National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers

Teachers demonstrate a sound understanding of technology operations and concepts. Teachers:

• Demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology.

As an elementary classroom teacher, it is very important to have a basic understanding of different types of technology. In our computer lab there is a program installed on the teacher's computer station called Altiris Vision that allows all of the computers in the lab to view what is on the teacher's screen. Altiris Vision allowed us to model the skills needed to create with the different program we used during our unit on the circulatory system. By using this program, we were able to demonstrate to the students that we, as teachers, had a strong understanding of how to operate the technology and that we were resources they could come to if they needed help exploring the programs.

II.     Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences

Teachers plan and design effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology. Teachers:

• Design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.

Computers and technology are a major part of our students' everyday lives. Most, but not all, students have computers in their home and use them on a regular basic. When designing our lessons for this unit, we incorporated all learning styles, including visual, verbal, and kinesthetic. The Internet was a wonderful tool that enabled our students to learn visually, as well as verbally. Other lessons were incorporated into the unit to get students moving and learning kinesthetically. The lesson Journey of a Red Blood Cell is an example.

• Identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability.

Prior to creating our unit, we completed a survey that allowed us to evaluate our schools technological status. The results of the survey ranked our school at the Mid-Tech level.

Also, while creating the Blood Web Hunt lesson, we explored and evaluated many sites on the Internet. We chose to have the students navigate only sites that were dependable and that contained accurate information. This process took many hours of planning time.

• Plan strategies to manage student learning in a technology-enhanced environment.

Prior to beginning the circulatory unit, students have had many experiences with technology in the classroom. For example, they have used Excel to graph in math, they created PowerPoint presentations for language arts and they created time lines using the program Time Liner in social studies. The students' vast experiences with technology made behavior management in the computer lab effortless. They already knew the expectations, although reminders were given at the beginning of each lab session.

III.     Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum

Teachers implement curriculum plans that include methods and strategies for applying technology to maximize student learning. Teachers:

• Facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that address content standards and student technology standards.

The lessons created for this unit followed the 5^th grade science curriculum for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools. The technology standards were also used as a guide while creating the unit with a strong focus on the performance indicators for 5^th grade.

• Apply technology to develop students' higher-order skills and creativity.

The PowerPoint presentations allowed for students to showcase their learning, as well as, develop their creativity. They had the opportunity to present what they had learned in a way that demonstrated their understanding other then by taking a written exam. This forced students to interpret and comprehend the information before they could organized it in a presentation. Also, many students chose to add elements that made their presentation unique and entertaining to watch.

IV.     Assessment and Evaluation

Teachers apply technology to facilitate a variety effective assessment and evaluation strategies. Teachers:

• Apply technology in assessing student learning of subject matter using a variety of assessment techniques.

Students' learning and use of technology was informally assessed after every lesson. Formal assessment included the Word document Mrs. Moore's Question, the PowerPoint presentation, and the standard written exam. The Word document allowed for us to assess students' comprehension at the midpoint of the unit, where as the others were used as the final unit assessments.

V.     Productivity and Professional Practice

Teachers use technology to enhance their productivity and professional practice. Teachers:

• Use technology resources to engage in ongoing professional development and life long learning.

The Internet is an extremely useful tool for teachers. There are a magnitude of web sites that are devoted to teaching practices, ideas, and resources. Technology advances have made information readily available at the click of a button. I use this tool daily to help prepare for the classroom and to create my lessons. Besides the Internet, I also use a digital camera and multiple software programs to help in planning for daily activities in the classroom.

VI.     Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues

Teachers understand the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in PK-12 schools and apply that understanding in practice. Teachers:

• Model and teach legal and ethical practice related to technology use.

During the PowerPoint Presentation introduction, Ms. Guibord discussed the rubric for the project. Students were to create a reference slide for their presentation. She discussed plagiarism and how it related to information on the Internet. Students had been exposed to this information through the Media Specialist and grasped the idea with little misunderstanding. We modeled this to the students by showing them an example of what was expected to be included on their reference slide of their presentation.

• Promote safe and healthy use of technology resources.

While working on the unit, our computer lab Internet filtering system failed. The program was uninstalled and not reinstalled until weeks later. This allowed for students to navigate anywhere on the Internet without immediate supervision. While working in the computer lab during this time we set limits for the students enabling them only to navigate teacher selected web sites. Even with this limitation advertisements on these sites were not always appropriate. We discussed as a class how to handle a situation if inappropriate images appeared on their computer screen. They were to immediately turn off their computer screen and signal for teacher help. The students were very cooperative and abided by the limitations set. If they had been uncooperative the use of the Internet would have been impossible for several weeks and the unit would have not been as successful.

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