Ethnographic Madness

I thought Heath's reflections on things she would have done differently was illuminating. I was surprised that she said she would have eliminated the section section of the book, because I found reading about teacher strategies very intriguing. The idea of re-reading one's work with new eyes is important, because as researchers we have to look back on our previous work with a critical lens. I found this interesting while working on my QP because Peter Elbow spends considerable time in later works explaining prior works. I think it is important as researchers to realize that we are always works in progress.

Some important points from the article:
1. Heath notes that other researchers made her consider just how important her own backbground was to the writing. I think our class discussion reflected a desire to know more about her and her methods. I do think an appendix listing the methods she used would be incredibly helpful to unraveling some of the complexities of ethnographic research.
2. The idea that she had multiple roles that sometimes overlapped was important, particularly as we consider doing ethnographic research in the classroom. It is never possible to eliminate our student self or our teacher self when we do research. Instead, we have to do our best while trying to look outside of our own expectations nad experiences.
"Stepping entirely out and away from any of these roles and their associated value systems was impossible, as was any strict separation of these roles" (Heath, p. 259).
3. "Unless it is in a specific delimited comparison of events, behaviors, or values held by two or more groups, good ethnography should not describe what people do not do; to use such negatives is to suggest that they should be doing something other than what they do" (263).