The initial thesis was to gauge the effectiveness of a dual language program in Pinellas County. The argument came about since I have a professor who is currently collecting data to judge the effectiveness of this program. I thought it would be interesting to explore the school, topic and idea of dual language education. After visiting the school, I realized that judging the effectiveness of this program would be a separate project. Data would have to be collected and analyzed with more interviews conducted to get an understanding of the information. With that, the argument has been scaled back to simply be a narrative describing the school.

My audience was this class. Given that everyone has different background knowledge and interests, my goal was to make sure everyone understood the program while trying to keep it interesting by framing it in a larger cultural context. Defining terms was important to make sure everyone was clear about what was being discussed. The terms defined included ESOL and dual language, but other topics that transcend education like poverty and discrimination. Some of the reflections and digressions were important to show the process. The excerpts of the interviews were simply for entertainment value.

The thing that most surprised me was people's ignorance and latent discrimination. I discuss this in the case study as a digression and wasn't sure if I should leave it in or not. This is not the forum to discuss whether the educational system in this country is broken or not, but here is a program focused on an often overlooked and under-served population that is only going to increase in this country. If nothing else, people should be impressed with the concept. Spending half the day learning another language and thereby another culture? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Most Americans don't travel to other countries and have little respect for our closest foreign neighbors. It's the same ignorance that leads people to order "freedom fries" and join the minutemen (armed vigilantes along the Arizona-Mexican border).

Even though I am currently enrolled in a class that is exploring dual language education, it is still a new concept to me. And I believe that you can read about something all day long, but seeing in action is a different experience. I would like to continue exploring this concept since it addresses some of the issues facing education. If this concept addresses first language literacy (English), second language acquisition (Spanish), and cultural exposure all in front of the backdrop of poverty, it is worth learning more about.

The only secondary sources that I used in my report were government issued statistics on poverty. I used these charts in an effort to define my terms and establish a level of credibility to my evaluation. Statistics in general contribute to ethos or the credibility side of your argument. By presenting these statistics in order to define terms, this appeals to logos or the logical side of your argument. The reflection on the experiences lends to pathos or the emotional side of your argument.

When people who are not in education said that they understood the program and the population it is trying to serve, I was relieved. It shows that I was able to weave a narrative together that introduced the program and it’s objectives with my experiences serving as the foreground. All of the criticism, including the “add a comma here” variety, was helpful. It forced me to look at my work more objectively than I would have without someone else’s assistance.

I'm not sure if the ethnography is part of this grading process. My case study involved a separate interview. If the ethnography interview is part of this, I would like people to read it. For starters, I received no feedback on it. More importantly, it's revealing. I tried to make it funny, but you can decide that for yourself. As far as the case study is involved, I am more of a holistic grader. You can point out grammatical errors, but that is not nearly as important (to me) as the overall effectiveness of the piece. I want my writing to clear and logical (and possibly entertaining) as it progresses to my conclusions. I want readers to walk away with an understanding of the issue and possibly something "memorable" from the experience.