The educational context of my driving question could be international, national, state, district, or school based off what I have read so far and from descriptions of articles I have skimmed through. Just a bit overwhelming. Lol! I have changed my driving question many times that I have had to look for different articles on multiple occasions and keeping articles that I have found in the “just in case” pile. My driving question at the moment is: How can collaborative activities in the classroom help, support and strengthen mathematical knowledge for English Language Learners while incorporating technology? I have been able to come across case studies in different states in the United States that have done research around ELLs on incorporating technology. There’s even case studies from Australia and Thailand that are interesting to me as well. A big part of the focus in these two countries were the peer-to-peer interaction among their students in a math class while their goal was to increase high order thinking and make it a tendency. Therefore, I think that my driving question also has two parts to it because I can study the technological and the hands on group work aspect of collaboration. Hence, some of the educational context behind my DQ would be how students will be able to comprehend key math vocabulary through collaborative activities. Not sure what those will be at the moment but I think that’s what we are trying to reflect on at the moment. But I hope that my students will be learn to be independent in terms of understanding how to find information via their notes, the internet (phone, tablet, computer), peers, teachers, etc. At the national level I will look into what other states are doing in terms of supporting not just ELL students but ALL students in achieving their academic goals. I was able to come across an article on how teachers in Massachusetts’s support its ELL’s in the classroom. At the local level, NVUSD is supposed to be a 1-1 ratio of devices and students but in reality that is not the case. So my study is how to support students who don’t have access to a device or Wi-Fi at home.
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As of right now, my driving question is for sure going to revolve around my English Language Learners. I have a large portion of re-designated English Language Learners and a smaller portion of students who are ELLs which are brand new to this country. Have none to little understanding of the English language in speaking, writing or reading. I will be honest with you. Going in to teaching, knowing that I am fluent in the Spanish language I thought that I would be able to support these students to a point where they wouldn’t struggle in my class. But that is not the case where I have a classroom of 36 students and nine students who are fairly new to our country and are going through a big change in their lives. I have realized that there is more to just talking to these students in Spanish after I have lectured the class in English. Therefore, they are my focus throughout this program. Because if my instructional strategies and teaching practice helps them I truly believe that it can benefit my entire group of students.
The first impression I got from the IRB form was that most of what we talk in our class, the research, and our blogs are some of the things that I will have to include in this form. Part of the form talks about “describe” this or that. Therefore, in order to address my driving question appropriately I need to make sure that I am applying the proper research which will benefit me at the end, in other words, getting the best understanding of my driving question. Some of my “need to knows” might be more important than others or they might be equally important. As of right now I am not completely sure. But I think that some of the things that I have on my Mind Map are just pieces of a big puzzle that I am trying to put together. Some ways that I can measure my “need to knows” is through my research that I will do in the classroom which can be through instructional strategies that I implement or observe how students are working in groups through a structured activity. |
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