An Idea Grows...

Three weeks ago, I was still struggling with the focus of my project. I knew that I wanted to research in the area of technology and more specifically how technology impacts the achievement of English Language Learners (ELL). This topic is very important to me because of my current teaching position. In the district where I teach, our EL students are not achieving when it comes to standardized testing. A year ago our district's ELL program was dismantled and our students are now really struggling...I feel like every avenue of creating achievement has not been explored. Technology is also a weak area for our school district. It is a hope of mine that through my project I might inspire other teachers in my own school district to use technology and to help those struggling students that need new means to achieve.
I met with my project supervisor Dr. Benavides. As I sat there in his office he fired many questions at me, some I had quick answers for but many I had to stop and think. It was difficult to narrow down the specifics of my project and to control those variables that would disrupt my results. With Dr. Benavides' guidance I decided to focus my project on EL student's achievement in Social Studies and how that might be impacted through the use of audio-visual technology. I will be creating a series of "movies" that will take the place of lessons and presenting them to both EL and English-only students. This will not be easy!!! I am still working on the first lesson...so I will have more information to come.