Lesson One Blog

After reading a few chapters in my "Teaching and Learning with Technology" textbook, I've learned some things that I didn't know before.

One thing that stood out to me is that the ISTE, or the International Society for Technology in Education, have developed a project called the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T). This project provides rubrics to determine a teacher's technology level including what he/she should be able to do with technology in the classroom.

Along with this rubric for teachers, another set of standards have been created for students entitled NETS*S. Using these standards and rubric as a guide, teachers can now set appropriate and effective goals for the implementation of technology in the classroom.

With this information in mind, I plan to closely monitor my students' progress with technology using the criteria defined in the NETS*S. In order to implement this strategy in my classroom, I plan to create a checklist where all 6 standards are listed in a chart with each student's name running down the side. When I notice a student demonstrating criteria in a NETS*S standard, I will record the date and description of the activity on the chart. I can then identify areas of strength and weakness for each student and work to have them master all standards.

At the end of the year, I will include a summary of each student's NETS*S progress in their permanent record. Since the N0 Child Left Behind goal is for all students to be technologically literate by the end of their eighth grade year, I feel this will be a good way to effectively communicate a student's skill/lack of skill dealing with educational technology so that he/she may improve in the future.

Some challenges I may face with this plan is a lack of time and resources to complete a checklist for all students in my class. With a heavy focus on other content areas in the curriculum, technology sometimes take a "back seat" to being monitored/assessed. However, I believe that I can "kill two birds with one stone" by planning various technological activities into my lessons/units so that students can be analyzed based on the content at hand while also checking their technology skills.

A second problem that may come into play is a lack of resources at my school. In my classroom, I only have 3 student computers, so I will need to split the time on them amongst all my students so that everybody has an equal chance to sharpen their computer skills. However, technology doesn't revolve solely around computers, so I believe I can find other ways to provide learning opportunities for my students when a computer is not available.

Though not all problems can be planned for, I feel a good teacher can always find a way to adapt to the situation at hand. I'm positive my "plan" won't always go smoothly, but with hard work and a good attitude, I know that I can make it successful. I also believe that I will become better at reflecting upon my own technology skills if I become more aware of my students'.