Explanations of minority school failure incorporate native definitions of failure and minority group membership. They are limited by their starting assumptions and they are apologies for our present system. Minority school failure and its explanations by social scientists are two levels of the same process that we need to confront. (Author/VM)

This paper critically reviews administrator work activity studies which follow the research of Henry Mintzberg. It discusses directions for future research using qualitative and quantitative methods and discourages research that relies solely on Mintzberg's structure. (Author/JAZ)

Discusses the relevance of the anthropological or ethnographic approach to journalism. Suggests ways that an appreciation of this methodology can help journalism students become more effective and perceptive in their future careers by nudging them out of the commonsense work perspective and requiring greater empathy and involvement with sources.…

Socializing effects that carpooling has on pre-school and elementary students were studied. The behavioral patterns and roles that emerge in this setting were examined and their impact on the developing child analyzed. Three carpool-generated relationships identified were intimate, combatant, and obligatory. Socialization occured concurrently…

Examines the use of "directed ethnography," a collaborative ethnographic approach, found to improve the work of Ladino teachers in rural Yucatan community schools. The participating teachers analyze the collected community data and modify their teaching style/curriculum materials to reflect the experience of their Maya Grade 3 students.…

Loosely coupled educational organizations exhibit structural similarities to preliterate societies in their lack of formal leadership and control. The identification of social outsiders as "witches" to explain disasters affecting preliterate societies may have its counterpart in educational organizations when nonconformists are…

Native American science is defined as activities of native peoples of the New World in observing physical phenomena and attempting to explain and control them. Problems in studying native science, ethnoscience and native science, archaeostronomy and ethnoastronomy, ethnobotany, agriculture, technology, and future directions are discussed. (JN)

Reviews the work of James M. McCallister, who examined content area reading in school settings in the 1920s. (FL)

Notes that the street-based commitments and engagements of young black men in Port-of-Spain, largely reflect their intention to seek and to design certain sorts of sociality. (Author)

This book explores changing understandings of literacy and its place in contemporary workplace settings. It points to new questions and dilemmas to consider in planning and teaching workplace education. By taking a social perspective on literacies in the workplace, this book challenges traditional thinking about workplace literacy as functional…

While the research literature on teaching as a form of scholarship has been growing, there has been a concomitant growth in understanding that teaching itself is a kind of performance--an interactive dramaturgical relationship between students and teachers with potential positive outcomes for student learning, motivation, discovery, and community.…

This paper analyzes the connections between the oral genres displayed by Gitano (also known as Gypsies or Romani) children and adults during religious instruction classes of an Evangelist Church and the writings produced by Gitano children in a computer after-school program of the same community. Subjects were Gitano children (n=30), ages 5-13…

This paper examines the oral and written discourse processes in a high school physics class and how these discourse processes are related to sociocultural practices in scientific communities. The theoretical framework is based on sociological and anthropological studies of scientific communities and ethnographies of classroom life. The use of…

This paper describes a study of a speech community, a group of approximately 10 women, aged 25 to 65, who met at least 3 times a month to knit, drink coffee, and chat. The paper notes that knitting circles have survived through history because they serve a social function that surpasses historical events--they are communities that co-construct the…

The term "venting" has been used interchangeably with negatively-connotated words like "outburst,""bitching,""complaining," and with more functional words like "disclosing." A literature review of venting showed that researchers have approached the term from multiple perspectives. Because of the…