|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Courses completed:
EDRS 811 Description and products
Reflections |
Quantitative Methods in Education Research |
EDUC 894 Description
and products
Reflections |
Seminar in Multicultural Education |
EDLE 895 Description
and products
Reflections |
Emerging Issues in Education: Process, Context and Politics |
EDRS 811 was one of three
courses I took in the spring of 2003. It was rigorous, mentally painful
but necessary. It started with a mathematics and statistics
quiz to see what we knew. The next class started with a definition
of statistics. The professor had to start from zero with most of
us.
At the beginning, the professor told us that he would give us weekly problems to work out, a midterm and a final as well as a final project to contextualize (my word) what we learned. After about 2 weeks, the expectations were down to a midterm and a final exam as well as a project. After the midterm, the final was dropped and we could resubmit the midterm, if we could correct it, as the final. The professor believed that my interest in dual language lent itself to quantitative study. He and I tried to design a project that compared test scores of the Spanish speaking students who were in the DL program with the test scores of the students who were in the regular education program. But, the standardized test scores would not be available until after the project was due. The professor suggested just for practice for the project that we make up scores (hmm...) but I decided that made-up scores would not help me in any way. So, I chose to compare the exposure to English in a regular Kindergarten classroom with the exposure to English in the Spanish part of the dual language Kindergarten classroom. I observed and marked down every utterance for 20 minutes and marked whether it was in English or Spanish. You can look directly at the paper (Final paper for EDRS 811) or just see below what some of the findings were. Looking at the percentage of Spanish in the chart, it would be difficult to tell which is the dual language class and which is the regular one. The use of English in the dual language class is greater than the use of English in one of the regular classes. The Spanish instruction part of the DL day is more than 50% in English. In one of the regular Kindergarten classes, since the assistant is not fluent in English, there is more Spanish spoken than in the Spanish part of the DL class. Conclusion The four brief observations showed that
the DL program is not following the program design that specifically states
that the languages of instruction must be treated equally and that they
must be kept separate. In both DL classes, Spanish was not used as
much as English during the Spanish part of the instructional day.
As I reread and reflect on this class and this project in particular, I realize how judgmental I was in undertaking the study. I was determined to show that a program was not working and that I knew why. As I reiterate in my current goal statement, my motivation for my studies at that time was not to be a scholar but rather to be a program savior. I went into the study with the idea of showing that a program was broken and I could fix it. One valuable part of the class for me was the discussion of surveys and questionnaires. We spent time looking at survey design and how to format a questionnaire. This could prove important to me in my dissertation if I choose to study the parents of the two culture/language groups in the dual language program. I can imagine that I could design a survey of the parents to find out basic information on their background--literacy level, education level, understanding of the dual language program and other information that can help me profile the two groups. I can definitely say that my dissertation will not be a quantitative study but it could be a mixed methods study. What I learned in this class
was mostly technical. I feel that I can work well with EXCEL and
SPSS (with a bit of a refresher). I also believe that I read and
understand most terms in quantitative research studies. For that,
I am thankful.
|
|
Reflections on EDRS 811 The thought of taking a statistics
course scared me. I am a math-phobe. In college I had taken
advanced calculus and gotten through it but not with a grade that I'm proud
of. And that was the last time I had even though of a math class.
Until this class.
In retrospect, this course
was a killer but I do see why it was necessary. I wish that I had taken
it at a time when I could have spent more hours on it. The professor
might have taught in depth but I learned only on the surface.
|
|
The seminar in multicultural
education was the first course in my minor area. We studied multicultural
education (ME) in the U.S. by looking at the knowledge base that supports
it. The readings for the class provided a broad background in 'original
voices' expressed in multicultural literature as well as research in the
field.
