Project Idea... beginning thoughts

What do I believe about how students learn?

I am an EL teacher with close to 100 students. Last year, all but three of them were spanish speaking, and 78% were from Guatemala. All of my students live in poverty and have had limited or interrupted formal education. My class sizes are between 20 and 25 students in a tiny classroom without any other teacher support. This is a challenging learning environment, but we make the best of it and work hard to improve learning everyday! 

I believe in order for my students to learn they need to be engaged, motivated, and support each other. I believe students are more often engaged and motivated when material is meaningful and accessible (within ZOPD). 

What do I want to improve?

ENGAGING and MOTIVATING my students are two areas I want to continue to grow as an educator. The biggest thing I would like to change is student mindset. Some of my students are very motivated, but so many more do not understand the value of education and the opportunities an education can provide for them. (Note to self: first step is create data and lists of opportunities for ELs through education). There are two EL teachers, myself who teaches English Language Development, and a push-in that co-teaches five classes of math, science, and history. Obviously, kids are not receiving anywhere near the EL services they deserve. Everyone in the district recognizes the need for more EL teachers, however the lack of funding leaves the two of us scrambling to support 100 students. The lack of faculty translates into frustrated teachers and a feeling of hopelessness for students. While students are able to do well in my class, overall their perception of school is one of despair. In addition, education is different in their home countries, as work and family are core values over education. Also, most of my students are here to work as many hours as possible to help support their families, both here and in their home countries, and school is something they feel forced to do for immigration purposes. They feel tremendous pride and happiness working crazy hours, and I have difficulty communicating to them that “education is more important than their cultural values” and they should pursue new jobs and opportunities. Well… I want to focus this project on creating a mindset where students enjoy learning because content is meaningful to them, and they are motivated to learn because they can visualize and understand different opportunities available to them through education. My thought is to make this a project not just for this class and fellow teachers, but most importantly for my students viewing.