Narrative on the Creation of the Final Project

Framing the Project

                When I decided to untertake a Master’s degree in Second Language Teaching at the Univeristy of Calgary, I did so because I wanted to learn more about how to be a better teacher.  So many times over the course of the past few years, I have found myself thinking that I was so fortunate to be able to further my studies and wishing that  other teachers could be privy to some of the amazing learning experiences that I have encountered here at the University of Calgary.  A week prior to coming out to Calgary to begin this course, I happened to have a conversation with a school administrator who inquired about how I had been spending my time lately. When I told her of my studies, she excitedly gave me her card and four days later, I had a job at her school teaching EAL for the fall. One of my primary responsibilities in this position will be to offer professional development for content-area teachers in the school who encounter EAL students in their classes.  As the school has not typically been home to many English language learners until just recently, this is new territory for many of the experienced teachers who work there and I will be given a fair amount of agency to conduct this PD as I see fit.  So, in essence,  my wish has come true; I have been handed an opportunity to share my knowledge with my colleagues. In the interest of helping to make their jobs easier and to enrich the learning experience of the EAL students in this school.  It seems fitting, therefore, that my final project in my MEd is one that will take me into the start of my new life outside of graduate studies. 

Digital Habitat: Heidi’s EAL Corner

                To house this project (and hopefully many more like it), I have created a wikispace. In another course I took this summer, I learned how to turn a wikispace into a simple learning management system that can operate at a level of privacy determined by the moderator,  that is free of charge and is not cluttered with unsolicited and annoying advertisements.  I felt the wiki was a better option than a blog because it allowed a separate space for discussions that could be threaded- unlike comments on a blog post.  Although this space is fairly sparse at this point, I hope that it will grow to be a rich bank of resources for the teachers who will have access to it.  In my job, I will be expected to offer an ‘EAL tip of the week’. Since I only work afternoons and since nobody really knows me yet, at first, I wasn’t sure how I would approach this part of my job description.  I want to be accessible to teachers and at the same time, bring them the information and insight into serving the needs of EAL learners that I gained in my courses at the U of C. It occurred to me that while some teachers may want to read scholarly articles on different issues that concern their practice, other teachers may not be interested in this sort of professional development.  After taking this course and exploring the power of video, I was inspired to turn some of the content  of research-based articles into videos in the hope that this might be a creative way to disseminate this information in an engaging way and to spark discussion on the issues at hand.   

The Content of the Video

                The topic of my video concerns the challenging task of error correction in written assignments of EAL students.  Teachers of content-area courses are not necessarily trained as language teachers, but they often find themselves in this position when EAL students take their courses.  Correcting and providing feedback on written assignments can be one of the most daunting tasks a teacher can face and the consequences of such feedback can really range. Too much feedback with the wrong focus can totally diminish a student’s motivation and confidence, while not enough feedback is equally undesirable because students want and need to improve their writing skills.  The research on this topic is somewhat heavy to read, but I also attached a few good articles that do not require access through an institution (like the U of C library) to my wikispace.  I thought that a video narrative would be the perfect solution to making this research come alve, while at the same time, giving a voice to the primary stakeholders in this issue.  Because this issue is strongly connected to psycho-affective factors that impact both the student and the teacher, I felt that using images of real people and paraphrases of the results of inquiries presented as quotations from these individuals would lend a more personal effect to the narrative and to help the viewers connect that the ideas presented in the video actually have an impact on real people.  I chose the ‘red pen’ as the central theme because it symbolizes error correction for many teachers and students.

Challenges

                One of the biggest challenges I had in this project was the time frame in which I had to complete it.  I took this course over a three-week period in the summertime and I was really only afforded one week in which to complete this project.  Because of the season and the time constraint, I was not able to access ‘real’ EAL students to give voice to my studies. If this course had taken place over the school year, I would have been able to use video footage from authentic EAL students and also incorporate their personal perspectives and voices to the inquiry.  One of the things I learned in this course, however, is that one has to’ make use of the tools in one’s own backpack’, and so, for the purpose of this assignment, I had to resort to still shots from clipart galleries, my own voice to narrate,  research from journal articles and my skills to create wordle and concept map images.  I used MS Photostory 3 to produce the video because I had success with it previously and it was more flexible in terms of recording the narration than Movie Maker.  

