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Cecilia Sun
April 17, 2016
Junior Seminar/ Pd.2

Ethnography of Subgroups in Wootton High School: Nutrition Class

Every group of people, small or large, has very distinct characteristics that can be used to
describe them. High schools clearly represent this phenomenon. In Montgomery County alone,
there are 26 public high schools, and each has a well-defined reputation specifically matching the
dynamics of the students and teachers at the school. These distinctions can also be named as
culture, which defines as the ideas, customs, and social behaviors of a particular people or
society. Within these cultures of these high schools are also noticeable subcultures. This includes
a sports team, the theater, clubs, honor societies, or simply classes.
In an effort to study the culture of a specific subgroup within Wootton high school, I
conducted an ethnographic study of Ms. Daugherty's second-period honors nutrition class.
The study divides into three main portions. One: Two forty-five minute class periods of
observation, where notes are taken about the behaviors of the student-teacher interactions, as
well as the overall atmosphere. Two: Two interviews are conducted - one with a student, and one
with Ms. Daugherity. The student interview gives an opinionated description and point of view,
and the teacher interview gives further background information and their point of view about the
class. Three: A reflection of the ethnographic study is written about the findings.

The following research paper further explains in detail the discoveries of this study.

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Ms. Daugherty's second-period nutrition class clearly defines as an exclusive group that
only includes the twenty-six registered students and one teacher. Therefore, observations are
done from an outside objective, and the study of the specific culture in the classroom is impartial.
Despite the neutrality when conducting the ethnographic study, there are still biases that
can potentially skew its legitimacy. Perhaps the biggest source of bias resides in that I currently
have Ms. Daugherity as my honors chem teacher (4th period). Therefore, my prior knowledge of
her and the way she teaches keeps away an unbiased point of view. In addition, I have always
had a positive outlook on nutrition class because it sounds very interesting and useful. This acts
as another point of potential bias since I will most likely notice more positive things than
negative. Lastly, I also have friends in this specific class, which can also skew my point of view.
My attention, being pulled to them and their actions can lead me to miss out on some of the other
students.

Biases and obstacles aside, in order to fully understand this ethnographic study of Ms.
Daugherty's second-period honors nutrition, certain background information is necessary for
discussion.

Room 207, the classroom that holds this specific class, locates at the very end of the
science wing across the bridge above the common area at Wootton High School. To place into
further perspective, the classroom sits right on the corner above the left stairwells from the main
entrance of the school.
The classroom itself looks like a cross between a traditional classroom with single arm
desks, and a science lab with black, long desks, suitable for two people, and a back lab area.
Room 207 has the long desks, but no back lab area. 16 of these desks fill the space, four by four.

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This set up allows for easy partner discussion and collaboration, ideal for science courses. With
high ceilings, rectangular tiles of lights brighten the room. In addition, a wall of windows brings
in natural lighting, which elevates the overall mood of the classroom and learning environment.
The availability of a Promethean board also enhances the students learning opportunities. In the
front left corner, a storage room containing lab materials and other scientific instruments
connects with other adjacent science classrooms. Overall, the honors nutrition classroom setting
is quite large and comfortable when compared to other rooms in the school.

In this education promoting classroom, Ms. Daugherity leads the class in learning
interesting and useful information about the importance of nutrition.

Ms. Daugherity graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park and got her
degree in secondary education and chemistry. Though she majored in chemistry, Ms. Daugherity
has always found herself reading up on nutrition-related topics, and it was that branch of
science that [she] got really interested in. If I were to go back to college, says Ms. Daugherity,
Id probably major in nutrition. Now at Wootton, she teaches both honors chemistry and
honors nutrition, and one can really see that she is passionate in teaching in both subjects.
Nutrition has been taught by herself for 6 years and thats also when the course started at
Wootton High School. On-level nutrition, however, has been in the county for a longer time.
Whats perhaps the most compelling aspect of this investigatory course is that its a lot
more hands on in terms of projects and labs. At least one lab is done each week and a foodrelated lab every two weeks. This style of teaching really allows the students to understand the
material being taught a lot easier. I was fortunate to have witnessed one of these labs during my
observation days .

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My two observation periods on Ms. Daugherty's honors nutrition class occurred on


Wednesday, April 6, 2016, and Monday, April 11, 2016, both from 8:45 am to 9:30 am.

