Reflections+on+Technology+Facilitator+Standard+III

**__Self –Assessment __**
 * __Reflections for Technology Facilitator Standard III: Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum __**
 * "Business community members, parents, government officials, and educators are concerned that schools are not preparing students for life, work, and learning after high school" (Williamson & Redish, 2009). This quote is important for me to keep on the forefront of my thinking as a teacher and as a parent. This reading in Williamson & Redish's text reminds us that facilitating technology education is necessary for education to make a wide-scale impact on teaching and learning for our students now and for the future. Although it is a learning process for all involved, Prensky reminds us that the "digital native" learners are waiting for us older "digital immigrants" to catch up (2001). I think there is a middle ground that we work in daily when implementing technological standards, in that we can still teach our students how to narrow search topics and skillfully evaluate websites for validity, for instance, and he or she can still teach us about cool websites that they have found to help enhance our work.
 * The biggest gain of information that I learned during reading Williamson & Redish was that the Pew Foundation reported that 87% of youth between 12 and 17 use the internet, while 75% of these students also rely on instant messaging for discussing homework and personal interactions with friends. I know that through my experience with students at my current middle school, about 20% of my students do not have the internet at home. So, in order for me to expect work to be done overnight that requires internet use, the assignment timeline must be flexible, with lab and tutorial hours available to accommodate these students. Unfortuneately, these are also the students that need the most help with passing state TAKS standards and any available tutorials time is usually spent catching up on missing work or reteaching. This is an ongoing process, but I think with time and further resources that are available through grants and projects, all of our students will eventually have personal computers to help level that technological gap.
 * My personal experiences in fulfilling Standard III, Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum showed this discrepancy in technological availability at home for some students. The occasion that I used methods and classroom management strategies for teaching technology concepts and skills in a lab setting showed that there were many students that could not type, find regularly used buttons on an internet browser, and scrolling techniques let me know that there are some basic skills that some students do not partake in on a regular basis and this can dramatically effect the amount of time explaining and helping all students in a lab setting. There were times when the same question would come up repeatedly about finding a particular website and they were not entering the name spelled correctly. User issues are typical, but it does get frustrating.

**__Learn as a Learner __**
 * My approach in implementing standard III, especially teaching technology concepts and skills in a lab setting, was to remember what Wiggins & McTighe write about designing curriculum, “If you don’t know exactly where you are headed, then any road will get you there.” This rings true while I am teaching a new subject this year, which is a high-stakes TAKS year for students, and keeping myself ahead of the curriculum and lessons taught for each day. There are times when I see the end result, but have difficulty grasping the daily activities and resources. “We are quick to say what things we like to teach, what activities we will do, and what kinds of resources we will use; but without clarifying the desired results of our teaching, how will we distinguish merely interesting learning from effective learning” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2000)? Stated so clearly is the ultimate desire of every teacher who is trying desparately to engage and reach all children.
 * As a learner, I tend to want things to be in order and presented in a manner in which my mind can grasp the connection from one learning event to another. This is why it has been difficult for me to grasp all the learning that has taken place during my internship activities. But to date, my most rewarding experience as a learner has been the ability for me to use and describe methods and strategies for teaching concepts and skills that support the use of distance learning systems to other professionals in education.
 * With the experiences with these other teachers, my confidence and true knowledge has shone through any disbelief or discouragement that I may have had about technology implementation before starting the master's program. The use of the discussion boards, video conferencing, wiki, and blog have enhances my ability to perform tasks related to standard III. The pure experience and continual use of these technologies have contributed greatly to my learning and ability to help others fell less threatened by the way education is moving.

**__Lifelong Learning Skills __**
 * The way I learn, through experience, will be the essense for me to be able to help others master technology standards and performance tasks. In order for me to teach others, I will need to have some sound integration into the software or hardware before teaching, using, or describing any strategies or methods for teaching concepts and skills through technology. As I expereince more though, my interaction and confidence with these technologies grows so that I am more prepared and willing to try new ways to deliver strategies that are aligned with content and technology standards.
 * My past interactions and collaborations with colleagues, especially through the master's program, will help me see the differences among our adult learners that are similar to the needs of our youth learners; patience. Not only is it normal for people to be weary around new ideas and objects, but our natural curiosity can also get the better of us to help rather than hurt our future endeavors in learning.
 * Future investigation and continual studies about professional development for teachers in learning to use technologies is the key to our children being exposed to such experiences. It is imperative that "educators will need ongoing professional learning opportunites providing instruction in best practices in implementing student technology standards" (Williamson & Redish, 2009). This is my main concern as a professional educator as we are in a time of great financial desparity within our public school system, are we going to enhancing our technology use so that we can eventually help our budgetary problems with the help of these technologies?

References:

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 2. //On the Horizon//, 9(6), 1-9. Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2000). //Understanding by Design//. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). //Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.