In this activity, our task was to interview a teacher in
order to assess whether the teacher and the school district in which they work
are successfully implementing the NETS- S or simply are familiar with the
NETS-T.
I have the opportunity to interview a formal student of
Montclair State University, a female teacher newly graduate in my content area.
She is currently working as a French foreign language teacher- in west Orange
High school district a school located in Essex County, New Jersey. According to
her, she is using instructional technology in her teaching during her lessons
like, power-point, video, audio-recording, and Smart board. She is quite so
confident when sharing her experiences about the way she is integrating technology
into her lessons.
However, I could not be more surprised to find out that she
was not familiar with the National Educational Technology Standard for Students
(NETS-S) or the National Educational Technology Standard for Teachers (NETS-T)
even after she affirms having an idea about it. We had to research the net to
find out about NETS-S and NETS-T. In fact, The National Educational Technology
Standard for Students is created by the International Society for Technology
Education (ISTE) to “evaluate skills and knowledge students need to learn to
live in the global society.” For, applying the NETS-S requires digital skills
and aptitudes such as: creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem
solving, research and information fluency etc…
Throughout of her responses, I notice that she feels very
unfortunate that she is unable to apply these standards. The lack of information
and knowledge of her school district about it is very impressive. Another
interesting element noticed is that her colleagues seem not to be knowledgeable
of the standards either. Moreover, it doesn’t seem that her school district has
started to implement NETS-S and NETS-T as far as she knows. This does not
eliminate the fact that her schools district, in particular her school, use
technology such: as laptop, projector, video, over head projector with lap
tops, individual laptops and computers in the classroom and labs in effort to
increase student’s proficiency and media literacy. She also shares with me that
the needs to use instructional technology in the classroom is essential for teachers
in the process to enhance media literacy among students and she is willing to
take the step that will help her to meet such standard.
I had to confide that I was chocked at first to hear that
she was unfamiliar about the National Educational Standard, being a formal
student from MSU graduated recently it seems strange. But, when she told me
that she has an idea about it and her colleagues seem not being informed, I was
not surprised. Like them, I was ignorant
about this before that activity. I realize that it is helpful to have knowledge
about such standard because it is mandatory to use them when we are planning
lessons in order to meet national and international standard.
Definitely, as a future teacher, I envision using these
educational standards in my career. This will allow me to build better lesson
where instructional technology is embedded. I assume, based on my interview,
that not every teacher is very well informed about NETS-T and NETS-S as
national standard to teach in digital era. I feel responsible to share this knowledge with
colleagues that I will meet during my career. As educator, be opened and ready
to change is the most important tool we need to be successful in a classroom
where learning is taking place.
I had a similar experience while interviewing a Paramus High School English teacher in Bergen County, New Jersey. She had never heard of NETS-T or NETS-S either, but explained that the administration still requires teachers to use technology during classroom instruction. She and I came to the conclusion that while many teachers don't know the standards by name, they still strive to meet similar goals. For example, at Paramus High School, every teacher is required to include a technology-related goal as part of their PIP (personal improvement plan) every year. In other words, teachers are required to learn new skills that they can later incorporate into their classroom and use to better instruct their students.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that teachers in both Paramus and West Orange don't seem to be informed about NETS-T and NETS-S, but still make efforts to incorporate technology into their pedagogy. I wonder if this is common for many teachers in many districts.
Kate
I am really proud to say we all know about these standards now. Especially since so many professional educators are not aware of them. However, I don't put the entire blame on the teachers. I think the district should inform teachers about these standards so that they can work to implement them in the classroom. In my interview, I have a feeling that the teacher I spoke to was just saying that she knew of these standards because she was too embarrassed to admit that she didn't. Schools know that teachers should be up to date with new technology resources, but I think that they need to do a better job of making these resources known and available to teachers.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy how so many teachers, from so many different schools, from so many different school districts, did not know anything regardinh NETS-S or NETS-T. It actually made me feel a little more smart. One thing, that it has made me to want to make sure I do is to stay updated as a teacher. I will always want to stay up to date with readings regarding my profession because I would never want another person to ask me questions regarding my profession, while not knowing anything regarding it even though it has to do with my ptofession.
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