After reviewing the ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators for Teachers (NETS-S), I was able to gain a better understanding of some of my strengths and weakness' within the integration of technology effectively in the classroom. As a technology teacher, I feel as though I am very confident in my ability to model digital-age work with my students. I have a great deal of knowledge in research and inquiry, as well as with the use of many different Animation, CAD, and Photo-manipulation programs that help to increase my ability to teach the content to my students. On top of this, I also feel as though one of my greatest strengths is to facilitate and inspire students learning through creativity. Many of the assignments or projects I present to my students require students to think "outside of the box" and forces them to use parts of their brains they may not use on a daily basis. This develops an incredible amount of creativity due to the nature of the projects and the student-directed learning assignments given.
Although I feel very confident in some of the standards I've reviewed on NETS-T, there are still a few in which I struggle with. I still find myself struggling on a daily basis designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments. Most of the technology my students recieve in my class is through the content subject itself. Although my lessons are intriguing and certainly push students to work and be creative, I have yet to "conquer" teaching in a digital age to these 21st century learners. Along with this, promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility is an area that I know little about. I teach my students "rights from wrongs" as far as the internet and research is concerned, but I feel as though this is not the same thing. My students are aware of the websites they belong on and those they don't, however, I don't believe this is enough to say that I am promoting or modeling digital citizenship.
I would truly like to learn new ways to present information, whether it be new strategies, websites, or software that will help to enhance student achievement. It is important that my students are recieving the best education and taking as much away from my class as possible. With this being said, I feel as though I am putting them at a disadvantage when I still rely on "old" techniques and presentations of lessons. I would also like to know more about how to become a model digital citizen, and how to go about presenting this information.
My game plan is simple. I plan to increase my knowledge in both of these areas that I lack both confidence and proficiency in. I plan to research, collaborate with colleagues, and continue my growth in the field of integration of technology. My ultimate goal would be to eventually realign all of my different units/lessons with the integration of different technological resources that students will benefit greatly from. I feel that
Hi Danny, I'm also a technology teacher and one of my goals is also to work toward promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility. I don't know what grades you teach, but at the elementary level we teach cyber-safety and becoming responsible digital citizens through blogging, proper netiquette and appropriate chat, text and social networking. One way that I begin it through blogging (I use kidblog.org). We learn about connecting to the audience through our blogs and also responding in a positive, thought provoking manner. So much of what our students do is in the virtual world, and we need to help model and teach how to behave and represent themselves in the best way possible. Good luck with your GAME plan!
ReplyDeleteDanny~ I teach high school math, and I also struggle with trying to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. The only technology we have access to on a regular basis are our class interactive white board and our graphing calculators. While these tools are useful and easy to incorporate into math classes on a regular basis, I would like to be able to find, develop, or create more "relevant" and interesting lessons for which web 2.0 would be useful. I would like my students to see that there are myriad resources and learning tools available to them. Sometimes it feels that math is SO different from every other subject and it can be overwhelming trying to come up with new and interesting ways to present lessons to my students.
ReplyDeleteAs with you, I also plan on working to research and work with my colleagues to try to find authentic learning opportunities into which I can incorporate all of these wonderful technology tools.
Danny,
ReplyDeleteI definitely can relate to your post. This is my third year teaching Computer Literacy in the middle school (I came back to teaching after 13 years). I am constantly looking for ways to encourage students to think "out of the box" and engage them in real life learning activities. More than ever, I want to collaborate with other teachers on ways to develop more relevant lessons. However, I work with another computer teacher (37 years of teaching) who is very set in her ways and is afraid of using the internet for blogs/discussions/wikis. I am going to teach my 8th grade about being responsible digital citizens this year. Maybe we can exchange some ideas? Good luck to you.
Jill
Hi Danny, I really enjoyed reading your post for this week's application. I, like you, would like to re-align my current lessons/unit plans to incorporate the different technologies so that my students are constantly exploring the technology applications out there. I just find that time is my BIGGEST constraint with this. I plan on making this a long-term goal, and next summer will put it into action.
ReplyDeleteCurrently though, I do assign my students assignments on edmodo.com. They enjoy this site because it is an educational social networking site and it reminds them of facebook. I monitor the usage and have not had any problems with bullying or inappropriate use as of yet. The assignment I set up are similar to our college course. I post a question and they have to use their background knowledge, resources from class, knowledge gained through instruction, and connect to answer an original post. They then must respond to atleast two of their classmates posts. I spread the assingment out over two weeks to ensure every student has time to gain access to the computer either at school, the library, or home. They love this and are very engaged. I began it last year, but am just now posting the first assignment for my current class.
Jill,
ReplyDeleteI would love to exchange ideas! Do you have any thoughts on how you plan to teach students to be good digital citizens?
Danny,
ReplyDeleteI will send you some of the lessons I use. In the meantime, you may want to check CyberSmart.org for some lessons ideas.
Jill