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I interviewed a third and fourth grade Basic Skills elementary school teacher.
She currently teaches math and reading in the New Brunswick school district in
New Jersey. She has already been working at this school for over a year and has
been out in the field for four years now. She shared with me that she uses
instructional technology in her classroom at least twice per week. During her
lessons she usually uses power point, video, audio recordings, projectors, and
smart boards to support her teaching. Before I emailed her with my questions,
we spoke on the phone and I told her a little about my reasons of conducting
this interview and about our class. She shared a little about her experiences
when integrating technology into her lesson plans.
When I told her the interview was based on the
National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) and the
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T), she seemed to
have an idea about what I was talking about, but at the same time she seemed
confused. Therefore, I provided her with
a copy of her standards as a reference for her to use. Throughout her responses
she stated that the only reason she was familiar with the NETS-S and the NETS-T
was because she had actually taken the same course at Kean university as an
undergraduate. In fact, she said that the only time she has really gone into
depth about these standards was mainly when she was still enrolled in college.
She feels that it is very unfortunate that she can’t remember much about these
standards and how to integrate them in her lessons. She was impressed herself about the lack of
information and knowledge her school has about these standards. Additionally,
she also shared with me that much of her colleagues do not know either and that
she was actually going to provide them with a copy of these standards.
New Brunswick school
district and in particular the school where
my interviewer works use technologies such as I pads, computers, smart
boards, language labs, video, audio recorders, power point and others to
increase students proficiency and media literacy. After exchanging a few
emails, she gave her opinion on the use of instructional technology in the
classroom and expressed to me that she feels that it is essential in the
process of learning and gaining media literacy. Moreover, she shared that in
the future she would like to be able to find links between the general
standards her school tells her to use with the NETS-S and the NETS-T. This
relation between both will help her ensure and reinforce a successful way of
teaching and integrating technology into the curriculum. She felt that as an
educator even if the school you’re working for doesn’t implement the NETS-S and
the NETS-T, it is important to be able to recognize them and have knowledge
about them.
Lastly, as a future
educator I plan to use and implement these technology standards that will help
me construct better lesson plans that include instructional technology. Based
on my interview and a few other teachers I have had a chance to talk to, It is
very clear that not many of these teachers use or have knowledge about the
NETS-S and the NETS-T. In my opinion, the best way to get informed is by asking
questions. Perhaps when applying for a teaching position we might want to
question about what standards are used in that school district. I have had the
chance to learn how important the uses of instructional technology in lessons.
Therefore, after graduating from Montclair State University I hope to come
across with educators that use and are informed about what the NETS-S/NETS-T is
and how they are used.Google Spread Sheet
Its great that you found someone familiar with the standards. The Italian teacher I interviewed was not and I wish she had been to better discuss them. Its great to see however that she is incorporating technology in the classroom often. I feel the newer teachers tend to more than the older teachers because they have better knowledge of the technologies.
ReplyDeleteJulianna, I think it is interesting that the teacher you interviewed was exposed to the NETS-T/ NETS-S as a student in college studying to be a teacher but did not actually hear of them while teaching. This is interesting to me because the time someone really needs to know them would be while teaching, not so much in college. Unfortunatly, it seems that the majority of teachers interviewed had no idea of these standards at all so the fact that your teacher even had an idea about them was a plus. I feel that more school districts should be exposed to them. They are important to both teachers and students and can really make for an enriching learning experience.
ReplyDeleteJulianna, you make a great point about the best way to learn information is to ask questions. As newer teachers, we have great resources all around us at school that we can go to in order to ask questions. What do you anticipate being your greatest struggle as a new teacher in regards to integrating technology in your classroom?
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