ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators for Teachers
V. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers:
A - participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.
Reflection
My UMC Master's in Education Technologies highlights my participation in learning communities to explore applications of technology to improve student learning. The journey began with a couple courses through UMC and an eMINTS cohort here in Maine. The challenge to build on these strategies and skills drove me to apply to the graduate school and pursue my Master's. The courses connected me with quality educators, instructors, and technology oriented individuals through online discussion boards and projects. The discussion boards helped to bring differing perspectives to common issues that enable a better understanding of the factors involved. In the Action Research course, we undertook one activity that helped to bring a greater appreciation for perspective and its implications on education. The assignment involved examining a popular movie for stereotypes that shape opinions about education. The assignment although fun, did highlight how media can illuminate aspects of an issue in ways that shape or distort peoples understanding. (Understanding the role of media in forming public perceptions of education - Movie Analysis)
B - exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community
building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others.
Reflection
My leadership with technology integration and infusion are highlighted by my roles as technology coordinator, MLTI Leader, and eMINTS Teacher Leader. To fulfill each of these roles successfully, I maintain a high level of interaction with my peers to develop greater comfort with technology. I have accomplished this in training about strategies, theory, and instruction. Each training is designed to allow the participant to leave the classroom with the ability and desire to incorporate technology in a more meaningful way in just one or two activities. They then share their experiences and collectively we reflect on the effectiveness and possible ways to build further on their successes. (eMINTS yr2 Staff Training - The effectiveness of eMINTS and technology integration in education - ppt)
I have also connected each staff member through AIM accounts and email accounts to increase communication. I have revamped the school website to offer a section for each teacher to highlight their course material and products. I have developed a Google calendar that staff are learning to use to share information about events and happenings in their courses as well as to schedule the new computer lab that I put together. Each of these activities are designed to increase the communication and integration of technology by my peers to better serve our students an community.
In my Diffusion of Educational Innovations course I examined the role of communication networks on the spread of an innovation. Understanding of Communication Networks This activity involved an examination of a small, rural network's ability to inject change into the system and the impact a change agent could have in the system. The results showed a relatively high level of communication in the system probably related to the small nature of the system. It also highlighted how a few individuals still maintained a leading role in the dissemination of new innovations because of their higher level of networking. Our small school was very successful at integrating the new MLTI laptops to our staff because of the high level of networking and support system.
C - evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital
tools and resources in support of student learning.
Reflection
The Technology Action Research course directly addresses this particular standard. The course was designed to highlight the use of action research as a means to integrate, evaluate, and refine technology applications for enhancing student learning. Action research is a process that offers a way to assess the effectiveness of a particular innovation on a system without a significant impact on the system or its environment. The course took students through the process of development of an action research process. The stages included observing perceptions, identifying a need, background research, development of an idea, and data analysis strategies. (Data Analysis Matrix), (Data Matrix), (Literature Matrix) Ultimately, an action research plan is formulated that can be implemented, revised, and re-implemented. (Action research project - pdf)
The Foundation's course, Introduction to Technology Education, provided another tool to build lessons and support student learning through the integration of existing and emerging digital technology. The ADDIE model is a tool that implements five basic components: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. This is an excellent tool for producing lessons and training in a manner that decreases the amount of problems or unexpected outcomes. I developed my Virtual Science Fair lesson during this course with this model. (Technology Integration Lesson Plan - Virtual Science Fair - pdf)
The planning and design of a web page considers the audience, purpose, and function as well as simply aesthetics. To better understand the expectations of a particular web design it is important to develop an understanding of the following: purpose, needs assessment, audience, content, presentation, media, and color scheme. In my Web Development course, we used this strategy to create our final website. These steps help the designer focus as the site builds and helps to keep the project on track. (Web Development Design Document - pdf)
D - contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community.
Reflection
My diverse roles in my school range from science teacher, technology teacher, technology coordinator, yearbook advisor, radio station advisor, MLTI Teacher Leader, eMINTS Teacher, and the guy you ask when you need help. In these many roles, I am able to work closely with many of my peers and students to highlight the benefits of technology and Shead High School. My impact on Shead can be seen through increased connectivity with parents through the Web2School online student information system, the Shead website, Shead's WSHD radio station, the grant funding that I have brought to Shead, my willingness to collaborate with others, and my adaptability for meeting diverse learners needs. I bring these qualities because I enjoy the teaching profession and the interaction with young minds that are eager to imbibe the world around them. (Paul Theriault, Principal Recommendation), (Roberta Mitchell, Assistant Principal and Special Education Coordinator Recommendation), (Reeser Manley, Science Teacher Recommendation)
