Standard 1 of ISTE-NETS for Teachers

In summary, Standard 1 of the ISTE-NETS for Teachers and the performance indicators that align to the standard simply states that the educator is to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity by using their knowledge of the material and subject matter. It states that students are to have experiences that are creative and that lessons should incorporate technology. As an educator, you are expected to inspire, support, and model innovative and inventive thinking. You are to engage students in lessons that are designed to  incorporate real-world issues and situations so that students begin to gain a perspective to the world around them and the tools in which they need to effectively thrive in the world around them. You are to encourage students to reflect on the process they used to plan and create and clarify areas of concern. Finally, you are model collaborative knowledge by engaging in learning situations with students, colleagues and other in either face to face or virtual environments.

I believe that as an educator, I measure fairly well when it comes to this standard. I am a very creative person so many of the lessons I teach or the assignments I give are creative in nature. I generally am not a teacher who relies on ditto sheets or scantrons. I instead prefer for my students to create, model, or describe something. I believe that seeing and building the product from beginning to completion creates a deeper understanding of it. For instance, in my science center, I want students to begin to understand the concepts of simple machines. Rather than just having cards or pictures to show simple machines I have several on display for the students to be able to manipulate on their own. We have hot wheel ramp (like the kind that does a flip) and several different size and weight balls, students manipulate these to see which ones are able to flip all the way around the loop. We also have interlocking gears that students can create assortments of patterns to see how gears work.

I believe where I come short on this standard is the use of technology within the classroom. The school I am currently employed is located in an area of extreme poverty and technology is scarce. I am very lucky to have the one computer I have within my classroom but most of the students within my classroom are just not ready to use the computer the correct way. They are only four and five years old and many have not been taught at home how to treat the computer. I have started allowing a couple students a day an opportunity to get on websites to promote letter and letter sound recognition like www.starfall.com which helps my students within my class especially since more than 60% of my class does not speak English.