Justin Flores
CSU Fresno
Sociology 176 Final Paper
Introduction
As we gather all of our information of Ethnography, interview and content analysis we look back and see what we have put together over a 3 month period. We will see our methods being introduced again as how we gathered, asked and performed on getting all this material. For our content analysis we will see the concepts that are highlighted within our findings of our projects to help illustrate the type of services they may provide. Some of the concepts from this paper may be similar to others while there may be some that are different but just know for certain that these services are for students and faculty. As we go forth and take a look at this final paper I just have to say that this project required a lot of work, time and dedication, it may have been tough at times to complete but overall this project was enjoyable. So please enjoy.
My observation is of a school that is a part of a surrounding school district in Fresno that has great academic achievements. I conducted this observation to see what traits, motives and values employees of education are, share throughout every day. For us to figure out how these objectives are noticed we will look at these objectives through the eyes of sociological perspective. Some of the concepts we will highlight are throughout employee's daily routines and some new concepts arise depending on the position of the employee.
This portion of my project is where I performed my interview practices with selecting random employees at the institution I was at. I was able to gather up three individuals who have different positions from one another. As for picking these individuals, it was a fortunate opportunity to have these individuals take time out of their day to be interviewed for this project. Before I proceeded to the interviews, I did come prepared with consent forms to be signed and also to make sure it was okay if our interviews can be recorded. Upon approval, the individuals and I then began the interview process. I was able to accumulate over 60 minutes of audio, and below in the appendix you can see the interview transcripts. I am also very happy of how my interviews came out, I made it as equal as I could by asking each individual the same questions. Therefore, I could not thank these individuals enough for their time and commitment to this interview, I enjoyed this portion of the project.
This is the content analysis portion of the project, this portion of the paper we will be focusing on documents that are provided in association with the individuals that were interviewed prior. A reminder, these individuals are placed in different positions across a school campus and provide services mainly for students. These services are associated with law enforcement, school psychology and teaching services. Before we begin with the paper the documents that are shared is what is provided either at the school I was interviewing at or provided by the School District. There are roughly 13 documents that I was able to find via internet, on site documents and pamphlets. These documents do give us a great structure as to understanding on how these services are presently known to ensure safety, stability and success for students. To add, these documents do highlight concepts that are associated with theories, alike framing, identity and prognosis. The school site is a part of a school district that is known for its academic success but to be honest with you, it is hard to find the services that I highlighted (special education, transition programs, student services, etc.) on their campus or website.
Literature Review
Symbolic interaction is around us every day, we see signs that relay a message for our safety or a sense of direction. Symbols are a primary way for many individuals to communicate and interact. Symbolic interaction happens through actions as well and depending upon those actions will help many others decide on our character. Depending upon our character through our own actions will dictate the type of person we want ourselves to be. We will now take a look into other concepts that help understand more of symbolic interaction through the eyes of Goffman and other theorist.
This concept of front stage, back stage is a reference used to highlight on how people act in different settings. To get this to a clearer picture, imagine the front stage as something that is shown to the public daily and you are willing enough to allow those people see you through that stage. As for the back stage, this is the area that you only allow so many people see, this stage is for personal things to be kept and only showed be presented in an appropriate manner.
As for Goffman, he believed that this concept will be great for interviews, this tool can be used to help determine on how people may value their work. When highlighting the front stage questions we can allow for that person to put other people's values and trait before our own. Highlighting the back stage questions requires a sense of boundary since some of the questions can be triggers and may cause distress in the interview.
Teamwork is a contributor to some advocacy teams, it is an attribute that is key to have since primary teamwork is to tackle some of the less fortunate, unable and growing communities. Teamwork is required for us to interact face to face to people and with facing these people comes a lot of problems. Some people may come across hierarchies, stacks of workload, and disorganization with collaboration. In particular advocacy groups, teamwork is sometimes not the best concept to carry along with, it sometimes is a mystery to see how groups enact with other professional groups. Goffman comes into play by introducing on how front stage and back stage helps us work collaboratively within these teams. Goffman introduces impression management which helps individuals who go out in the field and have their backstage experiences help them prepare for a strong front stage when out interacting.
Self is the concept that is interpreted through your thoughts, actions and plans. We interpret our self through a physical, social and moral being, thus it is important to interact with other beings to get a sense of self. The more interactions you but yourself through, the more understanding you will have of yourself. We make this assumption through the understanding of others which helps us make choices that are to our interest. Selfhood is then introduced which helps us become a part of the social process and seen as a social product.
Self is recognized as a social process, social structure, self as a staged production. The social process for self-starts at the symbolic characters which always many people to communicate and interact. Language is an important tribute for self since it is a foundation for interaction amongst people.
Presentation of self is a concept that was used by Goffman which indicates us on how obligated we are to act with such consistency it supports our self. Being a parent is a good example of presentation of self, we see that being a parent the needs of respect from your kids is crucial. As a parent having a child, you give the child enough respect to display that you are giving that child proper guidance.
Having this presentation of a particular self comes with a lot of miscues, embarrassment arises as well but with certain people overlooking that embarrassment with acceptance that does help us think positively of our self-presentation. By having our audience overlook our flaws we create in presentation of self we see that tact is an important trait to have. In essence we would like to have people forgive us for our flaws and accept our apologies. Our goal is to have our interactions go smoothly.
