The
teacher whom I selected to interview regarding the NETS-S Standards is a middle
school (grade 8) English teacher in the Old Bridge School District. Her initial
reaction to my first introducing her to the standards was surprised and intrigued,
as she had very little knowledge of these standards. She found the standards to
be motivating, stating that it would be beneficial to incorporate them
throughout the school but did not know if it would be wise to do so with their limited,
although expanding, means of technology. She stated that perhaps when they are
fully equipped with a multitude of academic technological resources, such as
more computers and SmartBoards in each classroom, that would be the best time
to begin to take the standards into consideration.
The school has not, as of yet, begun to
implement these standards in their classrooms. However, they do seem as though
they slowly but surely want to improve the amount of technologies they have in
the classrooms and incorporate them into their lesson plans. They have begun to
incorporate the use of SmartBoards in each classroom, but they are used upon
each teacher’s discretion. She did recognize the fact that some of the teachers
want to use the SmartBoards and other forms of technology and have already
found that using technology is much more useful and beneficial than when they
tried to do without it. Perhaps she did not know about the standards because
she is an English teacher and does not find it necessary to incorporate
technology into her lesson plans that she has been successfully using for many
years.
I was not surprised at the teacher’s response
to the questions. She explained that there are other standards that they know
they must follow, but until they receive more means to incorporate technology, the
NET-S standards will not be met. She also stated that she does absolutely realize
that education is rapidly becoming computerized and technology is taking the
spotlight in most classroom settings nowadays. She was not completely averse to
considering using more technology, but due to the fact that technology is ever
more present in today’s society, many teachers need to be educated on these
standards and how influential they can become in the classroom.
As a future educator, I would definitely
speak to other educators in my school about the NETS-S and NETS-T standards. I
would make it a point to explain that implementing these standards within the
school’s diverse amount of curriculums will only benefit both students and
teachers in the long run. Allowing schools to become more technologically sound
will help students and teachers alike embrace the 21st century
technologies and use them to their advantage to become scholastically
successful. By implementing these standards into each classroom, we, as
educators, would only be reinforcing and solidifying different aspects of a
curriculum that we might otherwise have been struggling to get students to
connect with and understand. As we begin to incorporate these technological
standards, we are subject to an array of lesson plans that might otherwise go
unnoticed when we do not possess the technological means to include it within
our own classrooms.
Jess,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up valid points about teaching the teacher in order to incorporate the technology that is new and fresh into lessons. I mentioned this in Shelby's comment but the fact is funding is truly an important key as to why this integration hasn't been completely done in most school districts. Schools may have computers and smart boards in every classroom but if there is no coordinator to help teach teachers how to use these items, they are simply collecting dust. Teacher also are not being forced to use these items because up until their incorporation, teachers taught using different methods and did not rely on technology. Some seasoned teachers choose to not use these technological advances in education because they may not see that despite it increasing learning for students, it is essentially pushing their need for instruction from a teacher out another door. I agree that technology has a relevance for students that is ten-fold, it is just unfortunate that it's inclusion into student's learning relies on so many factors that are outside of a teachers control. We will encounter this head on as soon as we are in classrooms. Because we know of their importance, these standards should be incorporated into lessons. Hopefully we will have the resources to then put forth this essential targets to our students.
Jessica, I feel that the responses from the teacher you interviewed are extremely helpful in understanding many of the pressures that teachers are currently facing. If the NETS-S were implemented in a district like Old Bridge, the teachers would simply not be able to meet them. Without enough computers, smartboards, and various other technologies, teachers are at a loss for how to integrate technology. Further, as a seasoned professional, the teacher you interviewed may be opposed to adding technology to her lesson plans - if provided with the proper tools - because her lesson plans are currently working. As Professor Domine points out with technology, there must be a reason for adding it; there has to be a goal in mind for our lesson plans, and a valid motivation for integrating technology. Adding technology for the sake of having it becomes a time waster, instead of a way to reach more students. These are choices we will all soon be presented with as future educators, and I'm sure we'll all be turning to the advice of experienced teachers for dealing with situations like these.
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