-Wednesday, April, 6 2016 : Looking for Lipids Lab-

Around 8:45am, when second-period begins, Ms. Daugherity stands behind the main
teachers desk and starts talking about the plans for the day. For a few seconds, the class is still
finishing up conversations brought on by the five minutes in-between class time. At this point,
some students are reading along to the lab and paying attention, some are doing their own work,
and one to three students are slouching back and on their phones. Valerie, sitting in the back right
corner enjoys a tangerine while listening to instructions. Rachel sits in the middle, back area, and
drinks her Starbucks while looking at her phone.
I think the students comfort may pertain to two main reasons. One: The class is made up
of 20 seniors and 6 juniors; 18 females, and 8 males. Because the majority of the class are
seniors, the dynamic changes to a more laid back feeling, rather than the stressful atmosphere of
an all juniors class. Overall, says Ms. Daugherity, The discipline in [class] gets the most
challenging during the fourth quarter with seniors. Just because, attendance base, and just lack of
effort Two: Ms. Daugherity, as described by Junior Valerie, Is just a really nice person and
we all like her and respect her. The teacher plays a large role in the students enjoyment of the
course. If a teacher is easy to talk to and makes the class fun, the course becomes greatly more
enjoyable and the energy shifts towards a more positive and light feeling. From my observations,
I see that this easy going atmosphere at most appropriate times. Not only do the students feel
comfortable about being themselves in the classroom and voicing their opinions, the students

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also feel a connection with Ms. Daugherity. During the lab around 9:12, Tej calls Ms. Daugherity
over to his group and asks her about college. Ms. Daugherty kindly engages in the conversation
and this action adds to the closeness the students feel about her.
Ive also noticed that Ms. Daugherity often talks with her hands while speaking with a
clear and loud voice. Liveness and interaction are crucial elements in having a progressive
learning environment as it draws the attention of the students.
The class is also obedient towards the instruction they have been given. Around 8:52,
when Ms. Daugherity asks the students to take out papers from the day before, every does so
swiftly. Jack, realizing that he does not have the paper, gets up and walks over to the table on the
left side of the room to get one. At this same time, Valerie gets up to throw away her tangerine
peels.
Ms. Daugherity continues to explain the procedures and different assets of the Lab. She
first picks up the flask that contains the enzymes and walks around the classroom with her heels
sounding. This way, the students are more engaged in learning about the enzymes and their role
in the lab. Around 8:59, Ms. Daugherity walks towards the back table containing different
materials involving in the lab also in an effort to further explain the procedures of the lab and
what materials each step needs. Ms. Daugherity's thorough explanations are really helpful as they
provide the students knowledge on exactly how to carry out this lab step by step. I can tell that
the students really appreciate this.
Now 9:00, Ms. Daugherity tells the class to get into groups of four with the people
around them. Mostly everyone gets into their groups quickly, but I notice that a few students,
including James, does not have one. As described by Valerie, we all have our little cliques,
especially the seniors. Ms. Daugherity also notes that we have kids that do not have so many

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friends, but there are always groups that are very welcoming. So when James walked up to Ms.
Daugherity telling her he does not have a group yet, she quickly assigned him to a group and
they began working quite well.
The other groups of students at this point are splitting up to get materials like aprons,
goggles, and different lab equipments. With everyone spread out, the students appear to either
distance themselves for a quick while to look at their phones or to use the time to talk with each
other. While groups are working diligently, students will often go up to the front desk and ask
Ms. Daugherity questions, or pull her over to ask them as she circles the room.
Throughout the lab process, there is a continuing pattern of more focused students and
less self-indulge students. There are a couple four all-girls groups and they all seem to be staying
on task and working through the lab as planned. Other groups, including all boys groups, seem
less focused. At 9: 06, Rachel asks Ms. Daugherity, How much of each thing should we use?
About half way. At 9:17, Jake asks, Do you want the color of the solution or the PH paper?
Ms. Daugherity responds, The color of the phenol red and the number of the PH. These
questions sound completely reasonable and legitimate until you realize that these particular steps
have been repeated by Ms. Daugherity many times and it is also written in the lab directions.
These simple conversations show that some students choose not to pay attention when they need
to in class, but rather relies on the teacher and others to tell them the steps when they want to
hear it. This mentality of these specific students may pertain to that they are seniors and therefore
slightly less invested in their classes, its just the way they get by in school. Nevertheless, Ms.
Daugherity is very kind to help even if the questions could have been avoided.

