ISTE Standards

I do believe being digitally literate is very important for our students and in my current job as the ELL Coordinator I see that many of our ELL students do not have the exposure to computers, digital cameras and video cameras in their homes that many of their peers have. Their opportunity to learn to use technology is more likely to be provided at school. Our district tries to provide each teacher with a computer and the technology classes provided for staff are considered very useful by staff. In most of the ELL classrooms I see very little use of technology at this time. One factor I believe is that in many buildings the ELL teacher may not be provided any computers for student use and in some cases the teacher's computer is extremely old. I have started using some of the ELL budget to help support some improved technology such as laptops, and CPU's I am also looking into a digital video camera that can be used for student presentations. For English Language learners this will also provide a way to measure their growth in their language skills.
I think what I can do is to make sure our English Language Learners have equal access to the classes that use technology and that other opportunities are provided specifically for them.