Standard III: Teaching Learning and the Curriculum

Standard III strives to integrate technology standards into existing State and local curricula and create a bridge between students' social proficiency with technology and proficiency using technology to enhance learning and deepen understanding of curricular areas. This approach is an extension of Standard II, which strives to assist educators in the planning stages of learning, to the execution of those plans designed with technology in mind.

Technology literacy is identified as the gap that students experience when they enter the workforce unprepared for the challenges presented. Reiterated is the fact that students are well-versed in using technology in the social realm, but fall short in preparedness for using technology to learn or work productively.

The emphasis shifts focus from teaching technology as a specific set of skills to a more constructivist approach, integrating technology into the existing curriculum and using technology as an means to the end goal-learning. Technology standards for students were developed, as well as for teachers, to achieve this goal. However, the challenge lies in the fact little development of these standards continues as compared to developments in local and state curriculum.

Performance indicators and tasks for the technology facilitator take on a more active role in Standard III than in Standard II. Standard II relied mostly on teachers' planning technology into the curriculum with the support of the technology facilitator whereas Standard III requires that the technology facilitator model how to implement and manage technology into the classroom so that the diverse needs of learners are met and learning styles are accommodated. Using assistive technology to meet diverse learners' needs and modeling appropriate levels of challenge to promote problem solving skills and higher order thinking skills is the charge given to technology facilitators. In-depth knowledge of the curriculum is paramount in achieving these goals.

Having experience in the roles of classroom teacher, Title I teacher, and Reading Specialist offer the necessary understanding of various learners' needs and approaches. Combining this experience with an in-depth understanding of the technology standards will equip me for the role of technology facilitator. Often times in our district, our technology facilitator is skilled in the area of hardware, software, and networks, but lacks the understanding of implementing technology into the curriculum at various grade levels. I teach first grade, which presents its own set of challenges, even for the elementary facilitator. Students are still learning to identify letters, much less keyboard. Students are just beginning to learn the concept of saving their work to their space on the server, format basic documents, safely surf the internet, etc. The challenge here is to meet a wide range of technology proficiencies, even in first grade, to promote the use of technology to enhance learning.