Trying to brainstorm about my personal project proposal was overwhelming for me at first. I simply didn't know which theme nor direction to focus on. I am interested in Racial Identity, its effects on everyday life and the educational sector. I am also very much interested in how to better serve students (in general and English Language Learners in particular), teachers, parents and other stake holders in addressing the issues involved in racial diversity. I am currently not in the classroom so I had to really consider what kind of project that I would like to do and how to go about it.
I arrived in the United States as an adult educated immigrant. I have experienced racial issues in the market place and as a parent. I happen to consider myself as reasonably well educated but I still had to deal with people who felt that because I had an "accent" my ability to perform my duties or hold an intelligent conversation was doubtful. As a parent, I was informed that since I was an immigrant and my child had another language being spoken at home she could not really be expected to excel in her studies! All this without the said educator having taken the trouble to find out anything about my child nor her background. This attitude, I am happy to say, was quickly erased after the said educator was taken to task and asked to substantiate his claims. Needless to say that I changed my child's school as soon as I possibly could.
When I decided to become an educator myself, I noticed the same problems occurring with English Language Learners in particular and students who have immigrant parents in general. Even when educators try to promote and celebrate cultural diversity students from immigrant homes will go to extreme lengths to merge into mainstream American society and do not want to be seen as different. What can be done to actively encourage students from immigrant homes to celebrate their diversity, encourage all stakeholders to recognize that we are all humans and each person is different whether we look alike or not and speak the same language or another language.
The fact that I do not readily have immediate access to students (that I'm currently teaching and therefore, their parents) makes me want to pause. Also, there is the fact that I am a relative newbie to technology but I will like to see how far I can cast my net and come up with something that is interesting and that will also make a positive contribution to the class.
Research has shown that students including ELLs do better academically when there is cooperation between parents/guardians and educators. How to make this a working reality with immigrant parents?
I would like to do some interviews of immigrants - some parents, a few students (including first generation Americans with immigrant parents) to see how the issue of racial identity has affected them in their interactions in the educational sector, what specific incidences (if any) could they recall, how they think the situation could have been better handled and what suggestions would they like to give?
The materials used for the interviews would be a video camera and/or an audio recorder depending on the preference of the person being interviewed, also pictures of realia could be used if relevant to the interviews.
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