We started studying the historical development and multiple conceptions of multicultural education. From there we looked at ME as a facilitator of academic achievement. In this section of the course we read and discussed not only the research but also original voices of ethnic groups which comprise our public school system. We also looked at gender issues in education through research and original voices such as the video of Qiu Ju. The next section, multicultural education as a facilitator of intercultural communication brought in the topic of teacher education and preparation for multicultural classes. And the final topic, ME as a facilitator of reform took in education reform as well as societal change. Throughout the class we presented summaries and critiques on selected readings and lead the class discussion for those readings. We had two major writing assignments in the course with the purpose of developing in-depth knowledge on a selected topic or area of ME. The first one introduced the topic and the second one refined the points or analyzed the issue presented in the first project. For my projects I chose the area of bilingual education. In the first one, I presented bilingual education, especially dual language (two-way bilingual) programs as an effective option for students learning English in the U.S. public school system (Program Options for Language Minority Students in Elementary Schools). The second project built on this first by looking at the critical features of a dual language program and analyzing a specific program in terms of one of the critical elements (Dual Language Program Design in Practice). This second paper presented a problem because I had not stipulated clearly enough that I was dealing with only one aspect of dual language program design rather than all of the critical elements of it. I had to rewrite it. Here is the rewritten paper. (Second paper for EDUC 894
|
In this second paper, I built on the observations that I had made for EDRS 811. When I was in the dual language classrooms, I kept noticing the way that the teachers were interacting with the students --looking at which language the teachers, assistants and children were using. I geared the focus of this paper to the issue of the asymmetry in the use of the two languages. My conclusions focused on how we have to be careful to look at how a program is implemented in order to evaluate the results. In my first conversation with Virginia Collier, I told her that I was not in favor of bilingual education. Her answer to me was that I was not in favor of poorly designed bilingual programs. I felt that I had found one of those poorly designed programs and I was ready to show them just how bad it was. |
|
|
This course was one of the
most interesting courses I've taken in the program! It broadened
by background knowledge because we had to study how issues in education
emerge and the forces that propel them into the forefront where someone
acts on them. This course used a commercial book The Tipping Point
by Malcolm Gladwell as the text. This is the first and only course
in which I've spent less than $100 on the texts! What a relief!
In this course we were required to search the internet and to read extensively to find what we considered an emerging issue. And then we looked at the issue in terms of the factors that could 'tip' it into the public eye. We looked at the types of people who are normally involved in taking action on issues: the connectors, the mavens and the salesmen. Then from the weekly sharing of what we thought could be emerging issues that could become major issues, we had to choose one and write about it in terms of potential for change. I chose to write my paper on the issue of Text Messaging and how instant messaging is changing English. I decided to use this issue when I found a news article from the Vatican press saying that the Pope would not accept IM or text messaged confessions as legitimate compliance with the rules of the Catholic church! What I had thought was something that American teenagers and young adults do for fast communication was becoming an issue world-wide and in the most conservative realms. Research for this paper introduced me to an entire new set of sources and resources since all of my research up to this point had been in the academic realm. One of the required activities in the course was to attend a school board meeting and analyze it in terms of the issues and the people who supported them. We also had to look at the roles that the members took during the meeting and decide which of the issues would be supported by which of the board members. It was a very interesting activity and having the framework of The Tipping Point gave us the vocabulary to use when discussing our issues. (School Board) Another project we had to do was to write a memo to a decision maker based on what we saw as an emerging issue. It was an exercise in memo writing as well as defining issues. (Memo to Joel Klein) Of course, I chose to write about education for the language minority population in the NYC city schools. Even though I looked at this course as one to help me broaden my knowledge base to other aspects of education, I found that I gravitated to bilingual education issues. All of the exercises as well
as the discussions were aimed at broadening our thinking to look at issues
in terms of who was involved in them and the potential power to emerge
that some issues intrinsically had and some did not. Then we looked
at our own field/special interest and speculated about what would happen.
I took this course during the time when Massachusetts and Colorado voted
on propositions to eliminate bilingual education. It was interesting
for me to follow the aftermath in Massachusetts and to speculate on what
would happen in the future. As I follow the Massachusetts situation,
I still see that my prediction is starting to emerge: more dual language
programs because they offer a way to circumvent the ban on bilingual education
by offering a program for the language majority population.
|
|
|
|