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 FOURTH EDITION

A SHORT GUIDE TO
ACTION RESEARCH

ANDREW P. JOHNSON
Minnesota State University, Mankato

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with permission, in this textbook appear on the appropriate pages within text.

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed
in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright and permission
should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Johnson, Andrew P. (Andrew Paul)

A short guide to action research / Andrew P. Johnson.—4th ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-268586-3
ISBN-10: 0-13-268586-8
1. Action research in education. I. Title.
LB1028.24.J65 2012
370.72—dc23
2011022775

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN-10: 0-13-268586-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-268586-3
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Andrew P. Johnson is Professor of Holistic Educa-

tion and the Director of the Accelerated Teacher Licen-
sure Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Here he specializes in educational psychology, holistic
education, literacy instruction, and teacher professional
development.
Before moving into higher education he worked for
9 years in the public schools as a second-grade teacher,
wrestling coach, and gifted education coordinator. His
most recent books include Making Connections in Elemen-
tary and Middle School Social Studies (Sage) and Teaching
Reading and Writing: A Guidebook for Tutoring and Remediating Students (Rowman and
Littlefield).
Dr. Johnson can be reached for comment at: andrew.johnson@mnsu.edu. For
information related to workshops and professional development opportunities go
to: www.OPDT-Johnson.com.

iii
 CONTENTS

Preface xiii

CHAPTER ONE
SCIENCE, RESEARCH, AND TEACHING 1
Science 1
Science and Pseudoscience 1
Research 3
Quantitative Research 3
Qualitative Research 5
Quantitative or Qualitative? 7
Teaching 7
What Scientists and Teachers Do 7
Using Research in Education: Theories, Hypotheses,
and Paradigms, Oh My! 8
Theories and Hypotheses 9
Paradigms 10
Better Decision Makers 11

CHAPTER TWO
INTRODUCTION TO ACTION RESEARCH 16
Research in Action 16
A Quick Overview of Action Research 16
Descriptors of Action Research 17
The Importance of Action Research 20
The Gap Between Theory and Practice 20
Teacher Empowerment 21
Teacher Inservice and Professional Growth 22
iv
 Contents v

CHAPTER THREE
USING ACTION RESEARCH FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS 25
Finding the Problem 25
Finding Solutions 26
Creative Problem Solving 26
Means–End Analysis 26
Problem-Solving Strategies in the Classroom 27
Testing the Solution 28
An Example of Action Research and Problem Solving 28
Finding the Problem 28
Finding a Solution 28
Testing the Solution 29
Problem Solving and Instructional Improvement 30

CHAPTER FOUR
THE BEGINNING 36
An Overview of the Action Research Process 36
Action Research Steps 36
Finding Your Research Topic 38
A Teaching Strategy 38
Identify a Problem 39
Examine an Area of Interest 40
Still Having Trouble Starting? 41

CHAPTER FIVE
REVIEWING THE LITERATURE 49
Reviewing the Literature 49
Sources for the Literature Review 49
Academic Journals 49
Books 50
The Internet 50
How Many Sources? 51
vi Contents

Steps for a Literature Review 52

Citations 57
The Reference Page 58
Journals 58
Books 59
A Sample Literature Review 60
Literature Review at the Beginning 61
A Literature Review at the End 62

CHAPTER SIX
METHODS OF COLLECTING DATA 66
Data Collection 66
Systematic 66
Data Collection and Soil Samples 67
A Television Sports Analyst 67
Types of Data Collection in Action Research 67
Log or Research Journal 68
Field Notes—Your Observations 68
Checklists 70
Rating Checklist 73
Rubrics 74
Conferences and Interviews 74
Video and Audio Recordings 80
Data Retrieval Charts 80
Maps 81
Artifacts: Students’ Products or Performances 81
The Arts 83
Archival Data 84
Surveys 84
Attitude and Rating Scales 86
Online Surveys and Rating Scales 87
Online Platforms and Class Journals 88
 Contents vii

CHAPTER SEVEN
METHODS OF ANALYZING DATA 91
Accuracy and Credibility: This Is What Is 91
Validity, Reliability, and Triangulation 92
Validity 92
Triangulation 93
Reliability 93
Inductive Analysis 93
Larry, Moe, and Curly Help with Inductive Analysis 94
Case Studies or Representative Samples 95
Vision Quest 97
Defining and Describing Categories 98
The Next Month 100

CHAPTER EIGHT
QUANTITATIVE DESIGN IN ACTION RESEARCH 103
Correlational Research 103
Correlation Coefficient 104
Misusing Correlational Research 104
Negative Correlation 104
Making Predictions 105
Causal–Comparative Research 105
Whole Language in California 105
Quasi-Experimental Research 107
Quasi-Action Research 107
Pretest–Posttest Design 107
Pretest–Posttest Control Group Design 108
Time Series Design 108
Time Series Control Group Design 108
Equivalent Time-Sample Design 109
The Function of Statistics 109
Descriptive Statistics 110
Inferential Statistics 115
viii Contents

