Technology+Facilitation+Standards+III

ISTE’s Standard III, Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum

Standard III relays information regarding the implementation of standards within curriculum. Williamson and Redish state that since 1998 when the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS*S) released its first set of national standards. They have gained popularity among states, with forty eight states adopting them. In Texas, students need to be "computer literate" by the end of eighth grade. The problem is the specific definition of computer literacy. The case study "Establishing a Curriculum Framework" demonstrates the challenges with putting the standards to use. It is one thing to adopt the standards and quite another to break them down, analyze, and work with these standards in order to make our students successful. I found it interesting that a quote from this study "if students don't have technology skills because of poverty and we don't address this, we are just going to recreate that poverty cycle" (Williamson & Redish, 2009). It seems to me that students should have an opportunity to prepare for the workforce within the school walls. Another interesting quote is "we wanted grade-level benchmarks, not just a grade range” (Williamson & Redish, 2009). I think the standards are a great place to start, but each district and school must thoroughly examine the standards and apply, adapt and include these into current curriculum. Without taking the time to examine them thoroughly, the students will not benefit. We have benchmark tests for reading, math, science and social studies in my district. These are also the areas in which students are measured to determine the districts Acceptable Yearly Progress. I'm glad that students have found a way to learn what they need to know and are interested in away from school. I hope our districts will get more prepared to truly use these standards and not just adopt them.

I believe in order for us to embrace this standard we must adequately train our teachers. We must prepare them to teach to these standards and provide examples of lessons they could use in their own classrooms. In our class, Teaching with Technology, my team discovered that in each one of our campuses that was the leading problem. Teachers did not feel prepared and would not teach something they were not comfortable using. If we can convince our teachers that students can also be teachers and it's alright to say I don't have the answer right this minute, but I will find it I don't believe we'll meet this standard. What an incredible teaching moment when the teacher demonstrates to the class how to find an answer! I have been able to use this standard when organizing and managing the after school program of UDL Book Builder. I worked closely with our ITS for my building and computer liaison. These two individuals were very interested in learning about the program; other teachers in the building were not.

I would like to see what my district is doing specifically to address this issue. I do know that the department Curriculum and Instruction and enveloped the Instructional Technology Specialists (ITS) department. The goal is for ITS to create specific lessons and go into classrooms to help teachers with technology. I would like to see that happen. I would also like to see the ITS department train one or two teachers per campus to be an extra resource to speed up the process. It is difficult for eight specialists to meet the needs of all teachers in the district. References Williamson, J., & Redish T. (2009). Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum. In Jeff Bolkan, Lynda Gansel, Lanier Brandau (Ed.) ISTE’s Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards (pp.57 – 75). International Society for Technology in Education. Eugene, OR