Blog 6: ELL and Summer School

I have come across an exciting and interesting article to elaborate on in my own blog this week.  The article that is posted below got to my attention because of two words: summer school.  I think a lot of the teachers are happy to have those months off, but in reality there are students, teachers, and administrators still working very hard throughout the summer to either get a head start or make up for lost time.

Allowing for an extended school year is beneficial to me in several ways.  First, the skills that are lost over the summer because of lack of repetition, practice, or just general engagement.  Second, time with students who have learning disabilities, language barriers, or other obstacles to overcome. Finally, the motivation to see school as fun and productive at the same time.  All of these were mentioned in the article this week.

The article in general is about a super diverse district offering a 4 week development training for students learning English.  The diversity mentioned in the writing was a lot of different languages that some of our districts never really see a big population, but also the number of students enrolled in this camp.  There were close to a hundred 2nd and 3rd graders participating in this development program.  Reading the article and realizing the district has around 300 ELL students and close to 30 different languages within that population.

One thing that was refreshing and I'd like to bring attention to was the government funding as well as parental support for these types of programs going on throughout the summer at this district.  It is one thing to have a great backing and parents behind you, but having government funding to offer tools need, meals per day, and resources for students to excel during these months is critical.  I found that to be the best part of the article!

Article

Blog 5: Online Schooling

The article for this week really caught my attention off of the Google Alerts because of my high interest level in this topic.  The article is saying that online school is basically the future of education.  I believe there is going to be a strong switch to this type of learning for several reasons, but some were mentioned in this particular article.  The case of families moving around for specific reasons could cause the student to be loosing out on the learning experience let alone the social aspect of schooling.  Another reason was independent learning being such a positive thing to gain as you are younger to move through real world tasks. This online learning is linked to ESL learners because the location of this learning is world wide.  We are using online learning with everything from speech development to vocabulary to video/audio assessment and much more.  The idea that online learning is the future has already taken over a lot of ELL classrooms and curriculum.

In the article it described a school called eLearning Academy that allowed for on site facilities or distant learning options.  That means students could pick and choose to come to the facility either for certain hours, certain days of the week, or no facility attendance at all.  This is the flexibility I think a learner is lacking when being in the classroom a required amount of hours.  The time of day, just like nutrition and sleep, is affecting your learning as well.  How well students are motivated to do independent learning is a large factor of it.  It is also on the parents more if students are not attending a facility to learn, but have the opportunity to work at their own pace through the same curriculum other students are using. We have spoken a lot about independent learning within the parameters of this course.  Having students being engaged in their own learning pace is a benefit to both L2 learners and online learning students.  

In conclusion, I do agree with this article that online learning is our future in education.  There is going to be that flexibility option for time, days, pace, etc.  My idea is that online learning is already developing faster for ELL students because of independent learning platforms, learning management systems, assistive technology available, an online classrooms like the eLearning Academy.  Everyone will have an opinion on this type of learning whether it is good or bad, but the learner I think really needs to be top priority about what are their wants, needs, habits, and attitude towards learning. As the ELL students have more specific priorities to order within the online learning environment I think online education is the current and future for those students.

The article is short and to the point, if you'd like to read through it quick. Online Schooling Article

Blog 4: Assistive Technology

This week my article stood out to me because of other courses I've taken throughout this Wilkes Graduate program.  I'm going for my Master's in Education, but selected the focus of Instructional Technologies.  This allowed me to be exposed to several interesting courses utilizing technology within my classroom & knowing the technology out there to supplement my work in the classrooms.

Assistive Technology is the topic of this article.  I have taken a class through my graduate course work that allowed me to dive deep into this subject.  This article in my Google Alerts stood out to me because of that background knowledge.  Described in this particular writing was the investigation of a former teacher into the use of assistive technology to embrace PWD (Persons with Disabilities).  This former teacher set up a workshop to use assistive technology that would inform them on using 'a receptive aided language learning environment.'  This workshop also dove into some recent research backing different forms of learner per each individual child.  The experienced as open to the discussion of argumentative forms of communication and learning alternatives could benefit any learner.

This article got me excited for experts and beyond can be informed on assistive technology that is useful, but also how using that could be a different form of learning and communication.  Communication amongst learners, educators, administrators, and parents is crucial for the success of the learner.  I found this article to be a positive step for assistive technology use in the classroom along with the PWD's mission for learners with more challenges. 

 Assistive Technology Article

Blog 3 - ESL pilot & funding

As I begin my third blog, I am finding this adventure to be extremely helpful for a couple reasons.  I am being more proactive looking at current events going on in multiple content areas. Also, I'm getting more practice with reading and writing.  I now enjoy finding some things interesting to me & building on top of them for others to enjoy.  Finally,  this gives me a good amount of time to reflect and analyze my personal roles in education, technology, and ESL content.

The first article I read was uplifting, inspiring, and really a positive outcome for a pilot program that allowed parents in a district to get appropriate L2 education.  In last week's blog I talked about a program that gave an educational opportunity to student's parents to learn English as their second language.  This program was successful, but they were going to be looking at how many of the graduates were going into the work force as a measurement of funding.  This funding would then be regulated based successes or failures into the work force. The conflict was that not all of the graduates of the program had the intent to continue on by obtaining a job.  Most were just looking to expand their English skills to communicate with the school, become involved further with the community, and some were even passed retirement ages and learning a new skill.

