Standard 3
Model Digital Age Work and Learning
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.
a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations
Meeting the Standard
I love learning new and challenging concepts and this thought was certainly put to the test when I took my Introduction to Web Development Course. In this course, I learned about Web Design and Web Development. During this course, I had to come up with an idea for a website, consider the needs of the possible users, and then put a plan together for creating a website. After creating the plan, I began the task of hand coding the website using the markup language used in World Wide Web known as HTML5. For me, this was like learning a foreign language and then writing a significant research paper in the foreign language all within a six to eight week period of time. After successfully completing this course, I felt I could conquer the world! This course not only boosted my self confidence, but it gave me an understanding of the markup language that I had seen through our county provided teacher web space and occasionally on other websites. Being able to get an understanding of the hand code, definitely helped me make some connections when embedding videos and graphics to my teacher website. After taking this course, I can certainly say that I have a greater appreciation for what I see and view when working online.
b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation
Meeting the Standard
Communication is such an important component of education. I have a variety of tools that I use for communication. My teacher website has two specific pages just for parents, Forms/Parent Notes and Parent/Student Resources. Theses two pages provide parents and students with notes and important online resources like getting help with homework or simple things like finding out what is on the lunch menu. Other communication tools that I incorporate are parent/student surveys that I usually generate through Google Docs. One that I find very helpful is the beginning of the year survey. This survey usually helps put the parent at ease sending their child to school on the first day and it puts me at ease because the parent has provided me with insight about their child to help begin the year in a successful manner. This survey is provided to parents before the first day of school at our annual Meet and Greet the Teacher event. Of course, I have e-mail that I use as a communication tool and I highly encourage parents to communicate with me any time there is a question or concern.
c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats
Meeting the Standard
The most relevant digital age media that I use to communicate relevant information to my parents is through the use of my class website. Important dates and upcoming events can be stored in my calendar and parent notes can be posted on the teacher page. This year, I have also started using Class Dojo as means to communicate with parents about student behaviors. I love this tool, because with the click of one button, student reports can be sent to parents' e-mail addresses. Here is a small snapshot of a behavior report. Some future communication tools I would like to use include Wikis, Blogs, and/or Podcasts created by my students.
d. Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning
Meeting the Standard
As I learned in The Diffusion of Educational Innovations course, there are numerous reasons why people choose to accept emerging digital tools or reject them. But to move forward with learning, there is a great need for modeling and supporting people who are experiencing change. I learned that support was a critical factor for the learning to take hold. I've had the opportunity to be a support person and model digital tools for my district by presenting at our regional technology conference known as GRITC. There I presented two different classes this past year. I presented one session titled Web Based Tools for Teaching and Learning. The second session I presented was titled Exploring ALEX and the Web Via Group Projection Tools. To provide extended support, I stored relevant resources for both of these presentations on my class website under Teacher Resources. I also provided my e-mail so the teachers could contact me if they needed support in the future. In completing a project within the Diffusion of Educational Technologies course I created a CBAM project and was quite surprised to find that even when training is not provided, many teachers are very motivated to spend their own time learning to use resources that can make learning more fun and engaging.
a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations
Meeting the Standard
I love learning new and challenging concepts and this thought was certainly put to the test when I took my Introduction to Web Development Course. In this course, I learned about Web Design and Web Development. During this course, I had to come up with an idea for a website, consider the needs of the possible users, and then put a plan together for creating a website. After creating the plan, I began the task of hand coding the website using the markup language used in World Wide Web known as HTML5. For me, this was like learning a foreign language and then writing a significant research paper in the foreign language all within a six to eight week period of time. After successfully completing this course, I felt I could conquer the world! This course not only boosted my self confidence, but it gave me an understanding of the markup language that I had seen through our county provided teacher web space and occasionally on other websites. Being able to get an understanding of the hand code, definitely helped me make some connections when embedding videos and graphics to my teacher website. After taking this course, I can certainly say that I have a greater appreciation for what I see and view when working online.
b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation
Meeting the Standard
Communication is such an important component of education. I have a variety of tools that I use for communication. My teacher website has two specific pages just for parents, Forms/Parent Notes and Parent/Student Resources. Theses two pages provide parents and students with notes and important online resources like getting help with homework or simple things like finding out what is on the lunch menu. Other communication tools that I incorporate are parent/student surveys that I usually generate through Google Docs. One that I find very helpful is the beginning of the year survey. This survey usually helps put the parent at ease sending their child to school on the first day and it puts me at ease because the parent has provided me with insight about their child to help begin the year in a successful manner. This survey is provided to parents before the first day of school at our annual Meet and Greet the Teacher event. Of course, I have e-mail that I use as a communication tool and I highly encourage parents to communicate with me any time there is a question or concern.
c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats
Meeting the Standard
The most relevant digital age media that I use to communicate relevant information to my parents is through the use of my class website. Important dates and upcoming events can be stored in my calendar and parent notes can be posted on the teacher page. This year, I have also started using Class Dojo as means to communicate with parents about student behaviors. I love this tool, because with the click of one button, student reports can be sent to parents' e-mail addresses. Here is a small snapshot of a behavior report. Some future communication tools I would like to use include Wikis, Blogs, and/or Podcasts created by my students.
d. Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning
Meeting the Standard
As I learned in The Diffusion of Educational Innovations course, there are numerous reasons why people choose to accept emerging digital tools or reject them. But to move forward with learning, there is a great need for modeling and supporting people who are experiencing change. I learned that support was a critical factor for the learning to take hold. I've had the opportunity to be a support person and model digital tools for my district by presenting at our regional technology conference known as GRITC. There I presented two different classes this past year. I presented one session titled Web Based Tools for Teaching and Learning. The second session I presented was titled Exploring ALEX and the Web Via Group Projection Tools. To provide extended support, I stored relevant resources for both of these presentations on my class website under Teacher Resources. I also provided my e-mail so the teachers could contact me if they needed support in the future. In completing a project within the Diffusion of Educational Technologies course I created a CBAM project and was quite surprised to find that even when training is not provided, many teachers are very motivated to spend their own time learning to use resources that can make learning more fun and engaging.