New Tech Standards and Requirements

The three OETS standards that are the most significant to me are:

1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Technology Operations and Concepts

Creativity and innovation are significant concepts an any classroom and teaching social sciences is not different.  It is important for me as a teacher to be innovative in the ways that I use technology to teach my students.  It has been well documented the budget cutbacks that many school districts are presently experiencing across the country. This means it is pertinent to come up with creative ways to utilize the technology that is available.  The are various free news applications available that can be used in the classroom.  Teaching social sciences, news apps can be extremely valuable in keeping students connected to current events that can be related directly to the curriculum.

Communication and collaboration is extremely valuable in the classroom.  The things that I find most useful are social networking tools.  Facebook in particular can be of value.  There are many reliable pages that are available through Facebook that can be handy, easily accessible tools for me to use in my classroom.  Blogs are also extremely useful and I will be using class blogs in my teaching.  Blogs provide an important outside the class resource for students to have access to their teacher and curriculum. 

I think that technology operations and concepts kind of tie everything together.  Students are learning more about a greater expanse of technology than teachers are.  Technology evolves and students evolve with it.  This demands that teachers stay on top of changes in technology.  This requires more than just learning about technology.  It requires that I continually learn how to USE new technologies and come up with creative ways to incorporate them into the classroom.

There are two challenges that I feel are obstacles in implementing technology in the classroom.  The first is finances.  Money will always be an issue.  Schools cannot afford to buy every new technology that is available.  The solution in my mind is creativity.  I cannot control the finances of a school district.  I cannot make them wealthy.  But I can control the way my classroom utilizes the technology we have available.  It comes back to creativity and innovation.  I have to find ways to use what is available to me and do so successfully.  The second challenge is becoming complacent in the knowledge of technology.  Teachers cannot become complacent and feel they know enough about technology (or think they don't need any more).  The moment this complacency occurs technology has passed you by.  Students will always be exposed to new technology and will adapt to new technologies.  It is vital to adapt with them.