I was fortunate enough to interview my favorite English
Teacher from 7th grade. Currently she is now still an English
Teacher, but for 6th graders now. She teaches at 13th
Avenue located inside of Newark, New Jersey. Newark is an urban environment.
Based on the questions that I asked regarding the NETS-S and
NETS-T she knew nothing of it. She even admitted to not knowing of it. After
the first question she explained that she had no idea what I was referring to.
After explaining to her exactly what the NETS-S and NETS-T is she felt more
relieved. She explained that even though she was not familiar with the NETS-S
or the NETS-T her school was in fact integrating technology greatly.
Neither has this school, or any of the other schools located
in Newark New Jersey has implemented or even began to implement the NETS-S or
the NETS-T. Some other initiatives that exists to increase students’
proficiency and media literacy is that at 13th Avenue School
starting from kindergarten to 8th grade, all students have their own
laptops, IPads, etc… However, this has only been done for 13th
Avenue School because they are considered to be a renew school, which means
that their test scores have been so far off for so long, funds has been given
to this school in order for them to help enable children to have a better
chance at achieving test scores.
Unfortunately, being that Newark is an urban environment,
none of the elementary schools have up to date technology. For example, after
visiting my elementary teacher last month, I have noticed the children still
have the exact computer that me and my class had to share. In Newark, New
Jersey the only schools that are able to have access to more new technology,
are the newer built high schools.
Honestly, I was not surprised by anything that my
interviewee said. This is mainly because she teaches in Newark, New Jersey, a
place that I have been born, raised, and still reside in; therefore, I know
most of the pros and cons (mainly cons) of the Newark Public Schools. What I
expected is basically what I got.
First, as a future educator, I find it my duty to always be
informed and up to date with the new information because honestly, I think I
would be embarrassed if anyone asked me a question about something that I did
not know that had something to do with my career as a whole or even my content
area. Also, as a future educator I would speak to others within my school about
the NETS-S and NETS-T by at first mentioning it briefly to see if anyone knew
anything about it. If not, I would then probably talk to a few colleagues with
suggestions of how technology can be incorporated inside of the school. Then I
will show them what the NETS-S and NETS-T actually is.
The link to the spreadsheet is as follows:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am4bd1tcQ-F4dDcwakY0TkNJeVpxRmYzbC1SSDlKUHc#gid=0
The link to the spreadsheet is as follows:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am4bd1tcQ-F4dDcwakY0TkNJeVpxRmYzbC1SSDlKUHc#gid=0
Taking into account the blog entries for Interactivity #5 that I have read so far, we all seem to have had very similar experiences interviewing teachers about the NETS-T and NETS-S. I think it's very interesting that many teachers seem to know nothing about these standards and were not even aware of their existence. That being said, most of the same teachers seem to be making conscious efforts to incorporate the use of technology into both their instruction and the assignments that their students must complete. I'm undecided about whether or not this is a problem. As long as the teachers are striving towards (and achieving) these goals, does it really matter if they know the acronyms? I'm not sure that it does, although it would probably be beneficial, as educators, to be familiar with the vocabulary and the standards that are out there.
ReplyDeleteYour post was interesting because it made me question, what about the schools that may not have access to technology? While I think it's important for teachers to know the NETS-S and NETS-T standards so that they can create more effective lessons, I think it's best for school teachers like the ones in Newark, to work their way up to the level of the NETS/T standards before knowing them. Teachers need technology access before they can begin to implement the standards.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that schools such as 13th Avenue have received funding to get their own access to technology. Teachers then can start making improvements from there. For the schools who are still struggling to get technology access, it's best that they work on funding to help teachers create a more effective learning experience for the struggling students.