CHAPTER NINE
EVALUATING, DESCRIBING, AND PROPOSING RESEARCH 120
Evaluating Research 120
Buyer Beware 120
Scientifically Based Research 123
Evaluating Quantitative Research 124
Independent and Dependent Variables 124
Confounding Variables 126
Common Confounding Variables 127
Evaluating Qualitative Research 129
Describing Research 130
Examples of Research Descriptions 131
An Action Research Proposal 132
Annie Oftedahl, Northfield, Minnesota 134
Ann Schmitz, Garden City Minnesota 137

CHAPTER TEN
REPORTING FINDINGS IN ACTION RESEARCH 144
Reporting Qualitative Data 144
Tips for Presenting Qualitative Data 144
The Importance of Structure 146
Structure and Inductive Analysis 146
Using Headings to Create Structure 146
Using Subheadings to Create More Structure 149
Case Studies or Representative Samples 149
It’s Alive! 149
Appendices 152
Reporting Quantitative Data 152
Using Numbers 152
Using Words 153
Reporting Arithmetic Data 154
Tables 155
 Contents ix

Figures 156
Graphs 157
Other Visuals 157

CHAPTER ELEVEN
DISCUSSION: YOUR PLAN OF ACTION 161
Conclusions and Recommendations 161
Christina Stolfa, Nacogdoches, Texas 162
Jo Henriksen, St. Louis Park, Minnesota 163
Cathy Stamps, Fifth Grade, Hopkins Elementary School 165
Delinda Whitley, Mt. Enterprise, Texas 165
Darlene Cempa, Whitney Point, New York 166
Implications or Recommendations for Future Research 168
Morgan Chylinski, Jamesville, New York 168
Karen Randle, Trumansburg, New York 169
Evaluation of the Study 169
Jim Vavreck, St. Peter, Minnesota 170
Staci Wilson, Irving, Texas 171
Designing a New Plan or Program 172
Creating a New Plan or Program 173
A Less Formal Plan of Action 174

CHAPTER TWELVE
WRITING AN ACTION RESEARCH REPORT 177
Tone and Style 177
Avoid Value Statements 178
Extremely Objective 179
Precision and Clarity 180
Writing and Speech 180
Avoid Speech-isms 180
Avoid Nonwords 181
Use Adverbs with Caution 182
x Contents

Reducing Bias 183

Person-First Language 183
Exceptionalities 183
Gender 185
Sexual Orientation 186
LGBT and Transgender 186
Race and Ethnicity 187
Length 188
Clarity 188
Headings 189
The Basic Elements of Style 190
The Basics of Grammar 191
The Basics of Punctuation: Commas, Semicolons, and Colons 193
Additional Resources 195

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
PRESENTING YOUR ACTION RESEARCH 198
The Educational Environment 198
Your Colleagues 198
Your Students 199
School Boards, Principals, and Administrators: Making a Case 199
Your Classroom: Evaluating New Programs 199
Parent Conferences 200
As Part of a Master’s Thesis 200
The Professional Environment 201
Professional Conferences and Conventions 201
Academic Journals 201
ERIC 203
Local Community Organizations 203
Making Effective Presentations 203
Planning the Presentation 203
General Platform Skills 204
 Contents xi

PowerPoint Specifics 205

Effective Handouts 206
Online Video Presentations 207

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ACTION RESEARCH AS MASTER’S THESIS 210
Before You Start 210
Nine Tips for Writing Your Master’s Thesis 210
The Action Research Thesis 213
Examples of Abstracts 216
Tina Williams, Osconda, Michigan 216
Michaelene M. Archer, Spring Arbor, Michigan 217
Kari Ervans, Reading, Michigan 217
Examples of Full Master’s Theses 217
Darlene Cempa, Whitney Point, New York 218
Karen Randle, Trumansburg, New York 218
Morgan Chylinski, Jamesville, New York 218
The Last Word 218

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
STRATEGIES FOR PROFESSIONAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 219
Action Research and the Professional Development of Teachers 219
More Knowledge Please 220
Process and Empowerment 225
Online Professional Development 226
Other Professional Development Opportunities 227
Observing Your Own Practice 227
Best Practice 227
Audiotaping Lessons 230
Descriptive, Not Prescriptive 232
A Final Word 234
xii Contents

APPENDIX: SAMPLE ACTION RESEARCH PROJECTS 237

Alison Reynolds, Minneapolis, Minnesota 237
Kay Dicke, Eden Prairie, Minnesota 240
LouAnn Strachota 243
Georgina L. Pete 247
Teresa Van Batavia, Eisenhower Elementary, Hopkins, Minnesota 250
Linda Roth, St. Peter School District, St. Peter, Minnesota 253
Angela Hassett Brunelle Getty, Martinez, California 256
Michelle Bahr, Shakopee, Minnesota 261
Kim Schafer, Minnetonka, Minnesota 263
Barbara King, Prairie Elementary School, Worthington, Minnesota 265
Annette Tousignant 268
A Final Word 273

