ISTE-NET*T Teacher Standard #5

ISTE-NET*T Teacher Standard #5: Productivity and Professional Practices

Teachers use technology to enhance their productivity and professional practices. Teachers:

A. Use technology resources to engage in ongoing professional development and lifelong learning.

B. Continually evaluate and reflect on professional practices to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support to student learning.

C. Apply technology to increase productivity.

D. Use technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning.

I often hear conversations that include something like, "kids today are so different..." The truth of the matter is why wouldn't they be, the world is different and ever changing. With all the technological advances, the children of today are far more advance and comfortable with mass media, telecommunications, digital media, and any other source of technology including the remote control. Remember when we had to "get up" to turn the channel on the television? If you think about it, when we were kids, the first toys our parents gave us were manual dolls and cars, xylophones, ball and bat, and bikes with no motors. Today's baby and toddlers have V-Tech toys, interactive toys, and yes the computer with Internet. Since my son was four-years-old, he has been playing with his WebKinz on-line. Now eight-years-old, he knows how to navigate the world wide web better than I do, with the exception that he doesn't spell well. My point is if the teachers of today want to stay on an equal playing field with their students or go so far as stay ahead, they must engage in using technology.

The ISTE teacher standards were developed to not only encourage, but require teachers to use technology to enhance student learning. Because of world-wide competition in the job market, it is important that our students learn how to use current and upcoming technological advances. The idea is not to hurt teaching instruction, but rather enhance. There are many ways to integrate technology into any classroom. But it must actually enhance instruction and learning. Don't included it just to fulfill your district guidelines. The following video is an example of a teacher incorporating technology in the classroom that is useless.

As you can see from the video, using technology that does not enhance instruction defeats the purpose. You will lose student attention and support. You will not support the curriculum and it will lose meaning through instruction. The follow video give suggestions for what type of technology works well in instruction and for students.

There are many ways to use technology in your class. I must admit, I too have used the smart board as a glorified overhead, but there is so many more activities it can do or media its use can enhance. For example, one way that I have integrated technology into my curriculum and instructional delivery is through the google notebook. Part of the English 11 curriculum includes research. By using the google notebook, accessibility is easy for all and the students find this forum fun. Google notebook is FREE, accessible and saved on public Internet so you wont hear "it's saved on my computer at home" or "it didn't transfer to word." It is flexible and saves citation so students can't have excuses for no sources and best of all, it is streamlined (www.goggle.com/notebook).

Teachers can also use the internet to develop website for their class, on-line assessments (test on-line), and much, much more.

I'm sure many of you like me are grateful for this course even at first if it did or still does seem intimidating. But like you, I have learned to blog, upload videos, format stories, download pictures and other aspects of blogging. As I sit her typing, I am explaining blogging to student. So in the in, technology has helped me make connections with my students.