Memo #5 - Reaching The Finish

Time is just flying by, and here I am nearing the end of my I-Search journey.  I started my research wanting the answer to a simple question- How has technology impacted the way this generation learns to write? By examining secondary sources and interviewing teachers in the field, I realize that there is so many different topics that spawn off that "simple" question.

At first I was interested in the social media aspect of technological writing.  However, while researching, I found other areas that piqued my interest.  It wasn't until my first teacher interview that I found some sort of direction.  Many of the articles I found, stressed the Common Core Standards, and how these standards allow for the implementation of technology in the writing. Okay, there is only about a couple of these standards that specifically dictate technology in writing, but I feel like you can take any standard and manipulate it to include some sort of technology.  The Common Core is a big thing in the present state of education, so it makes absolute sense to emphasize and do a little more research on it.

My first interview, I conducted, was with an ESL teacher who focuses on ELA, and I was pleasantly
surprised with what I got out of it.  This teacher, who I will call Mrs. M, has been teaching ESL for almost 30 years, and for me this was great because she started in a time where technology is not what it is today, there were different methods of teaching.  When asked, "Has technology made it easier or hindered the learning of writing for ESL students?" Mrs. M responded by saying,"technology has absolutely made it easier for ESL students to learn the fundamentals of writing, and it has also made teaching it a lot easier too.  ESL students are more motivated when they have the opportunity to work with a computer.  We do this writing activity, on an IPad, where the students drag and drop and create sentences." I found myself really intrigued by this, so I'm definitely interested in taken this a little further.  Also, Mrs. M, stated that when she first started teaching, instruction was chalkboard based (I know, seems prehistoric to me), and now she is able to teach with smart boards and I-Pads, and her school is also diligent about taking students to the computer lab.

My Game Plan:

I am very confident with my secondary sources, as I feel like I have some solid pieces that contribute something beneficial to my I-Search Paper. Also, I completed my third teacher interview this past Friday, which I think this may be the last because the teachers are so different, and they provided me with an array of responses, each one differing.  With that said, I am in the process of connecting the information I found in my secondary sources to what I discovered in the interviews.  Since, these teachers enlightened me with some new ideas and concepts, I am currently going back and finding other scholarly articles that can corroborate these new insights.  With everything I have, thus far, I believe the revised questions I want to frame my paper is, What are the impacts of technology in the field of composition? Do ESL/ELL learn to write better with technology? How are the Common Core State Standards guiding this type of learning?