Blog #1

I am extremely blown away by how advanced technology has gotten within our school systems. When I was in elementary school, all of the work we did was 100% done manually. I did not even start to put my fingers on a computer until I reached middle school (6th grade.) We had a technology class in 6th grade and we spent an entire year using a program which was called “all the write type.” This was a system that only focused on getting use to the computer by getting adjusted to the keyboard. It did not teach us about the internet, PowerPoint, excel, or even a word processing sheet. As I return to my elementary school as an assistant teacher this time, I am speechless in how everything has changed. I was working with three 1st grade classes. They spent three times a week in the computer lab exploring things I hadn’t explored until I was in 8th grade. Think about that age gap! These children let me into their world and allowed me to feel as if I was going through first grade again. They were showing me websites I had never seen before. I am just amazed at how a span of 10 years really changes the lives of all of us.

Anyway, an answer to one of the questions “If you were to rank or re-rank the NETS for students, how would you rank them and why? Which would be the most important and why?” I think that the question is really hard to answer. All of the criteria’s have equal importance. If I had no choice, I would have to say Critical Thinking and Problem Solving are standards I find most essential. I feel this way because these certain skills are what we learned from the very start. It doesn’t apply to only the area of technology, but in every aspect in our lives from beginning to end. Although they are not easy to overcome, once it is learned, it makes a person a lot stronger. After one acquires these skills, next would come Communication and Collaboration. A quote that immediately caught my eye was “…to support individual learning and contribute to learning of others.” Part of the whole learning process is learning through others and working together to dominate a particular task. Sometimes, working with others to gain something helps you in many sorts of ways. Not only is communication good for student’s awareness, but it also helps the skills of encouragement and motivation.

Creativity and Innovation and Research and Information Fluency would have to come next if I had to make a list. These skills emphasize the importance of piling on old information with the new. All of these concepts overlap one another. Creativity and Innovation links to Communication and Collaboration, for example. The other standard is essential because if students aren’t fully aware /fully understand the meaning behind a certain area, they are not able to gain full appreciation for it. Digital Citizenship and Technology Operations and Concepts would be ranked last on my list. They are important, but I believe one must acquire the other skills in order to obtain these two.

Lastly “Why are the NETs important to use as a planning springboard?” They are important because they are the standards of teaching technology in the classroom. They help steer to inspire and help out teachers who are in need of guiding and inspiring their students. As a result, it has a reciprocated affect. In return, students are then able to individually guide and inspire themselves.