According to Charles Horton Cooley, the looking glass-self is a concept that many individuals develop to understand one's self. Individuals make this judgement from the view of themselves through the eyes of other people. Depending upon how other people may feel about yourself your confidence can grow, which introduces self-esteem. If other individuals think poorly of you then you will experience low self-esteem. For thought, the value of our character through others is a mirror for us the look at.
Charles Cooley also introduces the idea that we as people are always actively engaging in sustaining a self, we are not to be passive in creating our self. We are not individuals who seek appraisal from others, we are rather than investing in our own interest. With having little to none appraisal from others, we are misinformed about people's evaluations about ourselves.
While having looking glass-self be closely tied with self-esteem, we look closely at our self-esteem being an indicator of how we appraise others. Given the assessment on our self-esteem we place ourselves closer to the ones who may not tell us the truth about our attitudes. Without having that consistency of holding ourselves to the truth barrier we then appraise ourselves on the actions we do for the ones who do not hold us accountable.
Therefore these concepts have similarities and ties within each other that help us understand the symbolic interaction. With many concepts highlighting other concepts within that concept is something that needs to be noticed since all of these components essentially be compatible with each other.
3-page essay
Ethnographic research is about having access to settings with different factors affecting that access. Some factors are time, geography, or financial costs, and the place not being unknown to you. A person's age, gender, ethnicity, and appearance also contribute to choosing a setting and whether they will be able to get access to it or not. Ethnographic research is not just interacting and talking to others but how you do it and what you say. You cannot say and do what you want, you have to be able to filter yourself when talking and interacting with others.
Sometimes a researcher does not choose their setting but the setting is chosen for them. Sometimes researchers are already part of a group that requires research so they do not need to go looking for another setting. The setting also has to be a place where research can be completed in a time frame like a semester. It is also important to research a setting that is flexible and have enough members and meetings to interact with and at. It also is helpful to find out who is the key informant of the group or the gatekeepers to make it easier to get access to a setting.
A researcher should also dress to impress and have props with them when they are at the setting. Something proper to carry is a notepad and pen to take notes down especially when you are observing at the setting. A researcher should also dress how the persons in the setting are dressed. If it is a casual setting, a shirt and pants are good, if its a law firm a suit is required, or if the setting is athletic than dress in athletic clothing. Whatever the setting is, it is expected of you to dress and act how they persons there dress and act. Researchers should keep in mind that emotions can influence their research and the courtesy is required no matter the setting.
There are different types of interviews involved in qualitative research: face-to-face, telephone, or electronically. Interviews are to get to know the persons better but the purpose can be different. For a medical interview, there needs to be a diagnosis, in a job the employer wants to know why you are fit for the job. In research interviews, the outcome is to know something. There also are interviews with couples, focus groups, and internet-based like Skype.
Research interviews should be conversations where the questions should be topics of interest to the research and be relevant to the interviewee. There are different types of interviews in qualitative research. One interview is called oral history where interviewees talk about events that have happened in their life. Researchers use this technique to gather data that is not covered in groups or organizations. Research questions should also be general and open-ended ranging from 10 to 15 questions.
Interviews also involve technological equipment, this includes videotape, audiotape, or digital recordings. A researcher needs to be sure they have good quality equipment and should test them out before the actual interview. The researcher should also avoid excess noise in the background so it does not get in the way of the interviews. The researcher should also arrive on time to the setting and set up beforehand because adjusting yourself throughout the interview is bothersome. The best way to conduct the interview is sitting across from the interviewee and having the recorder in between so it can record both the questions and answers.
Researchers should keep in mind that there can be emotional responses regarding the topic they choose to ask about. Researchers should be prepared for emotional responses even if they believe they are not asking emotional questions. Also, some answers can cause an emotional reaction from the researcher.
Data can also be gathered from media like visual images, magazines, newspapers, documents. It can also be gathered from the internet like Facebook pages, blogs, YouTube and other photo sharing sites. The data gathered from this is to get meanings and experiences just like interviewing someone. Alike from interviewing someone your documents provide words and messages that allow you to be informed or aware.
When gathering data from these sources, it is important to not just get random information but as much as you can. If a researcher does a random sample then it would be an unknown of things that may not be relevant to the research they are conducting. It will be difficult for the researcher to understand the data they gathered if it does not reflect anything from their interests which leads to difficulty in explaining their research to their audience. It is also important to have a time frame of the data gathered, and get recent documents. Time frames are a great tool to be aware of because it allows you to go to an exact time slot. The farther back you go the less likely you will be able to get relevant information because technology was not up to par as it is now. The usage of images and other visual things is useful because it lets the researcher gain a different kind of insight about social life through many images or videos.
The last step of conducting qualitative research is analyzing all the data you have gathered from observing, interviewing, and the documents. The research has to organize all their data to make their point. Their data then needs to be interpreted in a way that is relevant to their interests and then understandable for their audience.
Methods
(Ethnography Paper)
I have particularly chosen to do observe this group over the course of a week and a half. I did these observations as being identified as an outsider to these groups, I tried my best to explain these groups as an outsider. These observations were not long or consuming at all since I did find appropriate days and times to observe. By me having the freedom to come in during school hours to do the observation I did choose different days to observe to see if there was any trends or different traits on particular days.
I did conduct my first observation on March 22, which was a Friday, every Friday the campus host a team employee huddle. This observation only lasted me about 15-20 minutes since it happened before school starting. You can find my notes on this observation in the appendix. The second observation I conducted on March 25 (Monday), was of a classroom setting in the special education department. This observation lasted me a little over an hour, I thought by observing a full class period would be good for my notes. Another observation I did was of the Front Office, this observation lasted for about 20 minutes. I observed the front office on a Wednesday, March 27. These three observations were done by myself while playing a role of a Martian. I completed about 3 hours of observations.
