There are two, though, that I think I can improve upon. The first is "Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments". I try to give students a lot of exposure to different tools they can use for their projects. One of the sub-standards is what catches my eye: "a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity." Social media is becoming the biggest revolution in world since the Industrial Revolution, yet many schools simply block these sites and pretend they don't exist. I envision my students working in a world where digital networking is one of the cornerstones of their careers. If we are turning a blind eye to it in schools, where are they ever going to learn it? It is easy enough to say that they will be able to learn it on their own, but that, in my opinion, is asking an awful lot of teenagers who rarely think of the rules in school let alone when they are online. I think that it is my responsibility as an educator to find ways to work social media into my curriculum. This will probably require meeting with the principal and some other higher-ups to get access, but I think it can be done if, of course, the goals are educational. Evaluating success could be difficult because social media is sort of uncharted water in the classroom, so my goal would be to get some social media into the curriculum and have it stick.
The other NETS-T standard I would like to improve on is "Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership." My curriculum at Walden and my interest in technology has put me ahead of many of my colleagues. I would love to continue learning about new tools and try to keep up with all of the changes. I feel that I need to take on a leadership role in my school/department to promote the use of technology in the classroom. I would like to offer some professional development courses in my school to give people the basics on how they can integrate technology into their courses and become an available resource for anyone who wants to learn more. In addition to keeping up with new technology tools, I can also explore other content areas to determine how technology could be used.
Mr. Burns,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have the same goal as I do as far as Professional Growth and Leadership. I’m not sure if I am ready to teach professional development classes, but I want to share some of the new tools I have learned with my professional learning community. I think I will need to use these tools with my students more before I am ready to teach my colleagues how to use them best.
Some insight that I could add with implementing social media to the classroom is to contact your district tech-coordinator. My district tech-coordinator was able to set up my classroom with their own file on the server as well as give me a code to access some videos online that where blocked. The only other piece of advice I could add is to make sure you have some clear and established rules and guidelines signed by both students and parents about using social media tools.
Hi:
ReplyDeleteI think we need to set a time to instruct our peers. I agree it would be best to spend some time in the classroom. I think we need to set a specific date to achieve our goal. I am sure our department head would be happy to let us try out our new trick on a small group. But I think the sooner the better. Maybe we should strive for the middle of October.
As far as social media, I did some research on it. Surf around for AUP's and see how other schools are handling this issue. With that proof in hand, you might be better prepared to deal with Admin.
Mr. B.
ReplyDeleteWhat also caught my eye is using social media with your students. As you work toward preparing for a discussion with your district technology administrators, you may want to discuss the potential of "piloting" a blog program. Our district began this last year and I was one of the one's fortunate enough to have a blog. I teach kindergarten, but I saw such tremendous growth in my students writing, social skills and collasboration. I allowed my students to access our blog during Literacy workstations, centers and computer lab time, each day. When students did not know how to log in to the blog, when it was not on the favorites list, or did not feel confident in their phonetic spelling ability, other students would jump right over and help them. I hope that you have luck "Turning on the Light" for your administrative team.
Sincerely,
Mrs. C!
Mr. Burns,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I am right there with you when it comes to many of the sites I want my students to be able to access are blocked. I have talked to my principal and tech people to get some sites unblocked. It is just merely explaining the lesson and why you need them unblocked. I usually also include how I have already went over proper internet research tactics and what to do if something pops up that they should not be seeing. We are actually getting away from our country ISD, who blocked much of the material I wanted to get too. Now, with our district having its own, their will be fewer limits and restrictions. But, there again great care will be taken when talking about internet usage with my students.
I also love the idea of leading the way in your building by putting on classes in technology. Make sure you offer different levels of training, because as we have found at ours there are all types of experience levels. Good for you, go for it I say!
- Mike :)