In attempting to discover how a middle-class teacher copes with lower-class children in an urban school, the authors of this study (one an "outside" observer who sat at the side of the classroom, the other the teacher or "inside" observer) recorded the classroom actions and behavior of the teacher and his seventh grade pupils all day every day for one semester. The observations of the "outsider," recorded in longhand during the school day and interpreted into a tape recorder after hours, and those of the "insider," recorded in the form of lesson plans and notes, are reproduced throughout the book as they provoked or reinforced the concept discussed. Corollary purposes of the study were to reflect the "silent language" of the classroom and develop scientific language and hypotheses for later research. Following introductions in chapters one and two to the methodology and the first days of school, the pupil social structure and roles of individual pupils and the teacher are explored in chapter three. Chapter four is directed toward reconceptualizing the act of teaching in terms of a decisionmaking model and the concept of teaching as a cognitive process. The remaining chapters are oriented toward schoolwide events which interrupt the flow of a semester, concepts and dimensions of textbook instruction, mental health and ability problems, and opportunities for further research. A glossary of concepts used in the analysis is appended. (LP)