ABSTRACT
In the late 1980s, I studied Mr. Weller (pseudonym) and his high school earth science class using microethnographic methods (Goetz & LeCompte, 1984; Stewart, 1990a). The study explored text use and reading in Mr. Weller’s fourth period class. Mr. Weller was in his fifth year of teaching at the time and had been teaching for two years at Lincoln High School where the study took place. Lincoln High had roughly 2,300 students and was located in a city of approximately 60,000 people. During a spring semester, I was a participant observer for 60 days in Mr. Weller’s 4th-hour earth science classroom. I assumed the role of a student as much as a balding, mid-30s, former high school teacher could. I had an assigned seat and textbook, and I participated in laboratories, lectures, and small-group work. I completed homework, quizzes, and tests alongside the 20 tenth graders and two eleventh graders in the class. When I was not in the classroom or “hanging out” with Mr. Weller in the science department office, I was hanging around the cafeteria eating lunch with students and talking to the teachers who monitored the cafeteria and hallways.
