Interactivity #5: A Standards-based Approach to Technology Integration

            The teacher that I interviewed for the purposes of this assignment is an elementary school general music teacher in North Jersey (he requested that I do not reveal his district). Prior to our interview, he had heard of the NETS and was familiar with their general purpose, but he did not know of any of the specific standards. Upon first viewing the standards aligned with grades PK-2 and 3-5, he was quite surprised, and he believed that many of these standards are unreasonably demanding and/or impossible to reach at these grade levels. This may have something to do with the fact that his school has not yet begun to implement the NETS. He was unsure as to whether his district has begun to implement them as well. Despite the fact that his school does not follow the NETS, it seems quite technologically inclined. His classroom contains a newer Mac computer, an iPod, and a fairly complex sound system that allows you to play recordings in various formats. In addition, the school has a technology lab, which I was unable to see, but he described it as being quite advanced.

            I thought the teacher’s responses were fairly predictable for the most part. I would have expected that he is somewhat familiar with the NETS, as he graduated from MSU as a Music Education Major several years ago. The fact that he was unable to name any of the specific standards may be because the Integrating Technology module has changed since he took it, or perhaps he does not remember any of the standards brought up in class. I was also not surprised by his opinion about the nature of these standards. I do agree that standards tend to be a bit optimistic with their wording at times, and these are no exception. I was neither surprised nor unsurprised by the fact that his school has yet to implement the NETS, as I am not sure how many schools have begun to do this in his area. As a future educator, I would want to make sure that my colleagues are aware of the NETS, and I would want to help them interpret the wording. My main message would be that incorporation of these standards is important, but when taken too literally, it could lead to holding students to unreasonable expectations. Although following standards is important, the most important part is that the integration of technology should be related to the lesson plan.

Link to Interactivity #4: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AifGVliPVd2bdG1vRG1CdjdxMUJUUkJhd3V1RnB6Wnc&pli=1 - gid=0

NOTE: I created a new column for the NETS (right next to the original standards column) to increase ease of reading.