This ethnographic narrative follows my journey as a fifth grade teacher in the greater Los Angeles area. The purpose of this ethnography is to follow the development of my journey as a first-year teacher. In this ethnography, I explore my positionality and the levels of community, school, and classroom as ways to inform and improve my teaching practices as a social-justice educator. I begin this four part narrative by discussing my positionality and how it relates to my desires of becoming a teacher. Through this narrative, I was then able to conduct three case studies of students with different identities and needs. As I studied my students’ environments: community, school, classroom, and home, I learned of the importance that student-teacher relationships have on student academic achievement and socio-emotional well-being. This ethnographic narrative, however, was abruptly interrupted by a global pandemic as a result of COVID-19. There were nationwide school closures and schooling resulted in distance learning. COVID-19 was a true testament that a successful classroom ecology and positive student-teacher relationships are key to academic excellence whether it is in a physical or virtual classroom.
","abstract_html":"<p>This ethnographic narrative follows my journey as a fifth grade teacher in the greater Los Angeles area. The purpose of this ethnography is to follow the development of my journey as a first-year teacher. In this ethnography, I explore my positionality and the levels of community, school, and classroom as ways to inform and improve my teaching practices as a social-justice educator. I begin this four part narrative by discussing my positionality and how it relates to my desires of becoming a teacher. Through this narrative, I was then able to conduct three case studies of students with different identities and needs. As I studied my students’ environments: community, school, classroom, and home, I learned of the importance that student-teacher relationships have on student academic achievement and socio-emotional well-being. This ethnographic narrative, however, was abruptly interrupted by a global pandemic as a result of COVID-19. There were nationwide school closures and schooling resulted in distance learning. COVID-19 was a true testament that a successful classroom ecology and positive student-teacher relationships are key to academic excellence whether it is in a physical or virtual classroom.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Nunez, Stephanie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Teacher Education Internship Program (MA/Credential)","degree_level":"Open Access Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"School of Educational Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:36Z","subjects":["Classroom Ecology","Social Justice Educator","Greater Los Angeles","Pandemic","Distance Learning","Curriculum and Instruction","Curriculum and Social Inquiry","Early Childhood Education","Educational Methods","Elementary Education","Elementary Education and Teaching","Online and Distance Education","Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/164","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Nunez, Stephanie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-08-07T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Educational Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Teacher Education Internship Program (MA/Credential)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Classroom Ecology","Social Justice Educator","Greater Los Angeles","Pandemic","Distance Learning","Curriculum and Instruction","Curriculum and Social Inquiry","Early Childhood Education","Educational Methods","Elementary Education","Elementary Education and Teaching","Online and Distance Education","Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/164"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This ethnographic narrative follows my journey as a fifth grade teacher in the greater Los Angeles area. The purpose of this ethnography is to follow the development of my journey as a first-year teacher. In this ethnography, I explore my positionality and the levels of community, school, and classroom as ways to inform and improve my teaching practices as a social-justice educator. I begin this four part narrative by discussing my positionality and how it relates to my desires of becoming a teacher. Through this narrative, I was then able to conduct three case studies of students with different identities and needs. As I studied my students’ environments: community, school, classroom, and home, I learned of the importance that student-teacher relationships have on student academic achievement and socio-emotional well-being. This ethnographic narrative, however, was abruptly interrupted by a global pandemic as a result of COVID-19. There were nationwide school closures and schooling resulted in distance learning. COVID-19 was a true testament that a successful classroom ecology and positive student-teacher relationships are key to academic excellence whether it is in a physical or virtual classroom.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Perfecting the Craft of Teaching"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Nunez, Stephanie"],"dc:date.available":["2020-08-07T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This ethnographic narrative follows my journey as a fifth grade teacher in the greater Los Angeles area. The purpose of this ethnography is to follow the development of my journey as a first-year teacher. In this ethnography, I explore my positionality and the levels of community, school, and classroom as ways to inform and improve my teaching practices as a social-justice educator. I begin this four part narrative by discussing my positionality and how it relates to my desires of becoming a teacher. Through this narrative, I was then able to conduct three case studies of students with different identities and needs. As I studied my students’ environments: community, school, classroom, and home, I learned of the importance that student-teacher relationships have on student academic achievement and socio-emotional well-being. This ethnographic narrative, however, was abruptly interrupted by a global pandemic as a result of COVID-19. There were nationwide school closures and schooling resulted in distance learning. COVID-19 was a true testament that a successful classroom ecology and positive student-teacher relationships are key to academic excellence whether it is in a physical or virtual classroom.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/164"],"dc:subject":["Classroom Ecology","Social Justice Educator","Greater Los Angeles","Pandemic","Distance Learning","Curriculum and Instruction","Curriculum and Social Inquiry","Early Childhood Education","Educational Methods","Elementary Education","Elementary Education and Teaching","Online and Distance Education","Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education"],"dc:title":["Perfecting the Craft of Teaching"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Educational Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Teacher Education Internship Program (MA/Credential)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:36Z"}