For interactivity five, the assignment required me
to interview a teacher using the adoption of the new NETS survey, to get a feel
for what they had known about these technological standards. I had set up to
interview a 4th grade elementary school teacher in Midland Park, a
part of the Bergen County School District. I knew this teacher very well, and
on a personal level was aware that this particular teacher is young, very eager
for new teaching strategies and technology integration, and would give great
insight. It is no surprise that such standards would be written by the
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), considering that
technology is such a dominant resource in our society. It is everywhere you
turn, and has slowly, but gradually found its way into the classroom as very
useful aids.
When I first began the interview over the phone with
my teacher, I started with the most important question to get the ball rolling
and that was if they were familiar with the NETS-S Standards or the NETS-T.
They expressed to me that they had definitely heard of these standards but knew
that they were not used by their particular school and district. Because the
interview was over the phone, I provided an email with a link to the survey,
and also the website address http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-for-students-2007-profiles.aspx.
I decided that in order for this interview to be successful, they would need to
see the standards themselves first hand. Their first reaction after reading
over the pk-12 standards for the NETS-S was that of excitement and curiosity. They
felt that the standards showed both positive and negative qualities, but could
not deny the fact that they were certain that their curriculum would need to be
revised in order to meet these new standards. They had stated that the
standards listed all accurately pertained to the suggested age level, and how
all standards addressed important implantations needed with all the new
technologies available. The interviewed
teacher expressed to me that even though the school she taught at did not use
these exact standards, the majority of what is listed is often times met when
meeting the NJCCCS. In other words, creating lessons and methods to meet the
NJCCCS, will often result in some of the NETS-S being covered as well. For
example, this particular teacher discussed how they use Adobe Photoshop in
class to manipulate photos, and also to create grids over photos, that students
follow in drawing. The point of a grid is to break a large image down into several
images so that proportion stays accurate. Using technologies like what they had
stated is a great way of helping artists grow, but doesn’t remove them from the
craft of art making itself, rather just aids them as comprehension tools. The teacher liked the standards overall and
advised me to learn them, as they would probably be mandated within the next
few years. They also stated that with budget cuts and the poor economy being an
issue, a lot of these standards are hard to fulfill without proper funding. I
agreed with what they had said, and I anticipated them filling out the survey
the way they did. We agreed that the survey was very broad, and if you didn’t
know the standards, it was basically useless. As a future educator myself, I
feel that perhaps workshops should be organized to help familiarize my colleagues
and I on the NETS-S and NETS-T so that they can be implemented in the
classroom. Technology is important, and being a younger teacher helps me see
that. I grew up with it, therefore it is almost a responsibility of mine to get
some of the older colleagues I work with to enter the new technological age.
Not only will it allow them to keep their jobs, but their students will greatly
benefit when entering the next level of schooling or life.
The link above goes to my Goggle Doc, where I inserted the NETS-S standards.
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