E-422: Blog 7
Excellent
Educators
This
article was a great example of teachers, educators and administrators who each
exhibit many or all of the ISTE NETS for Teachers. The article highlighted four
people who are among the award winners for the 2012 ISTE Awards. For
Outstanding Teacher, Matt Cauthron, in Palm Springs, CA, was highlighted for
his work as a digital arts instructor who creates projects for his students
that incorporate the real world, engage social media and also help those less
fortunate (proceeds from one of their ongoing globally collaborative projects
benefit children in Malawi). Alice Owen, in Irving, TX, is the winner of the
Outstanding Leader award for her forty years of service in various educational
roles and her innovative methods to bring technological advances to both
students and teachers. Caroline Haebig, from Kenosha, WI, is this year’s
Outstanding Young Educator winner for her innovative classroom projects as well
as sharing her technological knowledge with fellow educators. The final teacher
highlighted in the article is Kay Bitter, from Annandale, VA, who is a first
grade teacher to many low-income and non-English fluent students who uses
technology to break barriers of language and involve the students’ parents into
their education. All of the teachers sounded like outstanding people who not
only serve their students and community, but help involve their students with
the world beyond school.
I
enjoyed reading about what each of these award winners do for projects—the ways
they implement and integrate technology into their classrooms. As someone who
plans to teach K-3 in California, I found Kay Bitter’s story to be most useful
for my future teaching. The technology that Bitter uses in her classroom
crosses language barriers in a way that I think could be very useful to
implement in my own future classrooms. Bitter uses blogs and digital story
sites to assist her students in their learning as well as connect them to other
parts of the world. Also, “she connects students to classrooms in other
countries and celebrates the cultures of her own students, many of whom are new
to the United States, by integrating their native language into lessons about
counting.” I think in a country where there is such diversity of culture, it is
important to acknowledge that and find ways to let your students know that different
cultures are valued.
As
I mentioned, this article highlights every aspect of the ISTE NETS for
teachers. 1) Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
2) Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning
Experiences and Assessments
3) Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
4) Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and
Responsibility
5) Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Fingal, D. (2012). Excellent Educators. Learning
& Leading with Technology, 40(3), 12-16. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201211#pg14
I find this article intriguing. Having these awards shows that there are many teachers out there truly making a difference in the students lives. So many teachers go unheard because we tend to focus on the teachers who do something bad. Having awards to make the teachers who are doing an above average job tells all the teachers out there that you can be heard and attempt to make a difference in the lives of your students and you can be rewarded publicly for it. What teacher wouldn't want that. Good Article!!!
ReplyDeleteI also found this article very interesting because it shows that not just famous Hollywood people and big shots in large corporations are the ones who receive coveted awards- teachers do too. In my opinion, many teachers are underpaid and not given the proper credit for the hard work and many extra hours that they put in every day they go to work. Teachers make a huge difference in each of their student's lives and giving them an award for their effort and sacrifice (time, energy spent in the classroom cutting into their personal lives) is just one way society can thank them.
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