For
the fifth interactivity, I interviewed a 5th grade Elementary school
teacher in the Passaic School District. When I first
asked the teacher if he was familiar with the NETS-S and/or the NETS-T, he
looked at me in bewilderment. He
immediately asked me what they were and I directed him to the link explaining
the standards. After he viewed the link,
he confirmed that he was not completely familiar with the NETS-S or the NETS-T
and stated that, as far as he was concerned, the school had not begun to
implement the new NETS for students. Although
he was not well acquainted with the standards, he did mention that there were
other initiatives taken in order to increase students’ proficiency and media
literacy.
One
particular program that the students use in the classroom is Achieve 3000. I was really pleased to discover this because
it was one of the technologies we incorporated in Interactivity #3. Achieve 3000 is a software program that helps
increase literacy proficiency and improve students’ reading and writing
skills. Along with Achieve 3000 students
utilize programs such as Kid Biz, Study Island, Fast Math, and Fun Brain. There are four computers located in the
classroom which grant students the opportunity to readily access the
programs. In addition, they attend
classes in the computer lab. Lastly, the
teacher mentioned that all the programs are closely aligned with the Common Core
Standards. Besides the computer
programs, however, the students are not directly exposed to other forms of
technology.
I
wasn’t really surprised that the teacher was unfamiliar with the NETS-S and/or
the NETS-T. The reason being is because Passaic
is not really a technologically advanced district. Furthermore, as was mentioned in the
guidelines for the interactivity, not many administrators are trained in this
area, and thus cannot provide the appropriate support for teachers. Although Passaic is not implementing the
NETS, the district is taking initiative with regard to incorporating technology
in the classroom. At the end of the
interview, the teacher did mention that the school is using a program called
Power Teacher in order to track student progress and keep parents, as well as
the students, well informed. Although
the school does not have the portal for parents to view their children’s report
cards and classes available yet, the teacher is undergoing training with regard
to the program this year.
As a future educator, I would definitely promote
the implementation of the NETS-S and the NETS-T within the classroom and school
setting. These standards encourage
creativity, communication, critical thinking, research, and digital citizenship
through technological means, which in turn emphasizes the idea that students
are active learners. Overall, these
standards are especially important in today’s day in age because we live in an
increasingly technological world where the demand to be digitally literate is
extremely high. 
The Power Teacher program sounds like a good strategy to implement because it monitors student progress. As we learned in Curr 314, it is important to have data about what is boosting student learning to see which programs and technologies are effective. The teacher I interviewed mentioned that the first thing the district would need to implement NETS-T and NETS-S is professional development. It is great to hear that teachers are going through training for the Power Teacher program. The computer programs are great tools, but teachers need to be properly trained to see the possibilities for their students' learning.
ReplyDeleteWow! Despite the fact that your teacher was not familiar with the NETS-S and T standards, to have all those wonderful programs to promote technological literacy is great. Especially in a target district which, by public opinion, is often seen struggling with just the basics of education, but to see the district striving to get current with the trends in schools is very encouraging. I love all of these programs and I want to explore them further. Like I said in other comments, just because a teacher is not familiar with the standards does not mean they don't understand the value of technological literacy as a life skill.
ReplyDeleteI also interviewed a teacher that was unfamiliar with the NETS-S standards, which I found to not only be interesting, but also discouraging. It is good though that the teacher you interviewed knew about some kind initiatives that the school is taking to become more technologically advanced; this shows that the school is making some progress in terms of keeping up with the ever-changing curriculum standards.
ReplyDeleteI am unfamiliar with the Achieve 3000 program, but I do remember working with Study Island when I was in high school. The program was a great asset to the curriculum, and gave students extra practice for whichever subject they needed more assistance with. It is good to see that schools are taking the same initiative and have been given grants to do so, and are implementing programs like Study Island and Achieve 3000 into classrooms.