I finished my research proposal

Yesterday I presented my research proposal...hopefully I won't have to change anything!
my question is: "what happens when English Language Learners are taught to blog?"
my sub questions ask:

• Will writing achievement be affected?
• will students see them selves as part of the classroom community?
• Will students be more reflective about the content?

All of my students are ELL who are facing "double the work." According to Short and Fitzimmons (2007), the country is attempting to find solutions to trying to teach content, literacy and language to students at the same time. High-Stakes testing has created an environment where language learners must perform on tests in their second language. They must learn to read and write as adolescents in their second language at a time when they should be using reading and writing as a learning tool. On top of that, they must learn the content provided by the state and district standards.

My plan is to teach them to blog. I will slowly implement blogging as a reflective tool in my social studies classroom. My hope is that by the end of my research they will not only respond to teacher questions but, summarize, reflect, and internalize the course content. I also hope that they visit the blogs of other students to comment and connect.

Blogs and technology are an important tool and resource for our students to learn. Due to technological advances jobs and expectations of employees are rapidly changing. According to former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, I am preparing my students for jobs that do not exist yet.

Okay, small "trailer" of my research. I'm hoping to being to quantify what we all know: technology makes a difference in the engagement and achievement of our students. After watching Darren and other educators successfuly integrate blogs I am excited to capture this process in my research. I believe that blogging creates an atmosphere of collaboration where, as Darren puts it, students become the experts!

Learning to Play the Guitar (Darren Kuropatwa)

The first hour of Darren Kuropatwa's presentation at Adams 14 on August 9, 2007. The audio in the first few minutes is low, but should be audible. It gets better as the video goes on. Darren did an outstanding job of weaving 21st Century tools into a discussion of pedagogy (or Best Practices). More footage will be uploaded shortly.


If the video player does not activate use this link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7681787884081149540&hl=en

Developing Expert Voices--Involving Students in Setting High Expectations

Darren Kuropatwa over at the A Difference blog has created an assignment challenging his math students to summarize their learning and create a real-world product. The students are to create four (new) problems that demonstrate what they have learned. Not only that, they are to publish the result of their work on the Internet. They can publish to youtube.com, slideshare.net, bubbleshare, or any other location that allows wide distribution. (Potentially 1 billion people that have access to the Internet)

Here is what is really cool about this assignment, the students were also heavily involved in creating the rubric for evaluating the presentations. Read the posts where the students are discussing the weighting of particular dimensions. These students are thoughtful and involved in their own learning. They OWN their learning.

Read this post from John Albright and read the rubric and assignment from Darren Kuropatwa's students. Also check out this assignment (the "un-project") from Sargent Park School.

Are the students provided an opportunity to demonstrate the skills that the Denver-metro business leaders mentioned at the CTE advisory meeting (effective, communication, critical thinking, multi-tasking, teamwork, tech-savvy, work ethic, trustworthiness, trainability, cultural awareness)? Do you have ideas how we might create more opportunities like this for students?

Global Learners in High School Math

Darren Kuropatwa is by far one of the most prolific and creative teachers that is generating usable online content and testing emerging technology (and integration ideas). Mr. Kuropatwa is a high school math teacher in Canada that is widely known for his various math blogs. Last year I read the now defunct Ellie's 7th grade math blog (I assume because Ellie has moved to 8th grade). Mr. Kuropatwa used this blog to help teach his niece math. The blog included innovative lessons and opportunities for Ellie to practice skills. A Difference is the blog where Mr. Kuropatwa reflects on his practice and talks about strategies that he is trying with his students. I am blown away and humbled by this individual's extraordinary efforts. He uses wikis, blogs (checkout today's post on probability), vaestro (checkout the thread with the EFL students from China...talk about Global Learners), SmartBoards, slideshare, and any other technology he can get his hands on to reach his students and find ways for more effective learning. My hat is off to Mr. Kuropatwa...thanks for providing a shining light.