Concepts from sociological theories came across these observations such as symbolic interactionism, roles, thick description and definition of situation. Along with more of backstage/ frontstage motives from the employees, I gathered all of the information I could get from them and then applied it in NVivo. NVivo is a program that is offered to us at Fresno State to help us analyze research. By using NVivo we are allowed to code, create nodes and word frequency queries.
This data collecting and observations of this group was enjoyable, I found that these observations were easily accessible for me because the observations was on my time. All though the employees already know me as a positioned employee there, they were still great to work with because as playing the Martian role you need to observe as much as you can and write down as much as you can.
(Interview Paper)
During my interviews with the individuals I wanted to make sure that I was asking the right questions for me to understand some concepts or find out if any of the concepts we reviewed in class arise within these individuals while at their work place. For me to see forth with these concepts, I wanted to highlight: Front Stage & Back Stage, Team, Roles, Self and Looking Glass-self. I recorded these interviews via IPhone Voice Memos, I then took this audio file to be transcribed into a text document. I used also the Application: NVivo to highlight word frequencies and create a Word frequency query.
(Content Analysis Paper)
For my methods for gathering my documents I had to find some time to go to the site and walk around to find documents that were appropriate for the services I interviewed. It was hard enough to walk back to the same people that you interviewed before and try to ask them if they could provide documents that are specifically for their service. Unfortunately, not too many hard copy documents were accessible to scan or note for this portion, but I did find all my documents via internet. Majority of the people that I asked for further documents informed me that I would find my document on the internet. These documents were accessible on the main school site website and had more information regarding the services that are provided on the school districts website. These documents were then copied and pasted on a word document, after being all collected on the word document, I then proceeded to use NVIVO. NVIVO is a data collecting source that helps us analyze transcripts or documents to understand if there is a certain theme to the texts. NVIVO is also a great source to use because it did provide me with a word frequency query. This word query is what highlights the most common words that are on these documents and later I will display it for you to see. Therefore, NVIVO also provides us with the ability to create nodes to highlight those theme concepts that will be discussed about and to tell you what the main purpose of their services is.
Content Analysis
(Ethnography Paper)
Thick Description
Conducting these observations I started out by expressing the environment I was present at.
-The first woman is around 5'1, round figure with noticeably blonde hair. She walks in the classroom with a venti Starbucks drink, drinking out of the infamous green straw, she then removes her black circular frame sunglasses.
This note highlights a time where I was at in the classroom setting, the point of the thick description is to position the readers where the author puts them at. It's the author's responsibility to make sure the choice of words are to paint a picture what is happening in that moment.
-having another person coming in the office from the main entrance, it must be a parent. Again by the receptionist she greeted the parent upon walking in, she did have a smile on her face but then engaged in a mini conversation with the parent.
Here's an example of me thick description of when I was observing in the office. I described a time that a parent came through the office to pick up their child.
I did find myself writing or note taking of things that I should have less concern about, e.g.:
- Approaching the campus and already seeing a lot of young faces being dropped off at the appropriate drop off area. Gaining ground ahead I walk on a cement paved sidewalk that makes me follow a "yellow brick road" type of path to the main office.
With information like above, I think I should have descriptive more of what is going on in the campus rather than to describe the students commute. But the good thing about thick description is that it requires you to write down every little detail you can get, because the more little detail you get, the better thick description you will have. Thick description is the key tool to have because it gives the reader another way of looking at things. Thick description helped me with these observations because the more observations I did, the more thick description I noted.
Front Stage and Back Stage
Frontstage and Backstage are some of the concepts that I saw when observing these groups. An example of frontstage and backstage can be seen in my notes here:
- Observing one of the workers with a student I did notice that the worker was getting frustrated with the student. She did a couple of things, she raised her voice, she violently gestured her direct instructions and also let out a sigh.
This is a seen as a backstage role that is being spotlighted in the front stage. Usually when working with students you are often trained to not show too much emotion since it can be seen as a weakness for teachers. Here we should note that when working you are in control of your emotions and words, but in this case you can see that one of the employees was frustrated and showed this through her actions and words. This concept is huge when working any job, you are required to put aside outside influences that may affect you in some way and remind yourself to continue to work with a smile on your face. Another note that we can show examples of front stage and back stage is:
- The receptionist sounded off as a grandma over the phone with the constant "hold on, let me..." phrase. The principal's secretary answered the phone with ease and seemed as if she was the receptionist with her soft voice
This shows us that as answering phones in the office can be a way of showing this concept. Answering phones is a way for us to use our tone and words to carry a message that signifies assistance. Having a front stage concept you are to act as how your job requires you to do so, but as for the back stage concept you can use this concept away from your working atmosphere.
Meaningful Action
Meaningful action is a key concept when observing the workers in the special education classroom and the front office.
One of the workers in the classroom was working with the student, then in an instant the student then had a tantrum. The worker could have easily escalated the situation by asking the student to move to a different location or by redirecting them. But as the worker kept their composure and made sure to have the student come to a calmness state the worker then tried again to work with the student.
-. Again by the receptionist she greeted the parent upon walking in, she did have a smile on her face but then engaged in a mini conversation with the parent. The parent who came in seemed to be in a rush at first by signing in with a fast handwriting but then seemed to be in no rush when engaging in the conversation.
