Saturday, November 7, 2009

Pay it forward

Whose job is it to teach the NETs and AASL standards to students?

According to Wikipedia, the expression "pay it forward" is used to describe the concept of asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead.[...]In sociology, this concept is called "generalized reciprocity" or "generalized exchange".
My interpretation is that if something good happens to you, then you should in turn do a good action for someone else. It seems simplistic, but I think it can work in the the context of our discussion about "whose job is it to teach the standards?".
Let me explain:
When my students come into my French class, they already know how to read a text and write sentences using appropriate punctuation and paragraph forms. Whose job was it to teach writing? Do students only learn to read and write in their English/humanities class? Although there is a clear emphasis on those skills in an English class, everyone expects students will become better writers because they get to practice in their other classes.
When I teach my students how to use a new computer application to use in my French class, I know that students will be able to apply this new skill for another class or for their personal use. In turn, I was pleasantly surprised when some students started on their French journal already knowing how to use their blogs. Whose turn was it to teach this tool?
Interdisciplinary teaching is expected in most classrooms. Familiarize yourself with the curriculum of other departments so you can integrate it into your own. In my classroom, we study math, science, humanities, art, physical education, etc in FRENCH.

Looking at some of the NETs standards, most of the colleagues around my table agreed that most of these standards are common to most discipline?

1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

3. Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

5. Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.

So, why couldn’t/shouldn’t we expect interdisciplinary teaching of technology skills, and therefore the standards?

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