5.+Inquiry+Write-up

I am a native Spanish speaker. My mother was born and raised in Sevilla, Spain, and moved to Clearwater, Florida after marrying my dad at the age of 25. She lived in the Tampa Bay area until she passed away at the age of 65. She only spoke Spanish in a predominantly English-speaking area. So I spoke Spanish. Spanish was my first language. I spoke Spanish with my mother and English with my father and younger brother. I did not go to pre-school, and experienced very frustrating years in Kindergarten and 1st grade adapting to listening, reading, and writing completely in English. An odd thing to note was that even though my Spanish vocabulary was excellent, my grammar skills were poor. Most importantly, I could communicate in Spanish. I was a bright child with great potential. I was positive and creative. My teachers provided wonderful support and always applauded my efforts. From a young age, I enjoyed the classroom and was a willing assistant to the teacher. My passion for teaching grew, as I frequently helped others understand various school concepts. Throughout middle school, high school, university and through different work experiences, I have enjoyed helping others problem-solve, especially when it comes to words. Becoming a Spanish teacher naturally connected with my personal cultural experience and passion for the Spanish language. My goal as a teacher is to enable children to become skilled communicators and especially to convey their thoughts and words in Spanish. I hope that by sharing my passion for the Spanish culture and for life-long learning, my students will “contract” a little of that passion. To develop some cultural understanding while also learning to be a good communicator and a critical-thinker, my students will have taken a strong step towards a brighter future. My enthusiasm for teaching and my recent concern for poorer children in developing countries affected by the digital divide led me to my project and wonderings. Technology equity and access are major factors of the digital divide, and it is my belief that the educators themselves and their ability to design and manage multimedia projects in the classroom can and will be the greatest factor of future student success. To that effect, I offered to voluntarily conduct an educational technology workshop in a Spanish-speaking country where I could help the less-fortunate. Teaching environmental respect and English language to kids through the use of Web 2.0 tools seemed like a fantastic idea. The planned workshop would also help me develop as an elementary school teacher (since next year I am moving from high school to grade school instruction.) Therefore, I began my project with the following wonderings: • How does digital storytelling facilitate a student's expression both in their native language as well as their second language? • Can a student transfer the skills of oral storytelling to written storytelling and later translate it to a second language? • By having the children manipulate English websites, will they automatically learn the Spanish translations, and with what proficiency? • Will these children continue to utilize Web 2.0 tools after the completion of my workshop in order to complete school projects? • Will collaborating with other learners help their academic growth process? • Is it possible to teach students to use their power of personal perspective to deliver a powerful story, and how? • Will this workshop lead to students developing habits that will eventually improve their 21st Century Learning Skills? • What are the impacts of the teaching on the different learners in the Costa Rican classroom? Will these new learning opportunities enhance student education and personal growth?
 * Background Information:**

**Procedures, Data Collection, and Data Analysis:** Once I decided that I would conduct a digital storytelling workshop, I began to search for elementary school material that breaks down the story-telling process. A colleague of mine gave me an excellent resource with handouts for student writing development. Physically I only used two pages as handouts for the children, but mentally, the book proved to be a valuable source for topics during my short lectures. For example, the handouts acted as graphic organizers. As Bromley, Irwin-DeVito, and Modlo cited, “a graphic organizer is a visual representation of knowledge.” Consequently, during my workshop students created “digital graphic organizers” with Web 2.0 tools to demonstrate and make sense of the information they learned each day. With my help, they focused on key points, organized their thinking, and then presented using visual vehicles. Each day I would conduct two sessions. The first session took place in the “Miniplaza” internet café, with students in grades K – 2 present. The second session took place in the “Skynet” internet café, with students from grades 3 – 6. The first session was well-attended the first week, and poorly attended the second week. Some students in the class had only started using a computer three months prior, and were still working on navigation skills, such as mouse-clicking, finding keys on the keyboard, opening and closing windows, etc. The second group had very good command over manipulation of the physical computer, and so, the class easily moved on to the main content. As I had explored different Web 2.0 tools throughout the last couple years in my university education courses, I was able to properly utilize many examples in my workshop. Just as I had personally experienced in the past, I wanted my students to feel the same sense of accomplishment from successfully creating their own digital projects. I hoped that, by using tools I was familiar with and tools which were interesting and fun, they would especially enjoy the educational technology presented. Initially, I planned to teach a preliminary segment that dealt with environmental respect and English language lessons, secondly introduce a technology task, and subsequently have the students use it to demonstrate understanding of the content. However, I was limited to the computer lab as my teaching space, and I only had an hour’s time period. I then needed to prepare a very short teaching segment (5-10 minutes long), and then have the students spend the rest of the time working on the technology task. Lesson time was devoted to teaching the students the “in’s and out’s” of the Web 2.0 tools, and more time was spent circulating the room and helping the students with their projects. I also had to change my lecture time to only focus on the environmental lessons and a couple story-development and story-telling lessons. The students learned the English vocabulary needed either from me through individual questions, and through manipulating the websites that were all completely in English. As I worked with the students, I noticed that I had “overbooked” them when it came to the new technology tasks. I had planned upon them using a different tool each day, but as my workshop progressed, I slowed down the pace, so that the tasks might take two sessions instead of one.