We see here that meaningful action took place when the parent came in with a rushed demeanor but to have the receptionist ask the parent how their day is can be a way to show how the receptionist handles certain persons when coming in the office.
Roles
Roles are notified when people are talking amongst each other. You can sense ones role out by their choice of words and also how they may carry themselves. Roles that are within the school setting are easy, you have your principal who is the lead ambassador for the school and the principal takes on the role of being professional, prompt and clean so that his employees may too take upon this role.
Roles are there for instructors as well, instructors need to be at work on a timely manner, and they need to be clean and energized enough to teach young teenagers.
You see different roles amongst different places of the campus as well, as for adults (instructors) depending on their subject they teach, their subject to also share a common role. As for individuals who are away from the main campus (portables) they too also share a common role. Roles within the campus are noted each day, for example:
-Sitting upright in her chair, gracefully awaiting my answer to her question, I told her "I'm having a great day", as she heard the response, she then continued to smile and slowly turn to face her computer.
Now this example may not be the best one to highlight roles but we can highlight on how I described how the receptionist sat. Usually when people work they like to work relaxed and somewhat in their way, but as for the receptionist she seated upright for a long period of time. Now we can say that this a part of the role to be a receptionist because you are primarily the first person when someone comes through the door. It is your role responsibility to be warming and assistive to those who come through the doors.
Statuses:
Statuses are given positions to individuals who are required to full fill the roles and mission of a situation. Within this school we see statuses from instructional aides, school psychologist, speech therapists, Occupational therapist, and administrators to ensure that students are safe and are being taught attributes to enhance their educational career.
- With the stereotype of principles, this principle was fair aged, not too young not too old. With the seat at the head of the table it seemed as if everyone knew where to gravitate their attention to.
Above is a note from my field notes, we see the principal as a status in the educational field. The parents knowingly already that talking to the principal can be beneficial to them to help deliver a message or remind their student to keep striving for success, but what is highlighted with the status of a principal you need to make sure you are outreaching to those students, families and teachers to make sure that they are carrying a success motive. As principal the status within that title comes big responsibilities and a lot of eyes are on you that is why it is important to check your status, check to see what can be gained or lost from a status like a principal and want to continue to carry a great status for many people to recognize.
-As she works closely to her student, she positions herself close enough to the student where the student can ask for help quietly. As she gives a redirection for the student to keep working, she then whips out her cell phone to check her statuses.
With this note above we see that as having the position of an instructional aide, the status of this position is not as closely looked at than the principal's position. We see throughout the field notes that many employees take out their phones to check social statuses. But as having a status on campus as an instructional aide it is encouraged that you do not use your phones other than to make important phone calls. As this position is not heavily looked at by upper administration, instructional aides abuse their status by using their phones freely.
(Interview Paper)
Front Stage & Back Stage:
With this concept of front stage and back stage I was able to conduct and create questions to have my interviewee think about some of the things they may do on a daily basis that may arise front stage and back stage concepts. Asking these questions about this particular concept, it was hard enough to have the interviewee stay on topic. Some of these interviews were longer than expected but they did provide me with enough information to highlight this concept.
"Just based upon my personality, I typically try to understand the personalities of the person that I'm working with. So if I have somebody who's coming, you know, into a situation that has a lot of countertransference, and they're acting from a place of, you know, they're having an emotional response themselves, I try and tweak the way in which I interact and engage with them. depending upon whether it's a parent who's grieving, you know, who's struggling just with how what's going on with their child, I try and make myself flexible and adaptable to different situations, depending upon what that person needs from me."
This quote shows that the interviewee expresses that her own personality is a huge part that plays within her job. She shows a bit of front stage by indicating that she has to make sure she "tweaks" the way she approaches each situation. By having this front stage role, it makes it certain for this interviewee to be careful on how they come about to work each day.
From this interview I could not find a way to grasp the backstage concept. I thought I conducted my questions enough to make sure that I got a decent idea of how they act in the backstage.
Away from the quote above, this next quote comes to us highlighting again the front stage and back stage.
"Umm yes, I feel that when students are present, that you don't know where they came from, you don't know if they've had a bit difficult day you don't know their background. And so I think it's important when they come into your room to be positive, no matter what's going on in your life. But to put that, leave that out the door, and to show up and give them love and attention and praise, because they may not be receiving that. And then when they're not in here, it's a lot of just like more paperwork and things like that. So I'm not as upbeat as I am when students are in the room."
With this quote we see that this interviewee is making certain that before coming to work and having encounters with students, that they bring a positive attitude and a supporting role. Once the child does then come onto campus, you must then show that kid all of these emotions to ensure they feel loved and safe. I believe that here demonstrates a good front stage concept because this quote shows us on how much time goes into prior to meeting their students or their work. A lot of our front stage happens prior to us getting on the "stage", it happens prior because it allows us to buffer and find a common motive to execute.
"Now they don't a lot of the parents will call the parents to say, this is what happened at school. And you know, can you have a talk with your child or like well that that's your job, you know, they want to have they want to be the, the lot of the parents want to be friends with their, their, their kids, and I want to be parents, they want to be friends. And they want us to do the discipline here at school. And then they'll turn that on us. So it's a real fine line."
As for this quote, this highlights more both of front stage and back stage. We see that when asking the interviewee the initial question they highlight that it is difficult to handle situations when parents and students are involved. We see that in this point of the interview the interviewee highlights that parent's expectations are higher and expect administrators and other employees on campus to shift their attention to the kids and ensure that their kids are being disciplined. By having parents not being responsible for their children's actions especially at school, it puts a harder responsibility on this interviewee because they feel that this institution is more of a disciplinary institution than an educational institution. By making it harder on the interviewee, it makes it more certain that they come to work prepared more than others.
