Two NETS-T standards that I would like to focus on for my GAME plan would be Standard 1a and standard 2a. Both of these standards deal with creativity and innovation and I believe these are the two most critical aspects of education today.
Standard 1a states that teachers “promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness” (NETS for Teachers, 2008). As a teacher, I need to create lessons and projects that encourage students to be creative and innovative with the knowledge that they have and that they can access. Because knowledge and information is now readily available to anyone in the world, students must be able to actually DO something with it – something that hasn’t already been done. Teachers must design projects so they are not just cookie cutter, one size fits all, predictable outcome projects. In order to monitor my progress on this goal, I will continually consider the creative aspects of projects that I create for students to complete. If they do not have a creative aspect to them, I will modify them so students have more choices and opportunities to show creativity.
Standard 2a states that teachers “design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity” (Nets for Teachers, 2008). This standard requires the teacher to utilize digital tools to help students with creativity. Utilizing various communication and multimedia technologies will allow me to provide students with the tools they will need to express their creativity. To monitor progress on this goal and evaluate my progress, I will list this NETS-T standard in my lesson plans when planning for projects so it becomes a necessary part of each lesson I teach.
I truly believe that creativity and innovation are the two most important aspects of teaching 21st century skills. If teachers can focus on ensuring that these two things are evident in each lesson and project, we will be providing two essential educational elements for our students.
Chris Lorenz
References:
Nets for Teachers (2008). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved May 13, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm
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I enjoyed reading your post. I also agree with your thoughts that creativity and innovation are extremely important characteristics that educators must bring into the classroom with them everyday.
ReplyDeleteI loved the goal for your first GAME plan. I sometimes have issues creating lessons that allow for open ended products from my students. However, these open ended products are what spark and allow true thinking and creativity to occur. Perhaps another way in which you can Monitor your progress in this GAME plan is to design a brief evaluation survey, of the lesson/open ended task that you have designed, for students to complete. This evaluation would allow your students to provide feedback on their feeling about the lesson and how effective it was for them.
Richard:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea. I have been using Google Apps for Education to get feedback from students electronically. It is fairly easy to set up a survey and have students complete it online. That is a great idea to do this to see what the students believe are the important things they are learning from the projects.
Thanks
Chris-
I think one of the most challenging things about NETS standard 1A is monitoring and evaluating the skill. Because the skill is, by nature, non-linear and non-standard, judging mastery is difficult. This may be one of the reasons that this skill as a weakness of so many teachers.
ReplyDeleteKathleen:
ReplyDeleteGood point. I agree that it is very difficult to assess creativity. But, we can try to develop projects that have multiple outcomes or a large variety of ways to achieve the end result and allow students to determine which method works best for them. I have recently just been giving students more choices on what programs to use when creating a project.
Since most teachers (like me) are comfortable with linear, sequential teaching and learning, it is difficult to try to develop lessons where students have more freedom to explore more ways to achieve a goal. Never the less, it is essential that we develop more lessons that provide these opportunities.
Chris-
“I truly believe that creativity and innovation are the two most important aspects of teaching 21st century skills.”
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree with you more about innovation and creativity. If we try and learn either too much and forget to practice what they produce, newer better ideas and programs will replace what we thought we knew. It is very important that we always try and stay fresh and look for the newest ideas to implement. Especially in the technological world we live and teach in today.