**Learning and Student Growth:** Through the lessons, themes and concepts were repeated among the different tools. This instructional design was effective, as students had a high learning curve when it came to manipulating the succeeding task. Students became adept at operating the wiki, and especially the eventual embedding of their projects into their personal wiki page. Next, students acted as explorers of both English and technology “languages.” Students grasped many English technology terms, such as: home, edit, new page, embed, code, cut, paste, upload, download, click, open, close, etc. Each new Web 2.0 tool presented them with various English text and instructions, and students were forced to use their reading skills and strategies in order to understand and interpret meaning. As an English- and Spanish-speaking instructor, I also offered students assistance. In the same manner, the children moved along as technology-users; as the workshop progressed, students were presented with similar technology buttons and tools on the different sites, and subsequently performed with greater accuracy. Students acted as designers, and even used their sequencing skills. Their curiosity led them to try new tools and methods, and they later took delight in sharing their projects with each other. Publishing at our //Pensemos Verde// Wikispaces website also allowed them to share their projects with parents, siblings, teachers and friends. In their final project, they had to decide which particular images or video clips to utilize in order to create “meaning clues” for their “project viewers.” In conjunction with meaning clues, the students chose and wrote titles, subtitles, captions, and script. When planning their final //Reciclaje// digital artifact, student pairs also sorted through partner tasks prioritization and selection, a great example of building up their 21st Century Learning skills of collaboration and communication. They related my lectures and partner stories to their prior knowledge and personal experiences. Students analyzed their gathered components and then summarized information. In this manner, students use the general skills and strategies of the reading and writing process successfully.

**Setting Expectations:** During my initial preparation for my workshop, I developed a workshop where sessions would last 1 ½ - 2 hours. The program coordinators and I had planned to take full advantage of the kids’ availability. However, upon commencing the classes, the coordinators determined that there should be two separate groups, and consequently, I had each group for a one-hour session. This became discouraging for me as the instructor, as it was difficult on my part to have the students generate a project with a technology tool, without having much content on which to present. Second, the coordinators had originally intended to act as my assistants, but after day two, I was the lone instructor. Nine to eleven students usually attended, and due to their constant need for personal attention with questions, I felt that having another instructor or at least an assistant present would better facilitate the learning process. (Funding may have affected this challenge: I volunteered my time for free, and a grant helped to pay for the reserved computer lab time. Therefore, //Asociación Crear// did not need to disburse its own funds.) At times, this caused me some frustration; the children were young and the technology sometimes required some adult assistance. As the workshop progressed, I came to realize the students’ and my own limitations, and changes were made to allow time to complete projects. Before I arrived in Sámara, I expected to teach in either the city school or at the //Intercultura// //School// //of Language Learning//. When I arrived, I was notified that the coordinators had booked two one-hour sessions for ten days to facilitate my workshop at local internet cafés. I had no idea that technology in the classroom did not exist there, because of desire and because of costs. I learned from a local Sámara School 2nd grade teacher that especially in rural Costa Rica, where classrooms aesthetics are less than desirable and there is barely enough money to attend to broken bathrooms, attempts to deploy technology in the classroom are difficult tasks. Student and teacher challenges include NOT having personal access to technology resources, as much as they would like to because of cost. I imagined that the (idea of) flexibility that technology offers would go over well with the relaxed and peaceful attitude of typical citizens of Sámara. This 2nd grade teacher I interviewed said that the Costa Rican government had granted //Escuela Sámara// money to be put towards an amazing technology computer lab in a brand new building. However, she remarked that the project has taken a long time, as the building was subject to very strict specs. She also remarked that the lab would have its own federally-mandated instructor to come teach the students in the lab. She does not think that she or the other teachers will have the chance to integrate the technology into their curriculum, because “it feels so separate.” She also said future finances were concerning to the school’s stakeholders, as the building will require constant air-conditioning and maintenance fees, as well as potential upgrade costs for the computers. In a town where locals use fans for cooling purposes due to high electricity bills, supporting this venture could prove difficult for the Sámara citizens. Moreover, I was concerned when many of my younger students did not attend class the second week of the workshop. After conferring with the internet lab manager, we verbalized how the task of training the youth with technology becomes even more difficult due to the poor attitude of some parents. We conversed about our beliefs that these parents did not see the value of a technology-integrated education, and therefore would not send them. Even though courses were offered for free to students, and use of the town’s local internet café provided the secure and quiet space as well as the computers, some children still did not attend. This discovery led to frustration on my part. I was partly emotional about the situation as I had come to help, yet it appeared that the local parents were not showing needed support of me or their children.

