Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Four Standards
Twenty-first century students need complex skill sets to be desirable in the job market. Those skills need to be developed in the classroom and include media skills, problem solving, the ability to explore solutions and collaborate with others.(Dickenson) Integrating technology into the classroom can help create students with 21st century skills. Technology is a tool that needs to be used effectively by being implemented thoughtfully. Standards of teaching are built to help us grow as educators and to become effective practitioners in the classroom. Four of the following standards from the CSTP 2009 illustrate ways we can incorporate technology in student learning: 1)Engage and support all students in learning. 2)Creating and maintaining effective environments for student learning. 3)Planning instruction and designing learning experiences for all students. 4) Understanding and organizing subject matter for student learning.
As we grow into a global economy we must look at how our instructional approaches integrate technology into the classroom, which in turn supports student learning. In the paper, "Maximizing the impact: the pivotal role of technology in a 21st education system" there are many ways that technology supports learning. Some of the 21st century themes explored are civic literacy, health literacy, and global awareness. A student needs to be creative, innovative, and display media literacy. The difficult part is how as educators do we teach in a 21st century classroom when we lack the necessary tools or ideas? The paper addresses several ways to implement technology in the classroom. Standard 1.4, Using a variety of instructional strategies, resources, and technologies to meet students’ diverse learning needs is highlighted by the example from the paper. The Maine Distance Learning Project incorporates videoconferencing, geography, and language arts into its program of a news magazine television show for students across several states. Standard 2.1 is highlighted with the use of technology as a successful tool in the classroom with Instant Messaging. It turns reluctant classroom participants into active chatters outside the classroom. (Vockley-Long) By using instant messaging teachers are able to reach a broader spectrum of students. "ThinkQuest International competition, an online, collaborative learning contest in which multinational teams of students create educational Web sites on topics they choose, in categories such as science and technology, health and safety,arts and entertainment, and math." ThinkQuest illustrates how standard 3.5 Using and adapting resources, technologies, and standards-aligned instructional materials,including adopted materials, to make subject matter accessible to all students, can be made possible. Think.com is another tool to help educators bring technology into the classroom. “Technology can be a means to access content on any topic, a tool for thinking and creating, a connection to peers and experts, and a window into other cultures. Multimedia content can make the curriculum come alive and allow teachers and students to explore content deeply—or in brief, accessible chunks.”(Vockley-Long)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Everyday, in my US History and Geography classes, we watch the CNN Student News Podcast. My students are very sheltered, due to religion. I love showing them the news because it is really beginning to open their eyes to other cultures and other parts of the world. The podcast is geared towards middle school and high school, so all of the stories are relevant and appropriate. Watching the news each day is for sure opening up a window into other cultures for them. Now that we are 3/4 of the way through the school year, my students have been able to connect various news stories and geographical locations to each other.
ReplyDeleteImplementing technology IS so important in our classrooms. What technology have you fund works really well in your classroom?
Jenny
I like what you said about becoming a global economy. I feel it is a huge responsibility of ours, as a teacher, to prepare our students to be able to work with people that are unlike themselves and think outside the box to adapt to different situations. I work at a school that has a highly diverse population, where many of my students are first generation Americans. This diversity in the classroom leads to some amazing discussions as well as connections among the varied material because students, as well as parents, wish to share their own experience with the class. And the beauty of technology being such a driving force in the classroom, is that we can now explore and discover the world to even better prepare our students for the future.
ReplyDeleteAlyx,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. You bring up some very valid points. I liked your question, "How as educators do we teach in a 21st century classroom when we lack the necessary tools or ideas?" It is a very difficult task to implement technology in a classroom that lacks the necessary resources. However, I believe there are creative solutions. Teachers can model what it means to be a 21st century learner through creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. At the OCCUE conference I recently attended, the keynote speaker had little-to-no technology in her classroom. However, she had students bring their own devices (iPods, cell phones, iPads, etc.) and used different apps and social media to engage learners. For example, she had students use instagram to post picture of nature that inspired them. Then she had students comment on the pictures with words, thoughts, or ideas that came to their mind. She said when the students used these words and images for a poetry assignment, she said that these were the best poems she has ever received. I love learning new and great ways to engage students and improve classroom learning.
I also discovered the Socrative app last year at a technology professional development. This app is another way students can use the technology they might already have to complete quizzes, polls, exit slips, and other forms of formative assessments. I use Socrative every day, and it makes daily warm-ups, exit slips, and quizzes easy to grade and fun for the students.
The key is for teachers to be life-long learners who are willing to try new and different things in the classroom. If teachers are willing to experiment and take risks with technology, good things will happen.
Again, thank you for all of you great reflections and ideas regarding the first lesson. I look forward to more of our thought-provoking discussions.
Have a great day!
alex, I was thinking about the same thing that Alicia brought up about my own classroom. I teach special education and my class is treated like the ugly step child compared to the classes that gain recognition for my administrators. And I agree that generally speaking, instant messaging is a way of reaching all of our students. Unfortunately for me, when I have open house, I don't get many parents showing up or students. And when I spend hours on making a great powerpoint, I don't get results much different than when I use a teacher centered model. As an ED teacher, its hard to get my students to pay attention much less want to go out of their way to learn more.
ReplyDeleteI love the quote you used to end your blog post. I think it is great way to sum up what we are trying to accomplish in the classroom. I found ThinkQuest to be a very interesting concept and I love that you expanded on ThinkQuest with Think.com. I will definitely be taking a look at Think.com for ideas on how to use technology in the classroom more effectively. I hope to get as many ideas as possible during this course in order to better my instruction with technology.
ReplyDelete