GLOSSARY 274

REFERENCES 279

INDEX 282
 PREFACE

The most important variable in determining the quality of our children’s educa-
tional experience is the teacher standing in front of their classroom. As such, it is
a wise investment to spend time and resources to help teachers become knowl-
edgeable practitioners and to create the conditions whereby they are able to make
informed, research-based decisions. Action research is one of the most practical,
effective, and economically efficient methods to achieve this. This book takes you
through all phases of the action research process. My hope is that it can be used as
an agent of change as well as a vehicle for teacher empowerment.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

This book continues to evolve with each succeeding edition. I have made signifi-
cant changes and additions here. As with the first three editions, I have tried to
keep the text as short and as straightforward as possible. Too often in education,
quantity and complexity are mistaken for rigor and effectiveness. I do not want to
make this mistake.
The most significant change to this edition is the inclusion of my own per-
sonal website to enhance this product: www.AR-Johnson.com. Creating my own
website enables me to create a multimodal, multidimensional learning experience
that goes beyond the pages of this text. It also provides a platform for you to com-
municate directly with me via blog and e-mail. I will be constantly updating this
so I would encourage you to check the site periodically. www.AR-Johnson.com is
a public website that includes the following:

• Streaming video mini-lectures (three to eight minutes in duration), for each

chapter to clarify and enhance content knowledge
• A blog for sharing ideas and asking questions
• Many examples of action research projects, literature reviews, action
research proposals, and Master’s theses
• Guidelines, additional information, and video tutorials related to academic
writing
• A variety of downloadable forms, checklists, and data retrieval charts
• Instructor resources for teaching this as an online class
• Links to websites, articles, streaming videos, and other resources related to
educational research

xiii
xiv Preface

• Links to websites, articles, streaming videos, professional organizations,

and other resources related to action research
• Links to professional development resources
• Expanded chapter content

Also New to This Edition

New additions and changes to this text include the following:

• New research questions for your action research projects are included
at the end of each chapter. These will give you ideas for possible action
research projects that you might conduct. Also, I have included tips to help
you think of and formulate your own action research questions.
• Chapter 3 contains a short description of using action research as a strategy
for instruction improvement by Dr. Carol Reed.
• Chapter 5 contains new information related to writing a literature review.
Included here are step-by-step instructions that take you through all
phases of action research including finding sources, note-taking, organiza-
tion, drafting, using citations, and creating the reference page.
• Chapter 6 contains a variety of new data collection techniques including con-
ducting e-mail interviews, conducting online surveys, and using online plat-
forms. Chapter 6 also contains tips for designing and conducting surveys.
• Chapter 9: “Evaluating, Describing, and Proposing Research” is new to
this edition. Included here are (a) a general overview related to the use and
misuse of research in education, (b) a description of the principles and defi-
nition of scientifically based research, (c) specific guidelines for evaluation
of quantitative and qualitative research, (d) a description of an annotated
bibliography, and (e) a description of a research proposal. Two sample
action research proposals are also included here.
• Chapter 10 contains revised tips for reporting quantitative and qualitative
data (now organized into one chapter).
• Chapter 12 contains a significant amount of new information related to
academic writing and APA Publication Manual, sixth edition. Included here
is information related to grammar, elements of style, and guidelines for
eliminating bias. Additional information related to academic writing along
with streaming video tutorials are included on my website.
• Chapter 13 contains information related to presenting your action research.
New information here includes tips for planning a presentation, general
platform or presentation skills, guidelines for creating effective hand-
outs and PowerPoint presentations, and tips for creating effective online
streaming video presentations.
• Chapter 14 contains new information related to creating abstracts and full
Master’s theses.
• In this edition, all sample action research projects are found in the Appen-
dix. Three new sample action research projects are included.
 Preface xv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank those graduate students and teachers who have allowed me to
use their fine work in this text: Dr. Carol Reed, Annie Oftedahl, Barb King, Ann
Schmitz, Annette Tousignant, Darlene Cempa, Jessica Thomas, Karen Randle,
Morgan Chylinski, Bethany Bickel, Shari Baker, Karie Ervans, Tina Williams, and
Micki Archer. A special thank you goes to Kathryn Bell and Susan Stratton, who
were central both in reviewing and revising this edition as well as in coordinating
the new examples of student work found throughout the text and website. I wish
also to thank managing editor Shannon Steed for her suggestions and work on
this project, as well as editorial assistant Matthew Buchholz, and the reviewers for
this edition: Kathryn Bell, Spring Arbor University; Kitty Hazler, Morehead State
University—Prestonburg; and Susan Stratton, SUNY Cortland. Finally, I want to
acknowledge all classroom teachers who have embraced the ideas in this text and
put them to practical use. Your dedication to education and your determination
to move the field of education forward does not show up on standardized tests
results, yet it exists nonetheless, and it is truly inspiring.
This page intentionally left blank
 CHAPTER ONE

SCIENCE, RESEARCH,
AND TEACHING

This book describes how to conduct action research in an educational setting. This
chapter contains a description of the nature of science, research, and teaching, all
of which are complementary parts of the same pursuit of truth.

