Pathways
I feel that there are many standards within ISTE that promote teacher leadership. Obviously the ones that include the use of technology are the key standards we would be looking at, however, there are many that can be used through technology as long as the person utilizing or performing the standard accommodates or modifies the standard.
Within the five core propositions in the NBPTS, and the standards within the WVPTS - I feel the same with the ISTE standards. Although there are some that speak to technology integration only, most of the standards and propositions can be modified to meet technology integration needs.
I do not plan to design a program or professional development any time in the near future; however, I would make sure that the teachers knew how important technology was in the education field now, as well as in the future. The main reason I am getting my Masters in Digital Technology is due to the technology taking flight all around the schools.
I have many co-workers that I talk to about my Masters. Many of them are either interested in hearing about it, interested in me explaining different things to them, or interested in the program themselves.
Because of my Masters being in what it is in, my principal actually has a 'mock' schedule of next year that she would love to have be have my own technology class. She is working hard at it at the county level - as well as the state level - however, I will not know anything until closer to the end of the school year. The class may stand as an intervention for mathematics; however, utilizing technology.
Chapter Five Communication
Communication within the teachers and students is very important. I know that I enjoy being able to communicate with all of my students via face to face; however, in my school or in my county, it is frowned upon (maybe illegal) to communicate with students via social media. This includes Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat - or any other social media that the students are on.
However, we have many other ways of communicating. I use Remind101 with my students as well as with the parents. I send a message to communicate; however, no one receives my phone number as well as not able to respond to me. I use this in my classes as well as in cheerleading. However, with cheerleading, I utilize the parents' cell phone numbers to communicate with them.
It would be wonderful if we were able to utilize these programs with the students; however, majority of the sites are blocked from view - meaning there is no way to access these on a county computer. This would make it impossible to even attempt to join private Facebook groups and anything else that could be made private.
The site that I talked about last week, MobyMax, has a messaging system. One of the days last week, my co-teacher was at home taking care of his sick boys. While we were on the website as a class, he got on and messaged everyone. This was amazing and the students really enjoyed it. Some of the students took it out of hand by messaging immature things; however, majority of the students used this for either questions or comments based on the program.
Chapter Six Public Relations
I am a seventh/sixth grade math teacher. As I have stated previously - the social media sites that are very popular among the students are blocked from access, as well as, frowned upon to use student and teacher communication.
However, there are many ways to keep in touch with students , teachers, and parents. There is a school website that is managed by a teacher at the school who posts special events for the upcoming weeks. Also, there is a brand new digital marquee in the front of the school to inform passers-by of events.
Along with the school website, Marshall county utilizes Edline for grades and comments through teachers. This allows parents to see their student's grades and generic comments from the teachers.
I would love to keep up with the technological generation and utilize more of Youtube channels, Blogs, and other social medias for people to use. However, one major problem within the area that I teach, some of the students do not have any internet access once they leave the school. This is either due to them living too far out in the county or back roads, or due to the financial state of their families or caregivers.
3 comments:
Emily, I really enjoyed reading your post because many of the things or ideas you expressed are familiar to my own. Teachers at my school are not only frowned upon for communicating with students via social media but with parents as well. We have had so many instances where parents attack teachers on their sites and this just hurts the whole school. My school also uses MobyMax and I am slowly becoming familiar with it. Several of my students have indicated to me that they signed in at home, which I really like.
I think the “mock schedule” of your own technology class next year is a perfect example of a “need” in your school. You could easily design professional development and a grant proposal based on this “possible course”. There’s a lot of potential here, to make the assignments in this class applicable to your new technology class. I wish that I could have seen the students’ faces when the messages came through on MobyMax, it’s so exciting to see their engagement. I highly recommend Edmodo, if you haven’t already tried it, please check it out. If you decide to use the site, receive parent permission
I understand your frustration about students not having internet access once they leave the school. Recently, I've been a part of the committee in my county to adopt new ELA textbooks, so we've had several presentations from textbook companies to watch. One thing they have in common is all of the digital resources they integrate into the activities and lessons. So, several of us brought up the fact that MANY of our students not only don't have access to the internet at home, but some of our schools don't use a lot of technology tools, so it would be of little benefit to us to have all the digital "bells and whistles."
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