This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
How would you survive if you had to rely on the speaking and reading ability of your 9 year old? Could he/she help you at the Dr. office? Can he/she fill an application for you? These students have to help with adult roles at home, learn English, and learn academic content. They need time to play
My students come from a mixed cultural background.
Of the 98 ESL students I work with, about 1/3 come from Spanish speaking countries. The rest come from various war torn areas such as Somalia, Burma, and Iraq. Many of these kids have had experience that no child should have to endure. We try to provide a safe and engaging atmosphere for the kids to learn both English and academic content.
Our school is a Title 1 school housing approximately 400 students. Fortunately, our school has special permission to have smaller class sizes than most of the state. This provides us an opportunity to build deeper relationships with each student and to accommodate their personal needs, emotionally and academically.
My Project
These rugged cameras will be used for two purposes. The first purpose is for small groups of students to create videos demonstrating school procedures and lessons accentuating the language and mannerisms needed. These videos will be archived and shared across the school. In this manner, whenever a classroom welcomes a new student, the teacher can have the students share a video demonstrating the procedures. This can be done 1-1 or small group, and can be revisited as much as needed.
The second important use of these cameras is for the students at home. Students and teachers can create video clips demonstrating the lesson from class. The parents can see the lesson and then help with further practice, i.e. homework. Frequently ESL parents cannot make it to school on a regular basis due to long working hours or lack of transportation. We hope the video cameras will provide a means for schools to frequently and clearly communicate with families about academic expectations.
Fun, engaging, personal, and meaningful academic lessons that are also useful for parents who cannot come to school or who may also have difficulty understanding English.
This will allow students and parents a total physical demonstration of the lesson in their home, and will be a way for students to video themselves completing the tasks at home. All in all, this should increase parent and school communication of expectations and improve the academic achievement of English language learners.
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