SCIENCE
Ask somebody what he or she associates with the term science. That person is
likely to respond with something like biology, astronomy, physics, or chemistry.
However, science is not solely a body of knowledge or a particular content area;
rather, it includes the processes used to examine and organize the world around
us (Johnson, 2000b). To engage in the process of science means to look, to seek to
understand or know, to guess and test guesses, to create order from chaos, and to
develop concepts. Science is “a way of thinking about and observing the universe
that leads to a deep understanding of its workings” (Stanovich, 1992, p. 9).
Scientists are simply those who ask questions and find answers. In fact, we
all use science in some way each day. Our questions might be as grand as, How did
our universe begin? or as mundane as, Which line at the grocery store checkout is
faster? or, I wonder what kind of response my new haircut will generate? Teachers
are natural scientists. They engage in a form of science when they ask questions
such as, How will this new teaching technique work? How are Sally’s reading
skills coming along? How can I help Billy learn long division?

Science and Pseudoscience

As consumers of scientific inquiry related to education, we must be aware of the dif-
ferences between science and pseudoscience. Science uses perceived reality to deter-
mine beliefs. That is, data are collected to determine what is believed. Pseudoscience

1
2 Chapter One

Science

perceived reality determines belief

Pseudoscience

belief determines perceived reality

FIGURE 1.1 Science and Pseudoscience

uses beliefs to determine perceived reality. One starts with a strong belief, then looks
for data to support that belief (see Figure 1.1). Pseudoscience is often used by compa-
nies, groups, or individuals to demonstrate that their product, method, or ideology
is the most effective or best. Sadly, more education decisions today are made based
on pseudoscience. Science provides an honest analysis of the situation and is much
preferred to pseudoscience.
An example of pseudoscience is the type of “research” that is included with
some of the phonics programs advertised on television, which are guaranteed to
improve children’s reading scores, usually with some snappy, new method. Before
you believe these claims, however, consider this: More than a million teachers in
our country and thousands of professors have been looking for effective ways to
teach children to read for years. If some secret key or magic method were superior
to all others, the mathematical odds alone dictate that a teacher would have found
it by now and published many books and articles describing it.
A better example of science in education is the information published by the
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is a part of the U.S.
Department of Education. A representative sample of 30,000 students across the
United States is selected at random for study (National Center for Educational
Statistics, 1998). The kinds of tests, measures, and interviews given to this group
are held constant across time and region. That is, a standardized math test given in
1970 in Georgia is similar in content, form, and length to one given in California in
2006 so that comparisons can be made. Thus, we are able to track the progress of
U.S. students with some accuracy over time and place.
It is interesting to note that although many improvements are still needed for
our schools, they are not in the miserable state of decay that some groups claim
(Allington, 2006; McQuillan, 1998). When looking at basic skills, scores have remained
constant or even risen slightly over the last 25 years (see Table 1.1). This is rather
remarkable when one considers the influx of cultures and the many changes in our
society, which have included an increase in drug use and violence. On the whole,
U.S. teachers are doing a good job. However, NAEP shows that although basic skills
have remained constant over the years, scores on tasks calling for higher-level think-
ing have dropped (Routmann, 1996). This contradicts the call for schools to get back
to the basics, to have a standardization of process and product in education, and to
engage in more testing. However, these are the kinds of remedies that are thrust on
our children when pseudoscience is used to make important educational decisions.
 Science, Research, and Teaching 3

TABLE 1.1 Average Scores on Standardized Test. 500 Points Possible

SCIENCE MATH READING

1971 1999 1973 1999 2004 2008 1970 1999 2004 2008

age 9 225 229 219 232 241 243 208 212 219 220
age 13 255 256 266 276 281 281 255 259 254 260
age 17 305 295 304 308 307 306 285 288 286 286

RESEARCH
Scientific knowledge is a body of knowledge generated by research. Research is a
way of seeing, a procedure used to view and re-view the world to understand it.
Research is the systematic method used to collect data to answer questions. The
systematic method used by the researcher is the lens through which the world is
viewed. Different research methods or lenses provide different views of reality.
A variety of scientific methods are used to study the unknown (Hodson, 1988;
Stanovich, 1992); however, these methods tend to be put into two broad categories:
quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative Research
In quantitative research, sometimes called experimental research, the researcher takes an
active role in setting up an observation or experiment to isolate a variable. A variable
is the quality or condition about which the researcher wants to draw conclusions. The
goal of experimental research is to figure out what the effect of a particular approach
or treatment (variable) might be. To make an accurate prediction or to demonstrate
a causal relationship, the researcher creates an environment that isolates a particular
variable by controlling all the extraneous variables. Some important terms in under-
standing quantitative research follow.

