Ms.
Smith was not familiar with the NETS standards until I presented them to her
during our interview. Although she’s never seen them, however, she noticed that
many of the standards NETS outlines are ideas she already incorporates into her
class on a day-to-day basis. Ms. Smith frequently uses a SMART Board in her
lessons, and tries to make her science classes as engaging for the students as
possible with the help of the technology she has available in her classroom.
After
looking at the Clifton School District’s website along with asking Ms. Smith
about the NETS Standards, I did not find any signs of implementation of the technology
standards thus far. Ms. Smith did let me know that many of the classrooms at
the middle school where she works are equipped with a SMART Board, and all of
the classrooms have at least six computers for the students and teachers to
make use of.
I
was not very surprised at Ms. Smith’s responses, because after going back to my
lesson plan spreadsheet for Interactivity 4 and adding in the NETS-S standards,
I noticed that a good lesson already includes many of the standards outlined by
the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Ms. Smith also
noticed this was evident in her personal lessons. She added that although the
teachers in Clifton public schools are not required to align their lessons
according to NETS standards, they do have to somehow note in their plans (by a
simple way of highlighting for example) when technology is being used. She also
said that another reason for Clifton not beginning the implementation of the
NETS standards could be due to the diversity of the town. Because many of the
students are English Language Learners (ELL’s), the teachers are required to
not only align their lessons with their specific content, but also Language
Arts. Adding yet another set of standards might be considered overkill.
As
a future educator, I might try to make my fellow colleagues aware of these standards
by talking with them about the NETS standards. Not only are the standards
fairly easy to follow and straightforward, but they could also ensure a greater
interaction between the students and the technology available in schools. We
have seen that children today learn to use computers before they can read, so I
think it’s safe to say that they could greatly benefit from having lessons
aligned with the NETS standards.
Justyna,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading many blogs for this interactivity, as well as yours, I have noticed that many teachers are not familiar with these standards. They do incorporate technology in their lessons to make them more engaging and when they see the standards they see that their lessons align with them. I think the only set back to these standards is that not all schools have the resources needed to implement them. The teacher I interviewed, was actually familiar with the standards and her school, as well as the district, have been implementing them for a while. They are mostly used in the technology classes, but all subject area teachers incorporate them into their lessons when appropriate as well.