National Educational Technology Standards (NETS)

I read the national technology standards for students and teachers. I'm familiar with them and have read them all before, but I don't believe they're being satisfactorily met on a national level. I think teachers do the best they can with the funds available to them, but we as a nation are still far from where we need to be as far as technology education in our schools. I worry about our nation's students being able to compete on a global basis in the future.



Image credit: Microsoft Office clip art

 Based on our class introductions last week (January 19th) not very many of us are using newer technology in our classrooms, mainly due to a lack of funding. Some of us have SmartBoards, but I think only one person said her school has iPads. If teachers can't meet the standards then students certainly can't. However, I believe teachers can and should definitely make up for deficits in actual equipment, though, through the use of thousands of web sites such as those referenced in Chapter 1 of "New Literacies."  They can certainly avail themselves of such sites, take a class such as this one, attend a workshop on blogging or other technological activities, and so on.

What types of technology do you incorporate into your classrooms? How do you skirt around limited budgets to bring global technology to your students?

"New Literacies"

I enjoyed reading about the New Literacies in this week's assignment. Here are my thoughts on some of the links:

·    American Memory is operated by the Library of Congress and contains millions of primary documents related to social studies. Having access to primary sources is an invaluable resource to teachers. It can save time from having to track down items or traveling to and from historical societies and/or museums. The minute I accessed this site I e-mailed it to the two theme coaches at my school, particularly the page with the resource links to grades 3-8 and 9-12. Right now our third grade classes are working on immigration and have been using immigration trunks from the Connecticut Historical Society Library and Museum in Hartford. Most of the artifacts are replicas, though, so being able to access primary source documents would be a huge boon for the teachers.



Image credit: Google images; faculty.mercer.edu



·    GoENC.com is a subscription service (a one-time payment of $29.95) that offers high-quality math and science resources, as well as professional development, lesson plans, and web resources from The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education. This seems like a good resource, but I’m not sure teachers would be willing to pay the subscription fee, even if it is a “one-time” thing.

·    Drexel University offers The Math Forum, an online resource for improving math learning, teaching, and communication. The site offers problems and puzzles; online mentoring; research; team problem solving; collaborations; and professional development. The “Problems of the Week” section looks very promising—my oldest son, who’s 9, would love them! I can also see using this site in my weekly Saturday Academy classes, where I teach CMT prep (reading and math skills) to some of our third grade students. Right now we're using IXL.com, which is also a subscription service.

·    Web English Teacher offers an array of resources to incorporate reading activities into the classroom. Two dozen topics are presented for educators to choose from—from poetry to drama to Shakespeare. I can see this as being a great resource for secondary school English teachers.

·    Starfall is a resource for children ages preschool through second grade. It offers decoding skills, phonemic awareness, and other essential early reading skills. Teachers at my school use Starfall frequently, particularly in our five preschool classrooms. The kids LOVE it and some of the parents have started using it in their homes, too. I used it with my own kids when they were in preschool and they really enjoyed the activities.



Image credit: Google images; mscrosswhite.edublogs.org

·    The Literacy Web, offered through the University of Connecticut, offers resources for children’s and adolescent literature, writing, and various resources for grades K-12. This seems like a great resource for teachers, and it has the added benefit of being published by a well-known (and local) university.

·    CyberSurfari is an online scavenger hunt. I played a variation of this game  many years ago when the Internet first became a sensation. It’s fun to jump from site to site looking for clues.

·    Education World, Enchanted Learning, National Geographic for Kids and the International Reading Association are all amazing sites that I’ve visited and utilized in the past.

      I'm curious...would any of you be willing to pay subscription prices--even if they're small, one-time charges--for access to some of these sites, particularly when so many of them are free? Teachers make more money today than in the past, but they're still woefully underpaid. I tried out IXL.com at home with my sons, but it only allows you up to 20 free practice problems, then you're expected to pay to continue. My kids liked it and wanted to continue, but I wasn't willing to pay the membership fee. My school bought a package deal, which is how we're able to use the site for Saturday Academy.