Narrative of Achievement

ISTE National Educational Technology Standards

and

Performance Indicators for Teachers

I. Technology Operations and Concepts:  Teachers demonstrate a sound understanding of technology operations and concepts.

      I have integrated technology into my students activities as well as my own activities.  Kelly Keener and I created a unit that showed students how to use HyperStudio software.  We modeled for them the software by creating  a stack of cards that tells a story.  Kelly demonstrated how to use a variety of tools and colors available in the program.  This was especially beneficial for myself.  From the demonstration I was able to explore on my own and become more familiar with HyperStudio.  This allowed me to actually get right in there and work as a facilitator with the students as they  worked on this project.

II.  Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences:  Teachers plan and design effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology.

     The purpose of this unit was for students to understand how the choices they make influence others and impact the environment.  The students were read, The Lorax.  In this story a character named the Once-ler visits a beautiful town and starts utilizing all the resources.  Eventually the own becomes uninhabitable and the members of the town are forced to leave.  The students in our class worked in groups to create their own endings to this story.  They brainstormed ideas, created rough drafts, and wrote their final copies using HyperStudio software.

 Lesson 1: Introduction to HyperStudio

Lesson 2: How Our Choices Affect Others

Lesson 3:  Brainstorming Story Ideas

Lesson 4:  Creating a Group Story  

Lesson 5:  Our Wonderful Stories

Lesson 6:  Taking Our Stories to HyperStudio

III.  Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum:  Teachers implement curriculum plans that include methods and strategies for applying technology to maximize student learning.

     This goal was accomplished by integrating Social Studies and Language Arts standards into this unit.  I followed the Michigan Standard and Benchmarks Guidelines.  The lessons were designed to support the diverse needs of our students.  All of the students took part in writing a new ending to the story.  They all created and designed two cards using HyperStudio.  Mrs. Keener and I both circulated in the lab and the classroom to aid the students as they worked.  We used several different instructional tools to maximize time and student learning.

V. Productivity and Professional Practice:  Teachers use technology to enhance their productivity and professional practice.

     I took advantage of the professional resources available to us during the MITTEN Project.  I attended workshops on using various programs and educational software.   I was able to go home and explore more which benefited myself and my students enormously.

Collaborating with other teachers and student teachers also was a way that allowed me to incorporate more technology into my classroom.  Designing an Electronic Portfolio was a major contributor to accomplishing this goal.  It presented me with a task to learn so many different aspects dealing with technology.  Implementing our unit using HyperStudio was another way that greatly helped me become a believer in technology in the classroom and a more comfortable one at that.

VI. Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues.

     At the beginning of the school year I discuss the ethical and legal issues of technology. My students are in Third Grade so we keep it basic, but I feel it is important for them to really get a good understanding of what are the correct and legal practices when using technology. 

Our unit dealt with the environment which is a very important issue.  We continue to discuss the relevance of taking great care of our world, always trying to be aware that the choices we make in all areas can and will affect others.