Introduction...

Hello everybody.  I am so excited that I am getting to take this course with you.  I recognize a lot of the names for the students in the course and I look forward to meeting the new people that I haven't met yet.  I know it is going to be a GREAT semester.  I cannot wait to learn from you.

For those who don't know me, my name is Christy Evans.  I am a first year doctoral student (YEAH!) in Literacy Studies.  I am a wife and mother, but my guys are a source of comfort and support.  I am a full-time K-4 ESL teacher at Alcoa Elementary School and a full-time student at UT in the evenings.  I made several ambitious New Year's Resolutions this year that I am struggling to keep up with, such as becoming a fitness role model for my students.  Since January 1, I have lost 27 lbs. and have been trying different fitness routines (Color Me Rad 5Ks, P90X, and T25).  I am also trying to learn Spanish and pick a research interest to help focus my work. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

As for areas of research interest, I have a couple of areas that I am considering trying to explore further.  I am interested in the professional development that is offered to ESL teachers in the current educational climate in TN, ESL parents as partners in their child's reading education, and the identity that elementary ESL students have in English only schools.  A lot of my professional goals and educational goals are tied to developing relationships with parents, so I really need to learn Spanish:-)

I am interested in this course for several reasons.  I love the work of qualitative researchers.  I am not a numbers person.  I know that there is some value in knowing how many people felt this or that or how many times an event was evident.  However, I think too often numbers are used by researchers as a smoke screen.  For someone who isn't educated in an area, it can be comforting and/or overwhelming to try and wade through a lot of numerical data.  Researchers can use this to their advantage to not really portray a real issue, because they know people aren't going to do the work required to understand what is really happening in the data presented.  Also, qualitative researchers are able to have a connection with their research that numbers cannot facilitate. However, the real reason that I am taking this course is that it was recommended by the members of my digital tools course a few springs ago.  As an ESL teacher, language is a big part of what I do.