International Society for Technology in Education Standards for Teachers

Visiting the Website for the International Society for Technology in Education, standards are listed and described for teachers. As teachers engage students and improve learning, these standards need to be met. There are some areas in which I am more confident than others.

I feel that I am the strongest in the last three standards: Modeling Digital-Age Work and Learning, Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility, and Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. I am constantly modeling technology in the classroom. I use a white interactive board to save all of my notes. When students are absent, I email them the notes and the assignments. I also keep a digital copy of assignments on a shared drive on the schools network, so that special education teachers have access to student’s assignments. I display ethical use of technology to my students. Sources are documented and internet usage is monitored in the classroom. Engaging in professional growth is easy for me. I like taking courses and learning new things. I also spend a lot of time researching the internet or “grilling” my tech-savvy husband for new ideas to use in class.

Even though I feel like I do a pretty good job with technology, there are still areas that I need a lot of help with. I am mediocre at designing and developing digital-age learning experiences. I come up with wonderful ideas, but may not always be able to implement them in the way that I would like. Sometimes it is the lack of resources and other times it is a behavior issue within the classroom. We use calculators on a daily basis. They are used to explore and investigate discoveries in math. I do very well with exploration activities in the calculator. I try to facilitate student learning, but the creativity part is often lacking. With so many objectives to cover and a state end of course exam quickly approaching, it is difficult to find room for anything extra. I hope to do a better job of incorporating more activities into my lessons.

I plan to strengthen the two areas in which I am lacking first by setting goals. I have a goal to make use of the resources available to me at school. Even if I have limited computer lab time, I can make good use of it and I can also check out the laptop cart from time to time. Another goal is to dedicate time in each lesson to teach my students about a new technology. A third goal is to give my students more opportunities to be creative.

The next step is to take action and then monitor. In each week’s lesson plans, at least one class will be devoted to a lesson involving technology. I will reserve computer lab time or the lab top cart on a weekly basis. Incorporating technology does not mean my students will not receive the lesson in the content I am teaching, it should enhance the lesson. Once I began action with the students, I will make adjustments as necessary.

I will then evaluate the effectiveness of the lesson. Did it cover what I wanted it to? Did the students receive a real learning experience? Were they given the opportunity to be creative? Are there any changes that I need to make? With much planning and little foresight, I can meet the standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education.

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf