Fieldwriting: Chapter 8:
Reading this chapter was a great benefit to me. I learned so many things about producing a good paper but more importantly about how to produce a proper draft. This chapter is going to be a major resource as time goes on. With the due date coming at an absurd pace, the more good resources you have the better. We are going to start developing our first drafts soon enough and with that experience closing in on us I paid very close attention to the section entitled Drafting Drafts.
This section was very interesting but was much more helpful than anything. It helped me understand where to start. Often times in the past, I would sit down to conduct drafts and would be completely blank. My mind would lock up and I could not think of anything to say or write. This section is written to help you with that. It tells us to just lay out all of our information and let that information speak to you. That is such a great idea. Samantha and I have seven sets of fieldnotes, four writing assignments, several archives, and two interviews. If we just lay out everything we have and analyze it in depth, we should have plenty of ideas to begin with. The information that we have obtained is extensive and laying it out in front of us to analyze will do more for us than give us ideas. It will help us to understand what is missing, where holes in our information are, what else we need, etc. It is just a good practice to engage in. Once all of the information is laid out in front of you, the next step is to figure out what information you want to you and what order it will be in. The book gives several examples of how you could go about organizing your information. Some place all of it on files on a computer, lay out your sheet on the floor and move them around, or have color coated file folder. However you choose to organize your data is up to you and what you feel most comfortable with. After you have organized your information, you then must start piecing information together and eliminating irrelevant information. This is going to be a nightmare unless you have everything laid out and organized. “Selecting appropriate data is perhaps the most complicated part of creating a first draft” (Fieldwriting, 422). The most important thing you can do while writing your first draft is take it “bird by bird.” In other words, you need to take your writing step by step or story by story and just take your time on each section before you move on to the next. Grasping this concept will help you write a successful first draft, and you can make corrections and additions in future drafts. However, for now just take it “’bird by bird,’ one section, one draft, at a time.”
Another extremely important aspect of producing a successful draft is analyzing your “finished” product. We have had to analyze our fieldnotes several times throughout this year. We had to ask ourselves: What surprised us? What intrigued us? What disturbed us? We should be very well rehearsed in how to ask these questions and what we need to say in order to answer them correctly. Now that we have a “finished” draft we have something to look at. We need to ask ourselves these questions and analyze what we have to see what we could possibly do to make our draft better. Once we have done a thorough analysis we will be able to understand what else we need to add to make our draft the best it can possibly be.
This chapter was full of great information that we can use to make a wonderful draft. It has taught me a lot about the process of conducting a good draft and the steps that one must take. Most importantly, I learned not to stress over this process. We have put in the hard work to gather all of the information we need, now it is just time to analyze that information and organize it as best we can. This chapter will probably be the most important to me from the book fieldworking; however, I have greatly enjoyed reading this book. It has provided me with several resources to use as it comes time to produce our final work. It has made me feel more prepared than I ever thought I would be. I know now that if I have any questions I will be able to find the answer in Fieldworking. I plan to use this book in every way possible as we begin to develop our final ethnography. I know that with these instructions by my side I will certainly do great!
Table of Contents:
*New additions to the Table of Contents are bolded:
Fieldnotes:
1. Fieldnotes #1:
It is a list of information on all of the different forms of communication and reading in the game of basketball. This is what my initial code book is based off of.
2. Fieldnotes #2:
This is a set of fieldnotes I conducted over a scrimmage, that I observed the basketball players participating in. There is a lot of good “in game” information involved.
3. Fieldnotes #3
It is a set of fieldnotes that I and Samantha conducted together over a particular practice. This is probably our most extensive set of fieldnotes. This provides us with “in practice” information.
4. Fieldnotes #4
This is a set of fieldnotes that Samantha and I conducted on Monday during the Texas A&M-Commerce basketball game against DBU. Shows game time situations and reading and gives us good insight into an actual game performance.
5. Fieldnotes #5
This is a set of fieldnotes taken over another men’s basketball practice. Samantha and I have noticed that as time has progressed, the players are becoming more rehearsed in the talent of reading.
6. Fieldnotes #6
This is a set of fieldnotes conducted over a practice that the team had recently. We are continuing to learn more about how players react in different situations. Watching practice has been good for us. We have been able to see how the Commerce men’s basketball team operates. We will probably conduct one or two more set of fieldnotes over practice and possibly one or two from a game.
7. Fieldnotes #7
This is yet another set of fieldnotes conducted over practice. It has begun to seem repetitive that we visit practice so much; however, we learn so much each time. Every time we have gone we have learned something new and written something new into our notes that will benefit us for our final project. We have an abundance of great information.
Writing Assignments:
1. WA1:
This assignment is written using Deborah Brandt’s article as a guideline. It is heavy on the idea of sponsorship and literacy. Those two ideas are very important for our project and this WA will prove to be invaluable.
2. WA2:
This assignment surrounds the idea of finding literacy in a community of Commerce. I chose the basketball team and found a lot of good information that will help us to define literacy in the basketball community.
3. WA3:
This assignment is an overview of what all I hope to accomplish with this project. It is my research proposal and in my eyes will be used as a checklist to make sure that everything I want this project to be, will match up to my proposal.
4. WA4:
It has been completed. This is a 6 minute video over the developing basketball literacy of a player here in Commerce (Andrew Davis). This video is very well conducted and will be a major source on our final ethnography. It turned out great.