Team (Teamwork):
When we discuss the topic of team, we need to have a common understanding that within the education institutions their employees rely heavily on teams. Teams are small number of people who work collaboratively to reach a common goal. Depending upon the type of positions you may ask about team, your answers may vary. For this instance I wanted to see how teams are valued and what attributes are key to having a team.
"I think there has to be a common purpose. So I think that, and that's what I've really seen here has been hugely successful is that everybody is here for the kid, nobody's here for anything other than the child. And so when you all are working within your individual areas of expertise to do what is best for kids, like you find that you can accomplish so many things. Communication, obviously, is really important. Trust is really important, when you know that your case manager is going to follow up on contacting parents and sending out assessment plans on time, and you know, that you've already had conversation about what the areas of concern are in advance."
From this Quote, we see that the common purpose on an education institution is the student. With so much focus on the student and the students success rate the responsibility of the student can sometimes land solely on an individual. With having so much responsibility on that individual to ensure that the student's success is accelerating, this institution encourages teams to reach the common goal of that student. The development of a team helps out these individuals who are working with student's educational goals because the responsibility is dispersed among the team.
A common interference of teams can be accountability and trust. As I conducted these questions each of the interviews had a something to say about trust and accountability. These two attributes were heavily influenced in all interviews, but what was noted is that everyone that is a part of a team is always wanting a team that is accountable for their actions and makes certain that they carry their responsibilities.
"She's allocated like a whole day for her scheduled to be just our students. And so she always asked me like, hey, what do you need? How can I support you? What can I do? And so that is wonderful. Just checking in with a school psychologist with your program specialist."
As shown above in this quote we see that having that extension of help and to be reliable can cause more of a collaborative motive. We see that in this quote as well that there is a consistency on how well these teams look out for one another. Presumably having that extra help may in fact create a better environment for workers who deal with students.
"In order for that team to be successful, everybody has to be 100% on board and doing what they're supposed to do. And they can't let each other down. Because as soon as one person that's their guard down, that's when somebody gets hurt."
As I have mentioned before that accountability is a key factor when having or being a part of the team. As we see here in this quote that the position of the police officer on campus relies heavily on teams. With being reliant on his team he also wants to make sure that members of his team understand that if we execute our task, then we all go home. Going home is also a big factor to having a team within this position, this position puts many people in situations that can be potentially harmful, but if all goes well with encounters on officers then everyone should be able to go home at the end of the day.
Roles:
When working on these questions and trying to figure out ways to highlight roles within their workplace was not as hard as I initially thought. When asking these questions you had a sense of where their answers were going to lead you, as we see down below in this quote we highlight the important responsibilities within our interviewee's position.
"You know, I have a number of responsibilities, the way that I see it all kind of boils down to one thing, I'm a supportive staff member, My responsibility is to be available for everyone, whether it's students, whether it's adults, teachers, parents, I'm a support staff member. And so I come in and I help individuals help to learn what a student's weaknesses are, what their challenges are, what their strengths are. And then it's my responsibility to after identifying those factors determine how we can utilize a student's strings to compensate or to, you know, actively work on their challenges."
From reading this quote there is a common theme of having a lot of responsibilities and keeping up to par with those responsibilities. These responsibilities are given to each individual at their desired position but in order to execute these responsibilities they need to make sure they execute them. If these individuals do not execute their role at their position, most likely they will be resigned. Roles are almost like hidden rules but if failed to obtain that role you may not find yourself in that role anymore.
Roles are always different from one another especially on the education campus. As we look below we see that this quote is from a specific position on campus. With having to make sure you are handling an IEP correctly can become a huge role. An IEP is an Individual Educational Plan for students who may have a learning disability. The rigorous amount of time an IEP takes can be de traumatizing to some but the IEP has so much of legal support behind it, it is hard to focus because by writing this IEP, if that report is not supported correctly, legal action is taken. By working this position it is a major role to make sure you are focused because one simple mistake can put you at risk for that role.
"You have to follow the IEP. And then when kids transition out, you have to do amendments to change their minutes on their IEP and things like that. Also communicating with parents, grading papers overseeing the IA's in the program, making sure that they know the kids needs and their goals."
When we look at the role of this position, officer, we see that there can be numerous amounts of roles that need to be dealt with...
"Well, as a police officer here at Campus, My responsibility is to be available, my responsibilities to try to make sure that the campus is safe, I respond to two other things that occur on campus, sometimes we have people that are on campus, and they don't belong on a campus.
From this quote we see that safety is a big responsibility to ensure on campus not only for students but for all members of the institution. Sometimes the odds may stack against you because roles can be a big responsibility but if you are required to serve other institutions that require the same role, it may be a difficult task when trying to execute that role when you are being asked to be here or there.
"Sometimes they respond to other schools to help other officers. It's a very huge umbrella that we fall under. And but the main thing is to make sure that people are safe"
Self:
This concept is only on how you may identify yourself when working within this institution. Self plays a big part of everyone's day, self is the tone setter of how you are motivated throughout the day. With asking questions about individuals self, it was easy to have an idea of how they go about each day.
"I start my day, the afternoon prior. So I have like, you know, a planner, I have a sheet that I work on every single day where I determine like, what my top priorities are, what my appointments are my meetings, things that I need to get done, I make sure that I'm aware of what all my deadlines are, because most of my job operates off of deadlines. So I have specific timelines in which I need to do things by and if I'm not following those timelines, and I'm in serious trouble."