The pilot program helped 22 community members to receive training in ESL classes to better communicate with teachers, administrators, other parents, and their own students.  There was a community survey that collected results of 53 people interested if the services were offered.  22 of those respondents ended up taking the course, while other parts of the community offered refreshments, further experiences, and the school provided the educator.  The results were overall positive, and left a spark for many to continue onto GED programs, or more formal educational experiences.

Pilot Program

The above pilot program that was successful, positive, and exciting for everyone involved now runs into the funding questions.  This is always the next step for continuing to offer services, look to advance the learning opportunities, and move forward with any piloted program.  This is why I went out and found an article that was covering this huge question of 'How are we going to fund this project?'

My second article describes a march that took place to gather funds for teachers, schools, and education in general.  The government is going through budgeting and possible cuts to specific education programs.  I see this march as a positive thing that communities all over the world can participate in to show support for the educational community.  The importance of having educators trained, professional backgrounds implemented, and positive influences for the youth to look up to and learn from is HUGE.  I find that more communities should be reaching this level of support, and just found this article to be extremely helpful to that cause.

Funding March

Blog 2 - ESL Adult Education

As I progress into my second week of blogging I really wanted to focus on the ESL classroom.  I found an article describing an ESL classroom for adult learners in San Diego, CA.  This article was describing a new regulation regarding its student's future after the ESL classes.  I found this article to be make an impact because I did not have a lot of background knowledge into programs that offer adult ESL classes.  This also made an impression on me because of what they were measuring outside of the classroom to than compare funds for the programs.  I'll explain further below.  The article is linked below to reference if necessary.

There is a school in San Diego, California called Escondido Adult School. Within this program are classes for adults to take to learn English as a second language.  The story is mainly about a mom who was struggling to communicate with teachers at the elementary level.  This individual was 'embarrassed' when she could not advocate in teacher/parent meetings, understand homework assignments, or reach out to better her child's future within education.  She started taking courses to better her communication, but has also made the goals of continuing on to get a GED and a job as an accountant.

Currently the Escondido Adult School can offer these courses free for learners because of federal funding.  I see this as a huge advantage for communities where we see a more diverse population and that is covering a lot of the U.S. these days.  The rule that is being changed could effect funding to these schools, and possible costs to the students who are not going on to the work force.  The law is looking to measure how many students come out of the courses and enter into the work force.  At first, this was a good point to be made for funds to continue to this school.  And then the article goes onto mention several reasons why this would not be a good measure.  It mentioned that some of the students are already retired, don't need to obtain a job, or have the purpose of just learning English as a second language to communicate better.  These reasons don't qualify some of the adults taking the classes to be measured correctly.  Therefore, they could be hurting the results instead of helping.

This was eye opening to me at first, and I didn't realize that a lot of those students would now be entering the work force.  Should they still get those classes paid for then?  The law has not been put into place yet, but they are looking to see what the final funds would be available if students were measured by this law.  A solution that the school has proposed would be to separate students looking for jobs vs. not looking to obtain a job, and require payment for those not in the work force.  I think this is a logical solution, but could also turn people away from the school.  What would you feel is a solution for this school to keep the interest without accumulating costs or losing funds?


ARTICLE TO REFERENCE

Blog 1 - Technical Education doomed

 This week I was drawn to an article that discussed technical education at the University of Wyoming.  The program for technical education is being pulled because of the low enrollment for students within the interest area.  This is a program that trains future teachers of technical education for classes such as carpentry, welding, wood shop, etc.  Several people are for this elimination, and there are a large group against the elimination of this department at the University of Wyoming. 

My personal stance would be to not eliminate the program at the university.  I have several reasons for feeling this way.  1. Financially the program is not an issue for the university and technically there are still funds available for this specific major. 2. The uniqueness of this program to the community surrounding the school is important. 3. If teachers are no longer getting certified with this, schools will then cut those programs, and we'll see a domino effect for this interest area. 

My first reason was the biggest shock to me while reading the article.  The situation is not that the program is underfunded or lacking the necessary equipment, materials, etc.  There is no financial issue whatsoever.  I'm shocked at this because even if the enrollment is low, the program is still producing unique workforce individuals to be productive teachers in programs that could be thriving at the high school or middle school level. 

Within the article, the sole teacher named how specific this certification was to education as a whole.  If you look at the percentage that is certified with this technical education degree it creates a unique & prestigious program to complete.  This can set the university apart from competition, future employers looking for desirable employees, and appropriate programs in schools getting qualified educators.

Finally, the point of the article that stuck with me and made me realize the impact of just cutting this one program would be the elimination of other programs similar.  If there are no more teachers coming out of these program to educate the youth in these interest areas.  This program in high schools or middle schools will be eliminated due to lack of educators.  The impact of this can be severe because of students loosing that meaningful exposure to all types of job fields and opportunities.

In conclusion, I have stated the article summary above.  This gives you the insight of what the link provided below really goes into details about.  I stated my stance and three reasons why I feel as though the program should remain an option for the University of Wyoming.  These reasons stated can give you an insight into the future without this specific program being available for future students at the university.

http://trib.com/news/local/education/technical-education-program-doomed-by-enrollment-funds-and-alternatives/article_c9215cd7-5452-53e0-8462-3ba7d8460e58.html