Kelly

Luckily, for my teacher review I was able to interview one of the teachers, Sarah Wing, currently using MLE at Russell Byers. She explained the Powerful Voices summer program was a volunteer workshop for teachers. Most of the teachers who participated are currently using MLE in the classroom. So, there seems to be a divide between those teachers who have had MLE instruction and those who have not. Wing, who teachers first grade, mentioned the other first grade teacher really isn't incorporating MLE to her class. Wing said it was very hard to explain MLE and how to use media tools to the other teacher and there needs to be more workshops. I think a good place to look at is the discrepancy between students with MLE and those without. Perhaps a good way to start is to:


 * Observe classes both using MLE and those not
 * Interview students/teachers
 * Look at past projects
 * Surveys of the teachers/aides

Surveys might also work for the older students or 5th and 6th graders. Wing mentioned her students' upcoming project is creating video comics on the environment and preservation using flip cameras. This might be a good project to observe from beginning to end and see the students’ progression. Perhaps we could do this with some of the older graders.

Some research questions to perhaps keep in mind:


 * Who uses MLE? How often?
 * Teachers/students opinions on MLE?
 * How is MLE being used? Is there an emphasis on production?
 * What's the school's goal(s) behind PV?
 * What are some of the teachers' individuals goals for themselves and their students?
 * How is MLE used differently throughout the various grades?
 * How does funding affect MLE at Russell Byers?

Wing, also, expressed the need for further training for teachers and an after school program/another summer program for the students. However, she said there really is a lack of funding to make this possible. Perhaps, we could look at how to incorporate MLE into schools and classrooms when there's a lack of funding and resources and if it’s even possible.

As for research design, given the amount of time we have, as a team we will probably have to choose one primary to focus on and a timeline to base our work on. In the project description it states we will be looking at TV clips, videogames, and websites with the students and exploring how they understand and perceive certain concepts. If this is the primary aspect of our project, we may have to define what concepts we will use and how. And, what are our objectives for what the students will take away from these interactions?