After reviewing the NETS-T (National Educational Standards for Teachers), I felt that I am strong in quite a few areas. However, there are several areas that I could also become more comfortable in. One area is within standard 3, “Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.” In that standard, it states that a teacher should “demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.” While I do demonstrate fluency in some areas of technology, I lack fluency in others. The second area that I wish to improve is in standard 2, “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.” I would like to work on “providing students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.” Again, I do some of that- I align my assessments with art standards, but not necessarily the technology standards. So here’s my GAME plan
Goal: to improve my fluency across all area of technology, and to align my assessments with both art and technology standards.
Actions: To improve my fluency, I will speak with my technology coordinator about new technology and begin incorporating those skills into my lessons. I will also spend more time on various art or technology education websites (by subscribing to their RSS feeds). To align my assessments, I will need to start by looking at all my lessons. The ones that use technology will be connected to the NETS for students, and I will look for ways to create measurable technology lessons.
Monitor: To monitor my progress, I’ll need to first discover what areas of technology I need to improve on. Once I’ve figured that out, I would work with the technology coordinator on a weekly basis to become fluent. Outside of working with him, I will also create various lesson plans that incorporate the new media. This will be hard to monitor on a regular basis, as some areas of technology will require more work than others. To monitor the assessment piece, I’ll work on one project a week to incorporate technology into my assessments. This progress will be easily measured by how many projects I am able to finish in this class.
Evaluate: Evaluation for both areas will likely come at the end of the school year, when I can compare first semester to second semester. Once I am fluent in more areas of technology, I will be able to incorporate it more into my lessons, which will result in more assessments being connected to the technology standards. As technology is constantly evolving, becoming fluent in it will be a never-ending process. In addition, teaching is a constantly evolving process, so I will always be looking for new ways to add technology to my projects.
Does anyone have any good sites to learn about new technology?
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/ NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.