Beginning
this course, I was flustered with the idea of incorporating media and other
technology resources into my curriculum because I felt inadequate to do so. Also,
I teach eighth-grade US History in a community where a majority of students
read far below grade-level which creates barriers in the developing process of
a curriculum. Understanding the necessity for students to develop skills needed
in a technology-driven world, I was determined to get over my fear and began
taking risks in developing a curriculum where technology was a driving factor.
The first step I decided to incorporate technology resources was to reset my
current classes by having students read the International Society for
Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students. Having the students learn
and commit to the ISTE standards, I was able to establish expectations for all
students using technology in the classroom. During online activities, students
are expected to exhibit digital citizenship, where they are to collaborate in
ways that are safe and ethical while learning in a technologically connected
world (International Society for Technology in Education, 2019). Since I
reset my classes by introducing the ISTE, my students have begun to display
higher levels of collaboration and are beginning to develop skills they
previously did not have. Incorporating ISTE standards for students has allowed
me to improve my curriculum by revamping lessons that required textbooks and
implementing technology as a substitute.
With
every attempt to integrate technology in the classroom comes the deepening of
knowledge for the teacher. As a professional, you can determine what
technologies students can use to help develop a deeper understanding of their
content. Knowing that technology is the driving factor of society and many jobs
require it, I am now looking at ways to incorporate technology so my students
can develop the needed skills to enter college and the workforce. For each
lesson, I implement aspects of technology to give students opportunities to
further enhance their understanding of the partnership between technology and
education. One major lesson I have learned with integrating technology in the
classroom was to teach each lesson at a slower pace than if I were teaching
without technology. This is because most of my students are below grade-level
in both reading and writing and need to be taught fundamental skills on how to
correctly use the computer as a learning tool instead of a social-media tool.
Because students are below grade-level in reading and writing skills, some
teachers would be turned off with the idea of incorporating technology into the
classroom. Knowing students will need to be proficient in such areas as
technology whether, in the workforce or college, it is a necessity for all
students to be given the space to learn with technology.
Having
my students create their wiki page is one Web 2.0 tool that I am willing to
incorporate into my curriculum to further enhance my students’ 21st-technology
skills. After creating my wiki page on the functions of the US Government and
checks and balances, I visualized how beneficial it would be to have my
students create their own. Currently, my students have been studying student
rights using the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website. Upon
researching topics of their choice, they will create their wiki page that will
inform the community on specific rights students received. I imagine students
will initially struggle to develop their first wiki page due to the skills
being brand new to all. Once students are familiarized with the tools of Google
Sites, I believe they will develop confidence in their abilities to continue
becoming 21st-Century learners. Having students create a wiki to inform the
community of their student rights will help students further development
21st-Century skills because it enables them to become an empowered learner by
leveraging technology to take an active role in demonstrating proficiency in
their learning objectives (ISTE, 2019). Empowering students to leverage
technology to demonstrate their skills and understanding of content will create
a learning environment where students feel encouraged to take risks of
improving themselves so they can become active members of society. Having the
students create a wiki page that displays their understanding of student rights
covers the student standards where they are an innovative designer of their webpage
and are creatively communicating their knowledge with a global community.
Thinking two years ahead, I imagine
my entire curriculum being taught entirely online. Technology has become a
passion in addition to teaching, and I can only see the importance of pairing
both together to keep myself up to date while having students develop
21st-Century skills that will be needed throughout their lives. Being an
eighth-grade teacher as well as the department chair for the History
department, I would love to have my sixth and seventh-grade teachers begin
implementing more technology into their curriculum. To help students become
ready for tomorrow’s society and workplace, I will incorporate the following
SMART goal for my department. By the end of the 2020-2021 school year, the
sixth and seventh-grade history classes will implement technology into the
curriculum seventy-five percent of the time by creating activities that require
the use of technology so students can begin to develop 21st-Century technology
skills as measured by summative assessments where technology is needed by
students. To accomplish this goal, I will start conducting department meetings
where my colleagues and I collaborate on ways to incorporate ISTE standards as
well as the use of technology in the classroom. By having my colleagues
incorporate technology into their curriculum, students will enter my class my
eighth-grade US History course with 21st-Century technology skills that I can
then challenge and expand.
Secondly,
because my class will be entirely online, I believe students should have a
place to display their growth and performance in my US History course. By the
end of the 2020-2021 school year, one-hundred percent of the eighth-grade
student population will create a wiki page to display their levels of growth
and performance throughout US History to further develop 21st-Century
technology skills as measured quarterly through unit summative reflection
projects. Having students create a student profile by creating a wiki page will
allow them to curate their page to display their best work and reflect on their
growth as a student. Furthermore, creating a wiki page is the perfect location
for a 21st-Century learner to showcase their portfolios with other students and
teachers (Richardson, 2010). In my organization, seniors must give a ten-minute
presentation on why they should graduate from high school. During their
presentation, they must display projects they completed throughout their high
school years and must prove they have grown in areas of need. If I can have my
students begin their profile in my class, by the time they are seniors, the
task that my older students say is impossible will seem natural to my future
students.
In closing,
my experience in the courses thus far have given me a chance to reflect on my
current understanding of my curriculum and how I can continue to incorporate
technology to help students develop 21st-Century technology skills.
Understanding that technological skills are what will help students become
active members in a technology-driven world, I feel students in my community of
Watts, California, are not adequately equipped with the needed skills to become
active members of a 21st-Century workforce. The rudimentary skills that my
niece and nephew have at the ages of eight and five are superior to some of my
thirteen and fourteen-year-old eighth-graders. Acknowledging that economic and
environmental factors are a component of this problem, I believe it is upon
myself to begin the movement of creating the space for all students to become
active 21st-Century agents of change by incorporating technology into the
everyday curriculum.
References
International Society for Technology
in Education. (2019). ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students.
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful
web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
