Field Notes 2

My second week of fieldwork took place at the same location where my previous week of field work had taken place, known as bow staff high school, during a similar time frame, 12:20 pm until 1:40 pm, on Wednesday September 10.

When I began my observations two off the three groups that had been present under the outdoor awnings during my previous observation session were present, those groups being the rockets and the drawers. These groups were composed of the same students they had been in my previous field work session but where not seated at the same tables as they had been. However the new seats they had taken where in similar areas to the seats they had held previously. This leads me to believe that while group membership may be relatively homogenous, the selection of tables is based more on opportunity than previously established trends. During my initial observations, the groups appeared to be doing much the same as they had during the previous weeks observations, the rockets were studying individually while the drawers appeared to be eating lunch and partaking in conversation. 

Despite the similarities between the first and second observation sessions outside no students were inside the oxygen building studying like there had been during the first week. Two possible reasons for this difference could have been simply the change in day from Thursday to Wednesday or there could have been a test I was not aware of during the first week of observations, leading to more students studying during those observations.

The first change to the students present was when three female students arrived with food and joined the drawers. At this point the already established group had finished eating and was commencing in conversation, but this conversation was not interrupted by the arrival of the new students which leads me to believe that they were already a part of that social group. Later in the observation period two male members of the previously observed group the doors arrived with drinks from Macready’s a deli that members of that group had visited during my previous observations, and began to commence in conversation while sitting at a table near where they had sat thee previous week. At approximately 1:00 pm a solitary student arrived and sat under the outdoor awnings at a table away from the groups that where already sitting outside and began studying.

For the most part all groups present only participated in one activity during my observation with the exception of the rockets that finished studying and began to participate in conversation. In comparison to the previous week of observation, there was much less activity and far fewer students. After more observation it appears that most trips to Macready’s deli are for drinks and not for food and that location is not held constant by the groups that meet outside, but more observation is needed to tell if this is an accurate assessment of the situations.