**Supporting the Statements with Data:** I truly believe that my workshop was an “engaging and empowering learning experience for all (eSchool News 2010.)” Students were introduced to new technology tools and were then invited to produce an artifact. (Please see the following links: http://pensemosverde.wikispaces.com/juan+luis, http://pensemosverde.wikispaces.com/SUILLYN , http://pensemosverde.wikispaces.com/jose+armando , http://pensemosverde.wikispaces.com/santiago , http://pensemosverde.wikispaces.com/Gustavo , http://pensemosverde.wikispaces.com/kevin ) Student creation of artifacts models the sort of activity students require in preparation for future jobs, especially in that some artifacts required teamwork and collaboration. Students received an opportunity to experience educational technology. As students did not yet have previous experience, knowledge, or understanding regarding the use of technology for classroom purpose, this workshop should affect how they think and learn in their future. They can draw upon the experience of creating an animation or a digital painting or a digital interactive poster and make future important connections. Just as a student makes connections between a piece of reading material and their own personal life, so might they do the same with technology. Perhaps they will read with better precision because of visual graphic organizers they will create in their minds, imitating what they created digitally in class on a computer. Perhaps they will form different opinions because of the positive emotional effect this workshop had upon them. Furthermore, perhaps they will relate better to global items and activities due to currently possessing wisdom from their instructor’s comprehensive and technology perspective.

**Concluding thoughts:** Because of my background, I was able to meet the needs of students, no matter what their social class, Spanish language, and disabilities. I had a set curriculum, but remained flexible due to time-constraints. The pace of teaching may have been too fast at times during the short lecture time, but was usually rectified during one-on-one time as I circulated around the lab, answering questions. Students expanded their 21st Century Learning Skills as I had intended. Creating and publishing digital artifacts alone and with partners gave them an opportunity to flex their “21st Century muscles,” such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and communication skills. The lecture content regarding the theme of recycling fell somewhat short, but the experience gained in learning a variety of new Web 2.0 tools was tremendous. Because the program was an after-school program with //Asociación CREAR//, I did not officially offer the students any written assessments. Upon conducting the workshop a second time in the future, I would like to coordinate with the local school teachers in order to build perhaps an extra-credit project relating to authentic school content, where students would receive some sort of score or credit. My classroom research journey and my actual Costa Rican journey both began with gathering necessary equipment, then later arriving to a new and strange destination, then adapting and adjusting, and then finally tearfully bidding farewell to a beautiful group of people and experience. I was able to grow as a teacher and realize that I will also continue to adapt and change, just as I develop new wonderings because of the experience. Taking a risk is inherent in travel, but the curiosity that is tapped into can be immeasurable, and that later becomes the impetus for future wonderings and exploration. Taking initiative is the 21st Century Skill I lived this summer and hoped to pass on to these young Costa Rican students.