1. The independent variable is the treatment or factor that the researcher manipu-
lates to determine a particular effect. It is what is done or not done to a group
of people, animals, plants, or things.
2. The dependent variable is the particular result or the effect of the treatment. An
easy way to remember the distinction between these two variables is to think
of the dependent variable as depending on the treatment or independent
variable.
3. The treatment group or experimental group is the group of subjects, participants,
or objects that are exposed to the particular treatment.
4. The control group is a group as similar as possible in all characteristics to the
treatment group; however, this group is not exposed to the particular treat-
ment for the purposes of comparison.
Another random document with
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hawks, keeping the chickens out of
the garden, sweeping the floor,
making the beds, churning, sewing,
darning, washing, ironing, taking up
the ashes, and making lye, watching
for the bees to swarm, keeping the cat
out the milk pans, dosing the sick
children, tying up the hurt fingers and
toes, kissing the sore place well
again, making soap, robbing the bee
hives, stringing beans for winter use,
working the garden, planting and
tending a few hardy flowers in the
front yard, such as princess feather,
pansies, sweet-Williams, dahlias,
morning glories; getting dinner,
darning, patching, mending, milking
again, reading the Bible, prayers, and
so on from morning till night; and then
all over again the next day.”
Emergencies of health and sickness
affected the daily routines. “Doctor-
medicine” might have its place, but
home remedies were considered most
reliable—and available. A doctor with
his saddlebag of pills and tonics might
be a day’s ride or more away from the
patient. But nature’s medicine chest
lay almost at the doorstep. Plants in Joseph S. Hall
swamp and meadow, leaves and bark
and roots of the forest: all healed Mrs. Clem Enloe of
many ailments. From ancient Tight Run Branch was
Cherokee wisdom and through their 84 years old when
own observations and testing, Joseph S. Hall
mountain people learned the uses of photographed her in
boneset, black cohosh, wild cherry, 1937. “I was told that
mullein, catnip, balm of gilead, if I took her a box of
Solomons-seal, sassafras, and snuff, she would let
dozens of other herbs and plants. me take her picture.”
While they found one school and That’s the snuff in her
laboratory in the woods and hills blouse. She didn’t
around them, the people of the Great give in so easily on
Smoky Mountains also worked to everything. She
provide themselves with more refused to observe
orthodox classrooms. Continuing the park’s fishing
customs that had begun before the regulations and fished
War, the residents of many little every season of the
year. She was filling a
communities “made-up” a school. This
meant that they banded together, and can with worms when
each contributed to a small fund to Hall approached. “See
pay a teacher’s salary for the year. that,” she said
The “year” was usually three months. pointing to the can, “I
use them for fishing
John Preston Arthur left a vivid
memoir of his experience in one of and I’m the only one
these so-called “old-field” schools, in this park who’s
which were located on land no longer allowed to.”
under cultivation:
Edouard E. Exline
The one-room log schoolhouse at Little Greenbrier,
like the somewhat larger Granny’s College at Big
Greenbrier, provided the basics in reading, writing,
and arithmetic.

