In today’s changing world, it is absolutely essential that teachers hone their skills in technology so that they will become more proficient teachers by better preparing students for the future. In reflecting on my own integration of technology in the classroom, I will list which National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S) I am most comfortable with and which concepts I need to increase my level of proficiency (ISTE, 2008).
I feel like I am fairly competent at NETS-S Standard 1 “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity” because I really do make a thoughtful effort to design activities that allow students to express what they are thinking and learning in a variety of ways. I also feel that NETS-S Standard 5 “Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership” because through the process of getting my master’s degree in adolescent literacy and technology I am learning many best practices that will help me be of greater service to my school community (ISTE, 2008).
My first technology goal is to develop a productive, meaningful classroom website that will increase the planning, structure, and communication within my classroom. This would correspond to NETS-S Standard 3 Model Digital-Age Work and Learning (ISTE, 2008). I can really see a classroom website being an effective communication tool as a way to take my classroom beyond the wall of the school building so that students could make up learning and get ahead on learning in asynchronous fashion. In order to do this I will need to find the most efficient way to set up a classroom website. I will need to communicate with other teachers in my district because it is not required and not every teacher has one. I am seeking a website that is very user friendly because I very little background in web site development. It will be easy to monitor my progress because website development is very cut and dried. I will either have a website or I won’t, it will be useful and updated regularly or will not. My plan is to have a website in place by the beginning of the school year, and to view it as a work in progress. I will look at other teacher-generated websites and make modifications based on what works for me.
My second technology goal is to improve on NETS-S 4, “Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility” (ISTE, 2008). I recently did a literature review on how to effectively use Wikipedia in the classroom and I learned a great deal about the ethics involved in using and citing credible sources. I realized that I fall far short of what might be deemed the appropriate and ethical use of sources. My goal is to cite every source that I use in my teaching, whether it be a photograph, a song, or a written document. I really see the value of giving credit where credit is due, and I believe students in our digital society do not realize how important it is to abide my copyright rules and regulations. Thus I will encourage and require my students to state where they get their information from, and to develop their research and writing skills in such a way that they will be better prepared for further studies in college and in the career world. I will ask my students to hold me accountable for information and I will hold them accountable by frequently asking the question, “Where did you get that information?” To extend my learning and model my ethical use of resources and technology, I would like to get to the point where I am publishing ideas and research that I have about education.
Does any one know of any good free websites that will help me develop a classroom websites?
References:
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S). Retrieved July 9, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf
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Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I did not mention in my blog about my desire to create a classroom website, this is something that I have been thinking about for quite some time. Have you considered using Blackboard for your class website? My school district really encourages classroom teachers to utilize this tool. I have tried playing around with Blackboard, as it would be beneficial for my students to become familiar with it. I would be preparing them with real world skills, because many colleges even use Blackboard for students. I find that Blackboard does not have some functions that a wiki has.
Last year our sixth grade team tried using a wiki for our sixth grade website. I don't know if this is an option that your team would be willing to try, but I found it quite useful. You can have each content area teacher create his or her own page on the wiki. We even had a parent volunteer upload some assignments. Teachers posted the daily schedule, so that absent students could access the daily requirements. Our wiki was truly a work in progress, but I could see it being very effective if we became more proficient at it.
Just thought I would put the idea out for you. Let me know what resource you use, as I would like to do a better job of utilizing this communication tool in my classroom for the upcoming school year.
Thank you for your thoughts.
Paul,
ReplyDeleteInvestigate if your school has any space for you to publish a site off of your school site. In our district, we have a spot on the server to save our site. I create mine through MS Word and save it as a web page. The downside is that students cannot add to it, but I use it for posting of pertinent information students and parents need for my class. If you want students to add to the page then maybe your best bet would be a blog or a wiki.
Tonia