Exploring teacher, student, and parent perspectives regarding literacy teaching and learning: An ethnographic approach to a classroom community

The intent of this ethnographic inquiry was to explore teacher, student, and parent perspectives regarding literacy teaching and learning within a fifth grade classroom community. Results of this inquiry described the literacy related experiences of the members of this community and how they engaged in literacy related interactions.; The results of my data analysis yielded descriptions of the classroom teacher, her students, and the physical and emotional climate of the classroom community. One of the most compelling results of my data analysis was a description of Kate Johnson (pseudonyms were used for all proper nouns in this inquiry) as a teacher. This detailed description addressed the nuances of Kate's teaching style, confirmed the complex interrelationships between the teacher and the materials and methods used, and confirmed the vital role of relationships within the literacy community. Themes that emerged regarding Kate as a teacher included: Kate knew her students individually as learners and provided individualized instruction based on careful observation of her students, she employed a conversational teaching style, she modeled metacognition and prompted her students at the strategy level, she used professional resources to inform her teaching, and she reflected often and made changes based on her reflections.; My data illustrated a contrast between Cazden's (2001) Initiation Response Evaluation/Initiation Response Feedback pattern of classroom discourse and Kate's conversational teaching style. Other differences involved the nature of teacher questions and the sequence of speakers. Similarities between my data and that of Cazden surfaced in the area of categories of student interaction, with examples of Cazden's categories surfacing in the data collected during the present inquiry.; My data also illustrated aspects of Rogoff's (1995) framework. Rogoff described observation of developmental processes on three planes: apprenticeship, guided participation, and participatory appropriation. Several examples of interactions which illustrated Rogoff's three planes of developmental processes surfaced in my data and provided insights into my guiding research questions.; In the Discussion and Reflections section, I addressed several issues that arose through the course of this inquiry and reflected upon questions that remained unanswered. I also reflected upon ethical considerations related to conducting educational research in classrooms.