Interactivity #5

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajj_oz2opyeldG1LbGtfa0FlN1ZpNlVrVzNEeDh3Znc#gid=0

Mrs. Tucker is a pseudonym for the teacher I interviewed about the National Educational Technology Standards. She is a 9^th and 10^th grade history teacher at Dover High School. When asked about the standards for students and teachers, Mrs. Tucker had heard of them before, but had not read them since the beginning of the school year. Therefore, she was not surprised when reading over the standards, but she was a little defensive about not remembering them without reading them.

When asked about the district’s enforcement of these standards, she said that although technology is encouraged when lesson planning, the standards are not enforced. She explained how there were SmartBoards in every classroom, but she rarely used it and heard many other teachers not even know how to operate it. Mrs. Tucker did express how every marking period her students have an assignment which they complete in the library in which they conduct research on a particular topic which ends with a presentation at the end of the unit of this topic. Most of these presentations use PowerPoint and other similar technologies.

To be honest, I was not surprised to hear that the standards were not enforced. Even with society changing and younger people being more technologically advanced, schools have been a bit behind in their technology. The problem I found from interviewing Mrs. Tucker was that teachers did not know how to operate some of these more advanced technologies. As a future educator, I would try to have my district have classes to teach teachers how to use these systems. If teachers do not understand how to use something, there is no way they can implement them into lessons for their students. Furthermore, most technology today requires some type of internet access. Currently, the devices that use internet are rather expensive and there is not much available money in public education, especially in New Jersey. However, this cannot be used as an excuse. There are ways to take advantage of these specific technologies especially with the increasing regularity of these devices in the home or public places around the town.

Moreover, we are heading into a technology age. The National Educational Technology Standards are a great foundation for teachers to make sure their students have an opportunity to research, communicate, collaborate, and conduct various concepts while using technology. As a future educator, it is something that cannot be ignored, especially in the next decade. As technology advances, so do the students and teaching needs to be diverse and teachers need to teach to their students’ strengths to be the most effective in education.