Edouard E. Exline
And judging by the smiles of Margaret Tallent and
Conley Russell, the place was lots of fun.
Edouard E. Exline
Herman Matthews conducts a class in the school’s
last year of operation, 1935. He was the only teacher
who had completed college.
“In lieu of kindergarten, graded and normal schools was the Old-
Field school, of which there were generally only one or two in a
county, and they were in session only when it was not ‘croptime.’
They were attended by little and big, old and young, sometimes by
as many as a hundred, and all jammed into one room—a log cabin
with a fireplace at each end—puncheon floor, slab benches, and no
windows, except an opening made in the wall by cutting out a
section of one of the logs, here and there. The pedagogue in charge
(and no matter how large the school there was but one) prided
himself upon his knowledge of and efficiency in teaching the three
R’s—readin’, ’ritin’ and ’rithmetic—and upon his ability to use
effectively the rod, of which a good supply was always kept in stock.
He must know, too, how to make a quill pen from the wing-feather of
a goose or a turkey, steel and gold pens not having come into
general use. The ink used was made from ‘ink-balls’—sometimes
from poke-berries—and was kept in little slim vials partly filled with
cotton. These vials, not having base enough to stand alone, were
suspended on nails near the writer. The schools were paid from a
public fund, the teacher boarding with the scholars.”
During the latter 1800s, free schools began to replace subscription
schools. But the quality and methods of education did not appear to
change drastically. Across the Smokies, in East Tennessee’s Big
Greenbrier Cove, Granny’s College provided the rudiments of public
education for many students and was an example of similar schools
in the Great Smokies region. Lillie Whaley Ownby remembered the
house which was turned into a school:
“Granny College was built before the Civil War by Humphry John
Ownby. This house was two big log houses, joined together by a
huge rock chimney and a porch across both rooms on both sides of
the house. The houses were built of big poplar logs. The rooms were
18×20 feet and both rooms had two doors and two windows. The
floor was rough, hewn logs. There was a huge fireplace in it. The
living room had a partition just behind the doors and a cellar about
8×10 feet.”
After Mrs. Ownby’s father had acquired the old log building, he went
to Sevierville, the county seat, and proposed to the school
superintendent that he would furnish this house if the county would
supply a teacher for Big Greenbrier children. This was agreeable,
and Granny’s College, as it was locally known, came into being.
“The men made benches, long enough for three or four to sit on. The
back was nailed up on some blocks and the children used the wall
for a back rest. There was no place for books except on the benches
or floor. Dad furnished wood for the fire. The boys carried it in and
kept the fire going. Everyone helped in keeping the house clean and
keeping water in the house.”
Church as well as school was a personalized part of family and
community life in a way not known in more formal, urban situations.
Each fulfilled not only its own specific function, spiritual or
intellectual, but also satisfied social needs. The doctrine was strictly
fundamentalist; the dominant denominations were Baptist and
Methodist, although the Presbyterian influence was also present,
especially in the schools that were founded with both money and
teachers drawn from other regions of the country.
Each summer, Methodist camp meetings brought families together
under the long brush arbors for weeks of sociable conversation and
soulful conversion. The visiting ministers’ feast of oratory was
matched only by the feast of victuals prepared by housewives over
the campfires as they cooked and exchanged family news, quilt
patterns, recipes, and “cuttings” from favorite flowers and shrubs.
Baptists were the most numerous denomination. They divided
themselves into many categories, among others the Primitives, the
Freewills, the Missionaries, and one small group called the Two-
Seed-in-the-Spirit. Their rules were strict: no violins in church, no
dancing anywhere. To be “churched,” or turned out of the
congregation, was heavy punishment—and not infrequent.
One aspect of church that incorporated an important feature of
mountain life was its singing. In ancient Ireland and Wales songsters
had been accompanied on the harp. Settlers had brought the Old
Harp song book of early hymns and anthems with them from the
British Isles, and on down the valleys and across the mountains into
these remote byways. The notes of this music were not round but
shaped, and shape, rather than placement on a staff, indicated the
note. This method simplified reading the music; and as the
unaccompanied, usually untrained, singers took their pitch from a
leader, they proceeded in beautiful harmony, usually in a minor key.
The mournful sound of minor chords was also familiar in the ballads
common throughout the hills. Death and unrequited love were their
recurring themes, whether they reached back to England and the
Scottish borders, as in “Lord Thomas and Fair Elender,” or recounted
some local contemporary affair. Beside their blazing hearths during
long, lonely winter evenings, or at jolly gatherings or through lazy
summer Saturday afternoons, mountain people remembered the
past and recorded the present as they sang, altering and adding to
the ballads which had been taught to them and which in turn would
be handed on to another generation.
 Pages 88-89: Butchering was a chore shared by nearly
everyone in a family. Here, the Ogles—Earl, Horace,
Collie, and Willard—butcher a hog as they get ready
for a long winter.
National Park Service
Edouard E. Exline
Three children look on as he works at his shaving
horse on a stave. His coopering equipment includes a
draw knife, crow cutter, jointing plane, stave gauge,
and barrel adze.

