An 11th grade English teacher in Central High
School in Newark, NJ was more than happy for me to interview her about NETS and
its implementation in her district. She was unfamiliar with NETS and did not
know whether it was being implemented in her school district or not. After she read through the grades 9-12 student
profiles, she noticed that her lesson plans fit some, but not all of the
criteria. For example, number 8- Model legal and ethical behaviors when using
information and technology by properly selecting, acquiring, and citing
resources- and number nine-Create media-rich presentations for other students
on the appropriate and ethical use of digital tools and resources- were
implemented in her lesson plans. She tries to do as much media centered and
savvy lessons in which students viewed biographical and inspirational videos of
female leaders discussing ethical and moral issues regarding the subject of
women in literature. Most of the criteria require each student to be behind a
computer and she says some schools do not have the resources. Although they
have an amazing library media center, she says that media focused lesson
planning takes more time to plan, especially if there is a lack of resources. She
says one issue about the school district was that many teachers may be afraid
to use technology within their lessons because they are uncomfortable with the
use of digital tools. Also, teachers’ lesson plans are already written out and
created so if they were to implement NETS, they would have to tweak or change
their lesson plans and some teachers may not have the time to do so. She ends
by saying teachers need to get comfortable around media and digital tools
because our students are surrounded by it all the time outside of school.
I
agreed with this statement and felt that as teachers we should want to
implement more digital usage in our lesson plans because our students will
become more motivated and intrinsically pleased with their education. Although
I was surprised by her responses to NETS, I feel that it should not be ignored.
The best option we have is professional development. Teachers should attend
workshops to learn more about what tools to use and how to appropriately use
them. As a future educator, I feel that teachers should heavily implement NETS
within their lesson plans because it provides students with a stronger base for
critical thinking as well as showing off their creativity. The usage of
technology is already being heavily implemented in many work fields; therefore,
I think it’s best to start implementing digital tools at an early age to
prepare them for their futures.
Wow, your teacher sounds interesting. Mine was some what familiar with the NETS, but still expressed a sort of ambiguity at the same time. But, like you said, it's all about professional development. This is still a relatively up and coming series of educational standards, at least that is what I believe. Over time, I believe more and more people will become better acquainted with the concepts. I also agree how a lot of it depends on the amount of resources located in the school, technologically wise. Since most of the NETS, in some shape or form, require technology in order for them to be incorporated. It seems the school that my teacher attends have the necessary number of computers to make such work efficient. I remember last year, I shadowed in a school called Technology High in Newark. The entire school was based around preparing students knowledge-wise for the fields of Mathematics and Science. So of course, they all have various technologies aiding them in that pursuit. A school such as this will definitely be ideal for the NETS.
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