Friday, July 2, 2010
During our discussion about the ISTE standards, I found it interesting that many who spoke about the standards found them so useless. I acknowledge they are not specific but I found standard number 5 to have an important basis. The importance was not so much about how to use technology but an important indirect product of being committed to interacting and utilizing technology. It can reinforce our commitment to growing professionally. It is easy to become complacent as a professional after a while. It is easy and natural to coast -- but one can only coast downhill! Commitment to growing with technology can help us keep learning and learning and learning. The better we continue to learn the better we will teach (I hope).
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I'm with you! I also found it fascinating ... and I wonder if that's because these are standards for US. Coasting -- especially if you have a family, coaching/sponsor duties, hobbies, etc. -- is never intentional. It just creeps up on you!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Coasting is the mode that we have to avoid with all our might. There is already so much complacency and cynicism out there. The trick will be to keep a balance in our lives.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, I agree with you on this subject. I think technology is important to continue learning about, and to use it for learning, because it will always be a huge part of our lives. We also cannot give out homework that focuses on technological tools, if we, as teachers, cannot use it ourselves!
ReplyDelete"one can only coast downhill" -- I love it! I also visited a lot of classrooms this spring when deciding whether to join the MAC program, and there was a noticeable difference between the teachers who were still experimenting and trying new techniques and ideas 20-odd years into teaching and the ones who used to be full of energy but have now given up and basically recycle their content entirely year to year. I'm excited that my mentor teacher is in the first camp.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Sometimes though the standards are not explicit in their effect, having them there can only help the cause. I hope not to grow complacent and commit to learning in this area as well especially with the ever-changing world of technology that we live in now.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well. I don't think it's so much the idea that the standard 5 was telling us to improve (or insert other standards' messages here) that bothered people, but as Gabe said it's that the standards themselves almost seem to be coasting. They don't really provide guidelines for how to improve, but rather just say "you will improve", which unfortunately isn't usually sufficient to assure that people will strive for anything.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, your comment reminded that I found the standards more helpful than many others seemed to find them. Maybe, it's because I'm using to seeing performance standards or behaviors in my performance reviews in the engineering world. But it seemed people were missing the essence of each of the different standards. I admit that things like these standards can read like a lot of gobbly gook (sp?). But there different aspects being stressed in each of the standards that are important to consider when implementing ed tech.
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