Edouard E. Exline
At his blacksmith shop Messer shapes a small metal
piece, one of many he turned out just to keep his farm
running.
Edouard E. Exline
Here is Messer the tanner, scrubbing the pelt side of a
hide with a scythe blade after taking it out of the vat
and removing the spent bark with a long-handled
strainer.
And among those visitors who would begin to search the mountains
during the approaching 20th century, the folk song collectors and the
ballad seekers could find here a repository of rare, pure music—
much of it now forgotten even in its own homeland. The visitors
would find a way of life that might seem static but which was, indeed,
changing. For the early pioneers had yielded to the authentic
mountaineer. His log cabin was being replaced by sash-sawn lumber
in a frame house. Extensive apple orchards and corn crops yielded
the basic ingredients not only for fruit and bread but for the luxuries
of a brandy and whisky known also as moonshine, white lightning,
Old Tanglefoot.
Hunting and fishing, which had been necessities for the first settlers,
eventually turned into sport as well. Buffalo, elk, wolves, beavers,
passenger pigeons, and a variety of other game disappeared early
and forever, leaving only the memory of their presence in names like
Buffalo Creek, Elk Mountain, Wolf Creek, Beaverdam Valley, Pigeon
River. But deer, black bear, fox, raccoon and other animals remained
to challenge the mountain man and his dogs. The relationship
between a hunter
and his hounds was
something special.
A dog shot or stolen
could be cause for a
lifelong feud.
Names of individual
dogs—Old Blue,
Tige, Big Red—
were cherished by
their owners, as
were certain breeds.
The Plott dogs,
named after the
bear hunters who
bred them in
Haywood County’s
Balsam range, were
famous for their
tenacity and
strength in hunting
bear.
One of the sharpest
condemnations that
could be laid on a
mountain man
concerned the
hunting dogs. An
early resident of Edouard E. Exline
Roaring Fork above
Gatlinburg was a In the mountains you had to work
“hard, cruel man,” hard at being self-sufficient. And
despised by his some men did better than others.
neighbors and in One such man was Milas Messer of
turn despising them. Cove Creek. Setting barrel staves to
He had frightened the hoop takes a bit of coordination,
children and cut a but Messer makes it look easy.
fellow “till he like to
bled to death.” Finally—and most devastatingly—it was agreed that
“he was the type of fellow that would pizen your dog.”
Livestock raising was important throughout the Great Smoky
Mountains. Stock laws had not yet been passed, and rail fences
were built to keep cattle, horses, hogs, or sheep out of gardens,
fields, and yards rather than in pastures, pens, and feedlots. Animals
roamed the fields and woods. Hogs fattened themselves on the mast
of nuts and roots from the great chestnut, oak, and hickory forests;
cattle grazed on the grassy balds in summertime. By mid-May,
farmers in the coves and valleys had driven their cattle into the high
places of the Smokies. Once every three weeks or so thereafter,
they returned to salt and “gentle” them, thus keeping them familiar
with their owners. In October, before the first snowfall, the cattle
were rounded up. If the season had been good, livestock drives to
near or distant markets began.
During both the roundup and the drive, livestock marks played a
critical role of identification. These were devised by each farmer—
and acknowledged by his neighbors—as the “brand” signifying
ownership. These might be various “crops,” “knicks,” and “notches:”
an “underbit” (a crop out of the under part of the ear), or a “topbit” or
a “swallow-fork” cut in the skin below the neck, or a combination of
them all. If several kinds of animals were included on a livestock
drive, there was a settled rule of procedure. Cattle led the way,
followed by sheep, then hogs, and finally turkeys, which were usually
the first to start peering toward the sky and searching for the night’s
resting place.
All of these plodding, grunting, gobbling creatures were kept in order
with the help of one or two good dogs. If a hunter’s dogs were
valuable, a livestock drover’s dogs were invaluable. “Head’em,” the
drover called, and his dogs brought recalcitrant animals into line,
nipping the slow to hurry and curious to remain orderly.
During a long day’s drive to the county seat, or a several weeks’
journey to the lowlands of the Carolinas or Georgia, men and beasts
surged forward in a turmoil of shouting and noise, dust and mud,
 autumn’s lingering heat and sudden
chills. But on these journeys, the
men left their small mountain
enclaves for a brief glimpse of the
larger world. They returned home not
only with bolts of cloth and winter
supplies of salt and coffee, but also
with news and fresh experiences.
And accounts of these experiences
were related in a language that was
part of the mountaineer’s unique
heritage. That language revealed a
great deal about the people; it was
strong and flexible, old yet capable of
change, sometimes judged
“ungrammatical” but often touched
with poetry. In a later century,
students and collectors would come
here seeking the Elizabethan words,
the rhythmic cadences of this
speech. It harkened back to a distant
homeland.
The mountain person’s “afeard” for
afraid, or “poke” for paper bag, were
familiar to Shakespeare. In Chaucer
could be found the mountaineer’s
use of “holpt” for helped, and such
plurals as “nestes” and “waspes.”
Charles S. Grossman Webster confirmed that “hit” was
Salt licks are among Saxon for it, and the primary
the few remaining meaning of “plague” was anything
pieces of evidence of troublesome or vexatious (the
the great herding mountain man might well say
activity that once someone was plaguing him). The
flourished in the habit of turning a noun into a verb
Smokies. Notches often added strength to an otherwise
 were cut into logs or dull sentence: “My farm will grow
chiseled into rocks so enough corn to bread us through the
the salt wouldn’t be winter,” or, when speaking of the
wasted as it would be heavy shoes that were brogans,
if placed on the “Those hunters just brogued it
ground. The salt was through the rough places.”
good for the cattle, The daily poetry and humor of the
and the regularity of mountain language was caught in
the procedure helped the names of places—Pretty Hollow
to keep them from
Gap, Charlie’s Bunion, Fittified
becoming completely Spring, Miry Ridge, Bone Valley—
wild. and in descriptive words like “hells”
and “slicks” for the tangled laurel and
rhododendron thickets. It was present in the familiar names of plants:
“hearts-a-bustin’-with-love,” “dog-hobble,” “farewell summer.” And
the patterns of their quilts, pieced with artistic patience and skill, bore
names such as “tree of life,” “Bonaparte’s March,” and “double
wedding ring.”
Thus, the mountain people adapted their language, as they had their
lives, to the needs and beauty of this land they called home. And
contrary to what might seem the case, these later residents were a
more nearly distinctive group than that which had first come. The
pioneers had been a fairly heterogeneous group, but as the years
passed, those with itching feet and yearning minds moved on to
other frontiers. Restless children wandered west in search of instant
gold and eternal youth. In time, those remaining behind became a
more and more cohesive group, sharing a particular challenge,
history, folklore, economy, dream. Their lives were gradually
improving. They had earned the privilege and joy of calling this their
homeland.
 Spinning and Weaving

