Using Technology in the Classroom with Student Standards

After reading the "Creating our Future: Students Speak Up about their Vision for 21st Century Learning", I noticed how much students want to see technology used in the classroom.  Since I am aiming for my single-subject credential, I focused on grades 9-12 from the Profile for technology (ICT) literate students. 


One portion of the article focused on the use of digital textbooks and interactive resources online which is illustrated in standard #3.  I think it would be an excellent idea for students since it would allow for more interaction beyond just what is happening in the classroom. As a potential math teacher, I understand that visuals are very important in teaching and understanding mathematics, and if there was any tool on the internet that would help with this, I could definitely be able to incorporate a more interactive resource into a lesson plan. 
The article also discussed different types of technologies available for use inside and outside the classroom, as well as being safe online.  This would reflect in standards #2, 6, and 9.  Standard 2 discusses creating an online art gallery that reflects what is taught in class. This would give students and opportunity to look and explore art from different time periods that might not be found easily through a book, and it gives them an opportunity to be able to put art side by side to analyze it. Unfortunately, working with an art gallery is something that is not taught in a math class, so this is not applicable to what I would be teaching. Standard 6 reflects the issue of internet safety, limitations and capabilities of different technology. I believe it is important for any student to understand this, and should be discussed before using any technology in a lesson. For a math class this could include the use of a graphing calculator. Students should understand that the calculators can do a lot of things like graphing simple lines or even trig functions, but they can also solve complex problems like finding derivatives and integrals. This all depends on the level of mathematics, and I would have to be careful in showing what the students understand. Standard 9 discusses creating media-rich presentations, which is used in almost any subject. I know when I have to do a presentation, I immediately turn to power point to create a presentation that can use pictures, sounds, and can easily organize information in a clear and concise way. If I were to assign any type of presentation in my own class, I would definitely show my students how to use the program so they can use it in their own presentations.


As stated in the Speak Up article, "In many communities, the students feel a strong need to access online resources due to the lack of resources in their own community or concerns about the quality or effectiveness of their teachers or textbooks." This shows that students are very eager to learn about new technologies and understand that they will help them strengthen their education. Many students are taking the initiative to learn the new technologies on their own and are even getting a head start on some of these standards. These standards could be as in #3(stated above) or #10 which discusses troubleshooting and creating a system that allows for a proper learning environment.
Overall, our education system is depending on a lot of technology to teach our students. It is becoming important, easy and useful, for teachers and allows for students to keep interest in their classes.