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At 9:20, two groups are done with their lab and Ms. Daugherity takes them into the
storage room to put the test tubes in the incubator. Other groups, following the actions of the first
two groups, also does the same with their test tubes.
Around 9:22, Ms. Daugherity begins gathering materials and tells the students to return
any borrow sharpies and clean up their spaces.
People began lining up in the back of the room promptly at 9:27 and leaves at 9:29.

-Monday, April, 11 2016 : Lipoproteins LectureThe beginning of the class period is very similar to the previous observation day. Some
students are finishing up conversations and a couple are going to the back of the room to pick up
papers.
Around 8:50, Ms. Daugherity starts by assigning the class a brief project. The students
are facing forwards and paying attention.
So assume youre taking in 2,000 calories a day, figure out how many calories of fat that
is, the low and high, and then convert that into grams of fat. So you can figure out a range, a
daily range, um, for low value and high-value fat.
Julie asks,So basically for this, like the items are all the processed foods?
No it could be, it could be a stick of butter in your house; use that. If you have a bottle
of olive oil, you can use that.
Marissa raises her hand and asks, So like theres foods and beverages like the literal
snacks that you eat, or theres like, like an ingredient that you use
Ms. Daugherity answers, Yea, like if you use eggs, eggs will have fattening agents. So
yea you can use individual food items or you can use something pre-made already in the package
too

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Easy conversations like these happen in an environment where the teacher and students
both feel comfortable. Julie and Marissa asks what they feel as necessary, and Ms. Daugherity
does not hesitate to respond with specific examples of what products to use for the project.
This assignment also displays the great opportunity for nutrition class to be used outside
of the classroom. As confirmed by junior Valerie, I Definitely think its one of the most
applicable classes I've taken. I feel like I learned lots of things about foods that I can actually use
when Im buying food at the grocery store or at a restaurant or something.
Promptly at 8:53, Ms. Daugherity starts the lecture on lipoproteins.
Again, the pattern holds that the majority of the students may attention and take notes
while others are having side conversations or are on their phones. A reasonable explanation for
this may be that the students simply all have different learning styles. Another aspect may be that
the students need to accommodate their behaviors to the style of the teacher and the classroom.
As mentioned before, the dynamic and atmosphere of this particular class is light, therefore, the
students are also likely to ease their stress level and attitude.
I also notice that during lectures, there are not many student to teacher interactions. When
Ms. Daugherity is speaking, the class is listening. This may pertain to the nature of nutrition as
there are not much room for discussion during note-taking time, or due to the fact that the
students prefer to stay quiet during lectures. Either way, this particular aspect of the class is
unique and it says a lot about the personalities of the students and the teacher.
Around 9:11, Ms. Daugherity tries to engage the class in conversation and asks, Has
anyone heard of a molecule called DHA? However, she does not give the class enough time to
answer and quickly moves on to answer it herself.

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After about 20 minutes, the lecture on lipoprotein finishes at 9:12. In comparison to other
classes, this lecture is quite short. It seems that since nutrition is an elective course, the content is
not as heavy.
To further practice the new information just learned. Ms. Daugherity hands out an article,
front and back with eight multiple choice questions.
At this time, students begin talking with their table mates and eating again. Rachel gets
up to go to the restroom around 9:21 and Jake stops her and had to have a two second
conversation. Steven has his head down and appears to be taking a short nap. Ben has his
headphones in, listening to music. Shawn is slouching back in his chair while looking at his
phone. All these students mentioned and some others display their regular personas in the
classroom.
Alright guys we will be going over this lab tomorrow. Later this week we will be doing
a lab where we extract the fat out of chicken nuggets so be ready for that, says Ms. Daugherity
in excitement at 9:30.
With this,my observation periods of this class conclude.
From this brief ethnographic study, Ive learned a lot about Ms. Daugheritys secondperiod nutrition class and its position as a subgroup within the larger Wootton community. Its
really interesting to observe another class and see the different atmosphere and dynamic.
Nevertheless, my research only pertains to one aspect of Wootton, therefore, it cannot be used to
measure against the whole school. With this being said, Ms. Daugheritys class, from the course
materials to the student attitudes, are interesting and unique factors of a specific subculture at
Wootton High School.

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