National Park Service

National Park Service
Like Homer’s Penelope, like the Biblical spinners and weavers, like
their sisters at the wheel and loom in many times and places, women
of the Great Smokies simultaneously fulfilled the need for sturdy
cloth and a need for creating esthetic designs and pleasing patterns.
Frances Goodrich, who spent four decades helping to preserve and
honor the region’s handicrafts, wrote:
“Hardly any other subject arouses so much enthusiasm and interest
in a circle of mountain women as does the subject of weaving and its
kindred arts. This is true whether the participants in the talk are
themselves weavers or only their kinsfolk. Such work has for
generations taken the place of all other artistic expression, and
everyone, at least in the days of which I am telling, knew something
by experience or by watching the work or by hearsay and tradition, of
this fine craft.
... In the younger women who were learning to weave and keeping at
it, I could see the growth of character. A slack twisted person cannot
make a success as a weaver of coverlets. Patience and
perseverance are of the first necessity, and the exercise of these
strengthen the fibers of the soul.... One who has had to do with
hundreds of mountain girls ... has told me that never did she find one
to be of weak and flabby character whose mother was a weaver:
there was always something in the child to build on.”
Turning animal and vegetable fibers into cloth necessitated several
steps. The fibers had to be washed and then carded, or
straightened, with wire-toothed implements. Then the women
combed the carded fibers and rolled them onto a rod called a distaff,
hence the distaff side of the family. In the next step, Aunt Rhodie
Abbott (below) stretches, twists, and winds the fibers with a spinning
wheel in Cades Cove.
The women then dyed some of the yarn. In the last step, Becky
Oakley (left) weaves the yarn into cloth on a loom. Then the women
had to turn the cloth into clothes and other things.
 In some places the Little River Lumber Company, and
other logging firms, sent logs cascading down the
mountain sides in intricately constructed chutes.
Little River Lumber Company
 The Sawmills Move In
A people and their style of life do not change drastically in one year
or two years or three. The year 1900, then, does not define a time
when thousands living in the Great Smokies suddenly abandoned
their 19th-century ways and traditions and bounded into the modern
world. Real transition would come only with the upheavals of the
succeeding decades, only as a result of America’s industrialization
and two world wars and the arrival of a national park. Yet the
beginning of a new century did inject one major new element into the
lifestream of the Great Smoky Mountains: the lumber companies and
their money.
The people who lived here had logged before. A man might operate
a family enterprise along some hillside or in a low-lying cove, using a
few strong-armed relatives or neighbors to help cut and move the
choicest timber of the forest. Andy Huff, for example, established a
small sawmill in Greenbrier Cove in 1898. Leander Whaley had cut
yellow-poplar, buckeye, and linden from the upper cove—along
Ramsey Prong—during the 1880s. These and a few other individual
loggers felled the largest and most accessible of ultra-valuable
woods such as cherry, ash, walnut, hickory, and the giant yellow-
poplar, or “tulip tree.” They used steady, slow-plodding oxen to drag
the heavy logs to mill, then hauled the lumber to markets and
railroads in stout-bedded wagons drawn by four mules, double-
teamed.
But the virgin timber soon attracted a wider attention. In 1901, a
report on the Southern Appalachians from President Theodore
Roosevelt to Congress concluded simply that “These are the
heaviest and most beautiful hardwood forests of the continent.” Of
the Great Smokies in particular, the report noted that besides the
hardwoods the forest contained “the finest and largest bodies of
spruce in the Southern Appalachians.” Lumber entrepreneurs were
equally impressed. In that same year, three partners paid about
$9.70 per hectare for the 34,400-hectare ($3/85,000-acre) bulk of the
Little River watershed. Some 20 years later, Col. W. B. Townsend
moved from Pennsylvania and took control of Little River Lumber
Company.
On the North Carolina slopes of the Smokies, companies purchased
land in swaths stretching from ridge to ridge, staking off watersheds
like so many claims. In 1903, W. M. Ritter Lumber Company set up
its operations along Hazel Creek. A year later, Montvale Lumber
Company moved into the adjacent Eagle Creek area. To the west of
Montvale would, in time, lie the Kitchin mill and its Twentymile Creek
domain; to the east of Ritter, Norwood Lumber Company embraced
the reaches of Forney Creek. And looming beside and above them
all stood the 36,400 timbered hectares (90,000 acres) of the
Champion Coated Paper Company, an area that included Deep
Creek and Greenbrier Cove and the headwaters of the Oconaluftee
River.
The companies needed men to cut the trees, skid the logs, work the
animals, saw the lumber, lay the roads. They called upon the
mountaineers who still owned small tracts in Cades Cove and
Cataloochee and lower Greenbrier and throughout the Smokies; or
they allowed some workers who had sold forested land to stay in
their homes, though now on company property; or they brought in
hired hands from outside and housed them and their families in
dormitory-like buildings and readymade “towns.” These
mushrooming mill villages—Elkmont on the Little River, Crestmont
on Big Creek, Proctor on Hazel Creek, Ravensford and Smokemont
and Fontana—provided a booming cash market for homegrown food
and, as soon as the money changed hands, imported products.
More often than not, residents of the Great Smoky Mountains drove
to and from market in covered wagons that protected their goods.
Because the drive to an outside market such as Waynesville,
Newport, or Maryville might take two or even three days, local
families sold what they could to the loggers and sawmill men. They
set up honey and apple stands along the roads and offered grapes in
season. They supplied stores with butter and eggs. Children could
trade in one egg for a week’s supply of candy or firecrackers.