Production Considerations

                A significant amount of care and planning went in to the production of this video.  Because I used still shots, I had to locateand use a large number of photos to keep the story moving.  It also took a lot of time to find the images that exemplified both the idea and the tone that I wanted to come through as the story unfolds.  I hope the audience will be able to identify with the teachers’ perspectives in the video, as well as to see how EAL students may be reacting to their feedback.  In creating the script, I tried to be sensitive to the fact that many experienced teachers are uncertain how to approach this task and are daunted by it, but at the same time, to allow the needs of the student to shine through.  As well, I wanted to offer a few concrete suggestions, without coming across as though ‘I have all the answers’.  Given the potential of error feedback to evoke negative feelings on the part of both the teacher and the students, I was nervous that the video would take on an overly pessimistic tone.  To combat this, I tried to be honest, but to offer a lot of postive images and optimistic suggestions and to not linger on the negative longer than necessary.  I added the piano concerto to lend a calm and ‘scholarly’ feel to the video, as its purpose was to be a tutorial, rather than to entertain.

Conclusion

                This course has confirmed to me that we can use digital media in a variety of ways to teach and to learn.  In particular, we can use digital media to tell stories which can help us to understand each other and the world around us.  Sometimes a story will help to make a lesson more meaningful. As our instructor insightfully reminded us, “our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories (Bateson, 1994, p. 11, as cited by Stuewe, 2011).  As an EAL teacher, I will work as a bridge between my students and their content-area teachers.  For many teachers, working with EAL students in their classroom is a new and somewhat mysterious phenomenon.  For some teachers, the presence of these students may represent just one more way that they will be expected to differentiate their teaching.  My hope is that taking research and representing it as stories of the stakeholders in this relationship, the lessons within will be more engaging and memorable to those who take the time to listen.

                I chose to house my video in a wikispace primarily because this venue offers a forum for discussion.  Although I am not a ‘researcher’ per se, I access research and I bring research to others. The teachers themselves conduct informal action research on a daily basis- trying out new approaches in the interest of improving their practice.  I feel strongly that providing these teachers with an opportunity to present their perspectives on these issues is a really important part of the process of professional development. It is my hope that many teachers will participate in these forums and that we can engage in honest and open discussion that seeks to ameliorate the service we provide to these students. The quote from Angrosino (2008, as cited by Stuewe, 2011) inspired this aspect of my digital habitat; “dialogue in this sense does not literally mean a conversation between two parties; in practice it often consists of multiple, even contradictory, voices” (p.164).  I feel very humbled by my new position, as I will be coming in with relatively little teaching experience in comparison to those whom I am supposed to be ‘teaching’. It is my hope that these teachers will be open to sharing their many voices and that they won’t be afraid to debate and challenge me. It is also my hope that I will learn from their perspectives and add new layers to my own insight.
            To close, I never dreamed that I would ever become so connected and tech-savvy. I have been out of classroom teaching for nearly seven years and in that time, the world of learning has changed considerably.  Thomas and Seely Brown (2011, as cited by Stuewe, 2011) characterize this change; “a growing digital, networked infrastructure is amplifying our ability to access and use unlimited resources and incredible instruments while connecting with one another at the same time”(pp. 17-18).  In taking this course, it was my desire to gain confidence in my position in this new milieu and to help others who may be reluctant to join to become active players in this learning network.  I feel ready to re-enter the workforce, armed with a sense of belonging as a resident in my digital habitat. It is my hope that I can continue in the spirit of this course to use digital content and narrative to learn and to inspire others.

References

Angrosino, M. V. (2008). Recontextualizing observation: Ethnography, pedagogy, and the prospects for a progressive political agenda. Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, London, New Helhi, Singapore: Sage Publications.

Bateson, M. C. (1994). Peripheral visions: Learning along the way. New York, NY,: HarperCollins.

Thomas, D., & Seely Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. United States: Createspace.