NETS for Teachers

   The NETS standards for teachers are ambitious goals set forth for all teachers to follow in an idealized world. They are reasonable goals, but they may not apply to all types of teachers in the day to day routine of teaching a subject and managing a classroom.
   Of course, all teachers should be eager to incorporate technology into the learning experience, but what seems to be missing from these standards is the classroom management component of dealing with 30 kids on 30 computers. Time and time again I've heard of the headaches which ensue from simply keeping kids on task.
   For my subjects, physical and biological sciences, the most common use of computers is researching a topic for a paper or presentation. In my current classroom, we do not have computers so we go to a computer lab when we devote in class time to researching a topic. When teaching middle and high school students how to write a well-researched paper, as teachers we have to spend a good deal of time explaining plagiarism and the fact that copy paste is not an acceptable form of writing. Sadly, when running papers through programs like turn it in, one can find several students who are not composing original papers. The NETS standards seem to ignore these types of real world issues.
   I do want to include technology in my classroom to benefit the learning experience of my students, but right now, without computers actually in the classroom, we have to schedule time in a computer lab which is shared by the school. Currently, research articles are the sole reason I assign computer usage in class. We do not have any software dedicated to my subject matter, in the future, I would be interested in investigating computer programs which may be helpful to my students, such as statistical programs or other types of software designed for specific applications.
   One area where I think technology is a huge help for teachers is in helping a teacher become more efficient in the more routine tasks, such as posting grades, homework, etc. Email too is a blessing and a curse, it does allow more interaction with parents and students but sometimes the process of simply managing email can take a huge amount of time away from a teacher's daily schedule.
   In summary, technology use in the classroom will certainly differ according to the age level and subject matter taught. An AP course at the high school level would lead to more independent projects for students because of the advanced nature of the study as compared to an introductory course. All content areas would certainly involve research skills on the internet, while specific software applications would likely be more prevalent for math and science than other topics. Overall, the NETS standards for teachers are ambitious, but do not address the practicality of trying to implement them.

Reflections on First Assignment 1_20_2011

     The conditions spelled out by ISTE represent an idealized environment where the use of technology in the classroom would be an experience not fraught with the usual messy world of real life. This is my second semester of student teaching, and I have not been at my current school long enough to address each point of the conditions in detail, but I can comment in general from my experiences at all the schools I spent some time in either observing classes or student teaching.
     The thread that runs through all schools seems to be a general understaffing of the IT Depts., so that wait times for teachers to get routine IT chores done, like hooking up a printer to the network, can take weeks, and sometimes months to accomplish. It seems a shame that the funding issues have created an environment where schools have adequate systems in place, but lack FTEs to help. At some schools, teachers who are interested in technology will often take on the role of de facto IT support, in addition to their normal duties. That is fine, but schools need to have dedicated staff to run the systems they put in place, otherwise the technology is not only underutilized, but it becomes more obsolete with every passing day.
     The conditions as they are spelled out make sense to me, although I am skeptical about the ability of any school to meet all of them. They are high standards
     Out of all the standards, I think the most essential to success are adequate and consistent funding, and reliable technical support. Of course, student-centered learning is important too, but IMO good teachers are good teachers under varied conditions, so a good teacher who may not be entirely technically savvy will likely have the skills to design lessons in technology that engage and motivate the students. However, a good teacher who needs some help implementing technology as a resource will never get their projects off the ground unless they have the funding and support to do so.