I am
not so much a digital native as I am a digital immigrant. I can remember going to a computer class
every week where we learned to program a Logo turtle or ventured on the treacherous
journey across the country in Oregon Trail.
The graphics were crude. Aside
from the bright neon green, our screens did not have color, much less the web
and 2.0 capabilities.
Within
my lifetime, our world has simultaneously become so small and yet so vast with
the advent of the internet and its use in the lives of everyday civilians. As a teacher of technology, I still hear
people refer to my class as the “computer class,” but technology envelops so
much more than just computers, and the current standards for teachers from the
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) reflect this reality. Spanning from the facilitation of student learning
experiences that utilize technology and creative thinking to the necessity for
teachers to collaborate with other professionals to promote personal learning
and growth, the range of skills necessary to be a successful teacher in today’s
digital landscape is as broad and complex as the digital world they encompass
(ISTE, 2016).
As I
reflect upon my own teaching practices, there are areas of the ISTE standards
in which I excel and others that require more effort. By virtue of my taking the plunge and heading
back to school to pursue new learning and options, I would say that I am
achieving standard 5, which relates to growing through pursuing new knowledge
in a variety of learning communities and evaluating and reflecting on the
research to ultimately support student learning and growth (ISTE, 2016). I often collaborate with other teachers in
online platforms (Twitter, Webchats, etc.), and I enjoy going to trainings and
edcamps when possible. The more diverse
my background knowledge is, as well as the knowledge of the people I connect
with, the better abled I am to support my own students. There is also a comfort in knowing that other
educators have similar concerns and difficulties. Sometimes, just being able to talk to someone
else who has experienced what I’ve experienced and come out on the other side
elevates my confidence in knowing that I can get through the struggles of
learning. Sometimes, though, I don’t
have to connect to someone across the world.
Connecting to people just across the hall can be just as rewarding.
Another
standard in which I feel I excel is the first standard, dealing with providing
authentic opportunities for students to create and innovate (ISTE, 2016). My classroom often centers around projects
that allow students a wide range of options, rarely ending in yes or no, right
or wrong answer. There are times when we
start out creating one thing, but as a class, discover something else and
venture into new territories together.
It is not uncommon for me to be learning a program right alongside my
students. That being said, I think this
strength is the root of my biggest weakness, as well.
Standard
2 deals with the assessment and evaluation of student work (ISTE, 2016). As an individual, I am creative and not so
structured. An area I need to work on is
providing more concrete feedback and assessment to my students so that they are
able to see where they are excelling and where they need to work. I teach Technology Applications, and my class
is considered an elective. For many of
my students, this is the only opportunity they have to get away from STAAR
related instruction. I find myself trying
to give them an outlet, and while I have high expectations, I think I do them a
disservice by not having set rubrics in place.
Technology has so many directions to go in, and I think I sometimes get
lost in it all, myself. The newest
version of the technology TEKS are more organic in fashion, as well, and as I
have no curriculum or scope and sequence, I find it difficult to narrow in on
what my goal, and ultimately my students’ goal, should be.
My next step for myself to improve my
teaching and enhance my students’ learning is to sit down and map out my own
scope and sequence. I need to have a
basic structure in place. I know it
might change and evolve throughout the year, but I need to have a goal for my
students and myself. With technology
ever changing, I wish I had more knowledge on how to keep up with it all. I want to swim…or at least float, instead of
feeling like I’m drowning. I’ve been
teaching in the area of technology for three years, and I feel like I’ve grown
so much. Still, the more I teach, the
more I see that my students are missing out on.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many classes where they are being taught how
to utilize technology efficiently. They
need to know how to use the devices, how to navigate the information, how to
represent themselves, how to create, and how to communicate. If there were one thing that would help me
most, it would be information on how to balance it all and give my students the
most I can. These digital natives need
to learn how to survive in the digital world they’ve inherited.
References
International Society for
Technology in Education. (2016). ISTE standards: ISTE
standards
for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-teachers
No comments:
Post a Comment