Assignment: read Zora Neale Hurston, from Mules and Men, “Introduction” and “Four.”

Oct 5 M: Discussion of revision strategies. Assignment: read Haley, "Black History, Oral History, and Genealogy"

Oct 7 W: Schedule student conferences; Discussion of Hurston's Mules and Men. Assignment: Read Behar, "My Best Friend Marta Who Lives Across the Border from me in Detroit." Revise formal papers.

Oct 12 M: Revision of formal paper (from unit 1) due. Mindmapping exercise for socialization. Discussion of Haley, Behar, and "A bit of historical context." Assignment: Shostak, assigned portions from Nisa. Write: IP 4.

Oct 14 W: FP 4 due and in-class exercise: brainstorming your class project. Mindmapping exercise continued, discussion of Behar and Shostak. Assignment: Nisa handout; FP 5 assigned.

Oct 19 M: FP 5 due and in-class response. Mindmap exercise continued; discussion of Shostak; overview of IRB training. Paper prompt and grading criteria handed out. Assignment: for those who haven't finished FP5, finish it! Read assigned portion of ClarK (237-246)

Oct 21 W: Discussion of Shostak, "Introduction" and Clark "Blocking". Introduction to IRB; Assignment: finish human subjects training online.

Oct 26 M: Instructor-led writing workshop; example proposal from student mom's study; FP 6 assigned (draft of project proposal).

Oct 28 W: FP 6 due and mandatory peer review session for formal paper 2.

Nov 2 M: Formal Paper 2 Due, anonymous evaluation of unit 2. Assignment: read Terkel, Parker, "Interviewing the Interviewer" from The Oral History Reader

Unit 3: Individual projects, practical guidance

Nov 4 W: Introduction to unit 3, practical guidance for collecting and analyzing data for your individual human subjects research projects. Discussion of Terkel/Parker. Assignment: Read selected portions of Glesne, "Making Words Fly: Developing Understanding through Interviewing" from Becoming Qualitative Researchers. Please read: "question content" on pages 81-2, all of "exhibit 4.1" on pages 87-7, the whole section "interviewer attributes," on pages 93-100; and then "some typical problems" on pages 100-102.

Nov 9 M: Discussion of Glesne. Consideration of sample data interview data in class. Assignment: read Weiss, selected portions of "Interviewing" from Learning from Strangers (a few pages from the example of "good interviewing" on page 83, and a few pages from the example "bad interviewing" on page 107), and Bishop, "Being There in Person: Looking, Taking and Collecting"; Assignment: FP 7: Interview or observation 1 (if interview, transcribe relevant portion for posting).

Nov 11 W: Second in-class interview. Discussion of Weiss and Bishop. Assignment: no reading assigned because you should take these days to conduct your interview(s). It would be smart to collect all your data during this week, as you will be expected to write about it next week.

Nov 16 M FP 7 Due Sharing stories from the field, consideration of student data. Assignment: FP8 continuation of interview or observation fieldnotes (if interview, transcribe relevant portion for posting). This may mean simply reflecting on the second portion of fieldwork you already conducted last week.

Nov 18 W FP 8 Due (by Friday, 5 pm) Discussion of Glesne, sharing stories from the field, consideration of student data. Assignment: FP 9.

Nov 23 M Workshop on FP 8, Assignment and discussion of FP 9.

Nov 30 M: FP 9 due Tuesday at 5pm (initial draft of your final paper) First day of final class presentations with peer feedback on project reports.

Dec 2 W: Second day of Final class presentations with peer feedback on project reports; scheduling of conferences for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Class evaluations.

Thursday and Friday: Scheduled class conferences for your final papers (optional)

Dec 9-14 Final week: Final draft due of formal paper 3 on TBD day