With this quote we see that when dealing with a lot of timelines, deadlines or even events, it is always encouraged to have a planner. Noticing about having a planner is that it does keep you on track and to make sure you are creating goals and completing them at the same time. By doing so it can make oneself feel accomplished.
Below is a quote from the position of an instructor. This quote highlights that there is a sometimes a common interest with people among the institution they work at but not all the time do certain departments get along. As we see below that "luck" was in this person's favor because they seem to have friendships on campus and to also feel wanted and warm when noticing they have colleagues as their friends.
"You know what I feel like it's starting to shift right now where I'm, my friendships are becoming more at work now. And outside of work. I think that with special education, there's so much hard work that goes into an understanding our kids and communicating with the people that we work with, and just going through different difficult situations that I've worked at two different school sites now. And each site, the Special Education team gets along and cares about each other and like, wants to hang out with each other outside of work."
"..Our police group, we're very, we're very fortunate to have the officers that we have. Like I said earlier, I've been an officer for 27 years. And there's many officers in our department here. Did work with me at other local agencies. They have a lot of experience as well. So there's not that many of us. I want to say there's probably....19 of us, maybe if that if that for the whole district"
Above is another quote, from this quote there was nothing too much to highlight when asking about the concept of self. What we can say though is that this concept tells us that officers see themselves through their own lenses and do not care for other people's ideas about them.
Looking Glass Self:
From the looking glass self-concept we will highlight that this concept is on how we reflect on ourselves. Not always are we as individuals honest about ourselves when asking about ourselves. This concept helped me realize that many people are driven and motivated to make sure their looking glass self-mirrors their motives and actions.
"You know, that's the thing that's interesting about this position is not everybody realizes what you do, you're just kind of this person that runs around in your some places sometimes and you're other places, other times, and so you don't really see anyone on a consistent basis. And so it can be really easy to not be forgotten, but not to be at the forefront of people's minds. until something bad happens, you know, until there's a kid who's blowing up a classroom or was talking about hurting themselves or someone else or, you know, they're screaming in the middle of class, and then all of a sudden, then everybody knows who you are, and wants to know what you're doing and where you're at. But I've had a couple of situations that have happened at work recently that have made me realize that despite the fact that like, I don't sit around and talk about all the things that I do, it's going noticed, and it's going, you know, it's being noticed by multiple individuals, and they're finding ways of reaching out to me and letting me know that they appreciate me and they see what I'm doing and that they know, they appreciate me."
When asking this question I was fortunate to receive this answer. From this answer above we see that many people overlook certain positions on campus and with the commonality of overlooking hard working individuals it does not bother them. For instance above our interviewee talked about how all of their work goes unnoticed but as soon as a particular situation arises we see that there is much praise after the fact that the incident happened. It can be common like this in many fields across the board but as for individuals to better themselves and want what's best, they come prepared knowingly that their work goes unnoticed.
"I know that admin really appreciates us. I know that I've heard I don't deal a whole lot with Gen Ed. teachers. But I've heard from other RSP teachers that Gen Ed. teachers give them a difficult time because sometimes going to pull a kid out of a class to assess them or that student on their IEP states that they can retake a test. So sometimes there's pushback from Gen Ed. teachers about that. I know there was issues where there was a reading log from the language teachers and kids had to read at home for homework and have it initialed."
Again, above another quote where it talks about how many people feel the sense of acknowledgement is right because sometimes many of the motives that go unnoticed can cause grudges or even separate friendships. We see in the quote that many of faculty have no agreeance as to who works harder or who is doing what's best for that student.
"Like I was saying earlier, I know that there's some teachers that are happy that we're here. Some administrators are happy that we're here, when there's some that are, you know, and it's just kind of the way life is, there's people in the world that are happy. There's police officers, and there's people who enroll that can't stand this?"
From this quote we see that many people believe that having the extra help of certain positions is needed and not needed. We see that many of the faculty wish they could not have officers on campus but as hearing that as a solo officer at a school, that may sound bitter. Sometimes your ideas or suggestions can affect the way people feel about you or look at you. It just depends on how that person expresses that comment because if it is said in a meaningful way then that person can then feel defeated and does not want anything to do with their work or self.
(Content Analysis Paper)
Identity
Identity is one of the more common nodes that was highlighted. Identity is essentially defining a group by their culture or who they are. Having an identity causes you to have a set of norms and attitudes. With having the influence shaping the identity to your preference, it then shapes the rest of your team to hold that identity. For example:
"The Clovis West Area SOAR Transition Team's purpose is to provide support to students and families, by ensuring equal access to education and connecting them to resources through building relationships. As a team we will provide our students with the necessary tools and resources to meet their academic, social, and emotional needs."
This node is highlighted because this is one of the services that is accessible to students who may have a difficult time transition to school. This is a great example of identity because it tells us the mission of the Clovis West Area SOAR Transition Team. It helps us identify what their focus is as well.
Coming across more nodes to highlight identity, we come across this node:
"Some of the support systems available at your local school include:
· School psychologists, counselors and nurses available through every school site. These trained professionals are available for all students through self-, peer-, staff-, or parent-referral.
· Adult-led social skills groups led by trained staff exist around several social-emotional issues including loss and grief, eating disorders, suicide prevention and living with divorce.
· Peer counselors are also available to support students who are experiencing social or life stressors.
· Ninth grade students receive curriculum around social-emotional wellness in health classes.