Interviews:
1. Coaches:
Coach Sam Walker:
We conducted an interview with Sam Walker earlier in the week. This turned out to be a great interview. Lucky for Samantha and I, Coach Walker loves to talk. We got some great information from him and this interview will play a key role in future aspects of our project.
2. Players:
Andrew Davis:
Samantha conducted an interview with me about the different types of reading in a game and also about my history of literacy in the sport. The interview starts out discussing my younger experiences and finishes discussing more about the present.
Archives:
1. Pictures:
I have collected an assortment of various pictures from my fieldsite. The majorities of these pictures were used in my WA2 and will be available in that assignment. Most of the pictures show the opportunity for different kinds of literacy coming out in this community. They will be very important.
We have gathered even more photos of players. With all the time that we spend at practice there is plenty of opportunities to gather some great photos. Samantha and I stayed one day after practice and got some photos of me in action and stationary to help with our WA4 and whatever else calls for them.Game Photos:
Now that the basketball team is playing games there is a new opportunity for us to gather photos of game time situations. We have attended some of these recently played games and gathered some good game time situational reading.
2. Media Guide:
It is just another archive that I have gathered. It is a book that has the history of the program as well as what is going on in the present. It is very important that we analyze this for literacy and use it to possibly find sponsors.
3. Videos:
Along with game time photos, we have a variety of videos (or excerpts) of game play and plan on using this in our WA4 as well as our final ethnography.
Our WA4 is a major contributor in this area as it is finished and ready to go. It will contribute to our project in numerous ways. We are very pleased with how it turned out.
There are several important themes that continue to reoccur to us. The most important is the basic ability to read by player and how they do so. This is the most important part of our project and grasping an understanding of this will allow us to answer our research question. We have attended several men’s basketball practice and continue to learn new information with every visit. We are able to watch some of the player’s reading ability develop right before our eyes. We have been watching all of these guys since the practices started and have been able to notice how their reading skills have advanced since they have become more comfortable with the team. This is an import set of information for us to have. To have been able to witness the player’s reading abilities get better has helped us understand the aspect of reading a little bit better. We did our WA4 video over the development of a player’s basketball literacy over his lifetime, and to be able to see it actually happen a little bit in practice was pretty cool. We are starting to understand how literacy can function outside of the classroom and not just be limited to books and reading. Literacy can be something that one can express physically such as in the game of basketball. Our research question deals with how literacy functions this way and I believe that we have enough information to accurately answer that question. Our project is coming along great and we are pleased every day with the advances that we continue to make. We are almost done collecting information for our final ethnography but there still is a few remaining variables. We need to collect just a couple more sets of fieldnotes. We have an abundance of these and the information from them is great but I think that we need one more set of notes over game time situations. Also we need to conduct one more interview at the least. I think with the time remaining one interview will be all that we can do, but that is all we really need. This interview will need to be with another player. We have not decided which player that we will interview but based off our notes from practices we will make the best decision possible. We will choose the player that we think will give us the most useful answers. Once all of these remaining variables are taken care of we will have all we need to start producing our final ethnography. We are excited about where we are and we truly believe that our ethnography is going to be great and very educational to any outsiders!
Code Book:
*We have added the 1 & 2 code to each of the categories. 1 = If the player who was doing that type of reading was on the same page as the player he was reading. 2 = If the player who was doing that type of reading miss-communicated with his teammate and there was a problem resulting. 2a = If the player missed his teammates clues altogether. Also we have added the N/A code. N/A = There was no reading done at all in that certain situation.
* NEW ADDITIONS ARE BOLDED
Reading players actions: Code: (PA) (PA1) (PA2) (PA2a)
Ex. Shuffling of feet, Body language, Head nods, Hand gestures, etc.
2. Reading players eyes: Code: (RPE) (RPE1) (RPE1) (RPE2a)
Ex. Certain looks, where they are looking on the floor, etc.
3. Verbal Communication: Code: (VC) (VC1) (VC2) (VC2a)
Ex. Play calls, Coach’s instruction, one word descriptions, anything verbal, etc.
4. Reading physical actions: Code: (RPA) (RPA1) (RPA2) (RPA2a)
Ex. Changes in directions, changes in speed, where the ball moves, etc
5. Reading Surroundings: Code: (RS) (RS1) (RS2) (RS2a)
Ex. The scoreboard, the crowd, the coach, the refs, etc.
6. No reading took place at all: Code: (N/A)
Ex. A player may score on his own or do something out of pure instinct rather than by reading players on the floor.
7. Scores as a result of reading: (SWR)
Ex. If a player scores from reading then we will place (SWR) next to the type of reading that the player engaged in.
8. Misses the shot but was able to create a scoring opportunity as a result of reading: (MWR)
Ex. If a player is able to create a shot opportunity as a result of reading; however misses the attempted shot then we will place (MWR) next to the type of reading he engaged in.
9. Coach makes call based on reading: (CR)
Ex. A coach calls a play because he reads something in the defense or because of time on the clock.
10. Coach’s play call works: (CR1)
Ex. The play that the coach called is successful as results in a score.
11. Coach’s play call fails: (CR2)
Ex. The play that the coach called is unsuccessful and results in a missed shot.
