Interactivity #5

     

The teacher that I interviewed for this assignment teaches Middle School art/technology courses in Wycoff school district in New Jersey. Some of the projects he has done in his digital imaging classes include animation, reinventing masterpieces, digital post-impressionist painting, magazine covers, colorizing images and manipulating photos, and logo design. I love the idea of technology and art. Art is about expression and technology has endless amounts of creative ways to express oneself. I think that his district is fortunate to have this as a class for students because not many schools have that as an opportunity. When I brought up the ISTE and the NETS my interviewed teacher was very familiar with both ISTE as and the NETS and a lot of great things to say about the organization. He mentioned that he had attended 4 of their conferences, which he felt were very impressive as well as informative. His school is very up to date with the latest technologies and more and more technologies are being implemented in the different classrooms at his school. The science classes in his school all have iPads for their students to use and the 6^th grade social studies classes in his school all have a set of chrome laptops for the students. I was surprised when he said this, I imagine that the students in these classes must really enjoy as well as benefit from these tools. Having these up to date gadgets get students to actively participate as well as enhance their learning. Technology is a major part of their lives and a form of entertainment for them. I think that incorporating things like iPads and laptops’ when teaching lessons can make the subject matter more appealing for the students. Technology in the classroom can make learning more comfortable for them since they are so used to using it when they leave school. My interviewing teacher said that his school uses the NETS when writing and revising the curriculum and that he believes that the state technology standards are based on NETS. The transition of NETS in his school, he mentions, is an ongoing process. The standards are always revised, as is the tech curriculum, which is revised every three years according to him. I believe that revising the curriculum every three years is completely necessary due to the changes and advances in technology. The curriculum needs to change as the technology changes so that the lessons are relevant. It is important that we as teachers do not fall behind and educate ourselves on the advances of technology. This also means staying up to date with what the younger generations technological interests are in order to provide effective and engaging lessons. We must work together as educators when coming up with new lessons that utilize the technologies that we are surrounded with. This is extremely important for our student’s future of learning as well as our own learning of how to better our lessons and make use of these technologies. 

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