· Staff may refer students who are exhibiting signs that they are struggling emotionally for further psychological evaluation by outside mental health services. This is often done in collaboration with a student's family.
· Special guest speakers are regularly featured at school around issues of self-respect and respect to others, suicide and substance abuse and other social-emotional topics."
This node is talking about the services that the district is providing these students. Going from a micro level of individual services to a bigger macro service, we see that the school district is making its identity known to be a great transitioning service.
As for our final quote from our identity node we want to highlight the identity from the psychologist.
"Psychological Services: School psychologists provide consultation with students and staff regarding school related issues and are part of the school assessment team. School psychologists may also facilitate support groups for loss, grief, anger management, etc. They are also available to support in linking students and families with appropriate community resources."
This quote above tells us the identity that is provided by the psychology services. Even though these services are mainly focused on the students, the services that are provided by the psychologist go beyond the students. They want to almost identify themselves as a service that can encourage them to get more help than what the school offers. The identity node was a great concept to highlight throughout this project, the identity that is shared here at this site is to provide and ensure safety and success for students.
Motivation
This motivation node is highlighted in this project because even though these services are provided, we still must make sure the motivation to provide and voice these services are to be known. Let us not forget that behind the motivation frame, it wants you to understand that this frame is here to make sure a problem is known but eventually that problem is being worked progressively. Here we will look at our quotes to help us understand them a bit more.
"An active Student Human Relations committee helps to give students a voice about the school climate and to keep staff members alert to any potential areas of concern. Ethnic student clubs help to connect students and build a sense of belonging. In addition, students at School can receive training as peer counselors, peer mediators, or eighth grade WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) mentors for seventh grade students. In addition, school students are invited to participate in Challenge Day sensitivity training that teaches them to identify their own issues and biases and how they can challenge themselves and others accept each other as who they are and celebrate everyone's contributions. All of these services are available to address the unique needs of adolescents facing very challenging issues in today's world."
This quote above helps understand that there is a service that is offered to make sure that everyone's voice is meant to be heard and acknowledged. This service is simply applied for all people of the campus to participate in a survey that potentially can provide change to curriculum, rules or services. Their motivation in this frame is to make sure that the students, administration and faculty make the proper and better choices to help ensure a better safe and successful environment.
As we keep touching up on the motivation frame we will look and analyze this quote we have:
"4 Schools that foster high expectations, caring, and meaningful participation also have lower rates of problem behaviors (such as dropping out, alcohol and other drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and delinquency) than other schools do. When teachers and other school staff members communicate their belief in students' ability to be successful, those students develop self-efficacy, self-awareness, and goals and aspirations"
We see that according to the quote that when a teacher communicates to a student and show inspiration within that student, that student's success rate rises, and self-awareness is attributed. This quote shows us the right form of motivation in the case of inspiration on a student's success, it tells us initially that schools have high expectations which puts a lot of stress on students but if teachers or faculty of a campus motivates and inspires kids, they will show levels of success at an increasing rate.
As for the final quote on motivation here is a glimpse of wanting kids to still achieve their academic goals:
"Students gain improved listening skills, communication skills and coping skills. These support groups are confidential and meet during the school day and students are expected to make up the work missed for that class and work with the teacher to stay caught up."
This quote above shows us that even though some students who encounter some mental health disabilities or are emotionally disabled, they can still outreach to a service to get help while that service is making sure that their academic work is still being met. This is motivation because this highlights that if you want services for your health, the school is willing to accommodate you with making sure you are caught up with your academic track. Motivation frame is a key concept to recognize because it can essentially help us achieve in the right places and make it somewhat easy for people to be in a service or in the classroom.
Agency
My third node for this project is agency. Agency is how the world is viewing this group or how this group constructed new ideas for the world. To understand a bit more an agency is there to help people change their attitude or behaviors to see the good it may provide for future people. Here are some quotes to help us understand this concept:
"I want to reach out to kids no matter who they are … I want them to know they can be successful," says Jesse Ceron as to why he works for Clovis Unified as a law enforcement officer and why he volunteers at his assigned school, school Intermediate, as a school club advisor."
This quote helps us look at the police agency on campus, on how it helps ensure that the kids see them as a symbol of safety and to have empowerment for focus on school and not harmful threats that may be outside of campus. Police agencies are always known for providing safety to the community and it's simply the same thing on school campus.
Here we will take a further look into another quote to show on how the empowerment of agency works.
"Our founding superintendent, Dr. Floyd Buchanan believed in a "fair break for every kid."
This quote may not seem like a lot, but it is an important quote that shows how agency pivots ideas and motives to make sure student academics are number one. This quote is by the founding father of the Clovis Unified School District and with this quote it almost left a legacy to those who want to pursue their employment with CUSD to make sure that the students come first.
"Clovis Unified police officers apply the same philosophy throughout the district. "They not only provide a safety net for our campuses," says Steve France who oversees CUSD's Police Services, "but they are also in a position to build positive relationships with our students and serve as role models across the district. They are a real asset."
Coming across another police quote, I just want to show you again on how agency is highlighted through their service. Particularly the police agency is to ensure the safety of their community, but their agency is provided to make sure that children growing up with police services at their school, replicate the respect they have for campus officers to the officers that are outside campus grounds. This goes a long way because having an agency concept being honored even away from the school site is an awesome way to have society.
Prognosis
Prognosis is the concept that is recognizing a solution that the group wants to go about solving a problem. As we will get to the diagnosis concept in our next node, we see that diagnosis is highlighting an injustice whereas prognosis is offering a solution to that problem. As we will see in these next few quotes, we will understand on how prognosis works with education platforms.
"Most recently, we updated the school safety plan in August 2018. These plans outline the steps to be taken in the event of a variety of emergencies such as school alerts, school lockdowns, emergency situations (duck and cover) and power outages. Emergency drills are held each month during the school year. To further maintain a safe and orderly school environment, a full-time police officer is assigned to patrol the campus daily. "
Here we see that the school district in this case offers solutions to students or faculty who may encounter a situation they are unfamiliar with. By offering the appropriate solutions to the particular manner it makes safety flexible. In addition to make sure that all these situations are handled smoothly they offer these drills/trainings almost every month.
Below we see this quote tying into relation with students. Students who may come from difficult backgrounds before or after school are always given the opportunity to join or seek help when tough times come up. In this quote we see that one of the main solutions to help kids succeed in academics and society is when kids get that appropriate help they thrive.
"Students who receive help and support to deal with pressing personal concerns will be better able to focus their remaining energy more efficiently on their schoolwork and important tasks of developing academically, socially, and emotionally."
If a solution is as easy as offering or making sure a student gets that help to make a better environment for themselves than this should be highlighted more than none.
"At some point in our lives, each of us faces a problem or situation that is difficult to resolve. When these instances arise, Halcyon will be there to help. Halcyon EAP is there to help you deal with life's challenges and the demands that come with balancing home and work. The program provides confidential, professional counseling for a wide array of personal and work-related concerns"
As the closing quote on prognosis, we look at this quote. This quote shows a small problem but then transitions into a solution by having the desired person to outreach them when the time in need comes. This service is a solution to those who need attention at hand, but this solution gives you're the closure that the program is professional and confidential to your needs. Solutions that do offer the closure of professionalism and confidential, those services must be cherished because the last thing you would like to have surface is you getting these special services for you.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis concept said previously is identifying more of the injustice of the group. When we are looking for a diagnosis, we are looking at ways that highlight that there is injustice within the surrounding community. In some of the quotes below we will understand more of what it means to have a diagnosis in a group setting.
"Often students experience personal or family challenges, situations and circumstances that may be beyond their control and can affect them in adverse ways."
This quote is showing us indicating that many students are bringing in diagnosis from outside the campus. Many times, it can be difficult for that student to focus when dealing with a diagnosis with this severity. Sometimes we can see that some diagnosis influences come from the school as well, but to make sure that these diagnoses are sometimes hard to facilitate and to work through because some of the solutions to these diagnoses are not always the best.
"1 in 5 youth and young adults' lives with a mental health condition"
This quote is a simple quote, but it does hint a powerful message. This statistic was provided over the school district's website. This diagnosis is highlighted because there are more cases of students having a mental health condition that requires them to have more attention than others. This quote is a highlight that should be paid attention to because this diagnosis of mental health conditions is getting to an all-time high especially around education institutions. Mental health is becoming more of aware across campuses but by addressing the diagnosis of mental instability the rise of services to handle this problem is wanted as well.
"At some point in our lives, each of us faces a problem or situation that is difficult to resolve. When these instances arise, Halcyon will be there to help."
Therefore, when we come across our final quote that highlights a service is handy to anyone who may feel a tough time coming along. Halcyon is a service that is provided to students and faculty are taken care of when a problem either on campus or off campus happens, but this service is always accessible to all people of the school district. Diagnosis is again the injustice for the groups, and it may not be their reason for the problems that occur, but it is only right to offer more services that are addressing more diagnosis and have proper solutions for them.
Conclusion
When going forward with these observations and field notes I did come across a lot of great information that was noticeable at first. After having a chance to slow things down and to see things from a different perspective, I can say that many people, accordingly to their situation, have defined roles and characteristics that differ from one another. Many of these roles, characteristics and concepts were noticed easily but with having a better understanding of how observations work, more of those concepts arises while making observations. This part of the project was enjoyable and it was fun to do this at a place that I admire.
Although I was nervous and anxious on my first interview, I began to feel comfortable as the process of these interviews kept going. I have to say that I believe that asking these individuals the questions I managed, it gave me great insight of how everyday these individuals go about each day. After analyzing and inputting my documents and hours of work I realized that these individuals are willing to cater, provide and support all people within their institution. With the responses they have gave me it indicated that they are invested in their institution and want what's essentially best for everyone especially children who are at this institution. In conclusion I find that this portion of the project was enjoyable and I enjoyed finding out fascinating things about people who work at educational institutions.
In conclusion this portion of the paper was an experience to learn. Even though some of the gathering of the documents was challenging I do believe that my documents that I was able to gather do provide enough information for us to highlight many concepts from the sociology realm. As we have talked about it before we highlighted majority of frame concepts: prognosis, diagnosis, identity, agency and motivation. These concepts were highlighted well in the acquired documents and as we have already discussed these concepts are shared throughout the district and the campus. The common goal of these concepts is to highlight many problems and provide different solutions to all people in the education institution.
Bibliography
Dillon, Michele. 2013. Introduction to Sociological Theory: Theorists, Concepts, and Their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved March 6, 2019 (https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csufresno/detail.action?docID=1566387).
Sandstrom, Kent, Daniel Martin, and Gary Alan Fine. 2006. The Nature and Significance of the Self. Chapter 4. Symbols Selves and Social Reality 2nd.ed. Retrieved March 7, 2019 (https://fresnostate.app.box.com/file/408800769118).
Justin Flores
