NETS-T2 Exploration: Part II

This week's post will continue to explore NETS-T2, which is a standard outlined by the following:

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS-S.

Last week, I focused on Indicator B, but this week, I'll turn my attention to Indicator A:

Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

To see a full list of indicators under the standard NETS-T2, please visit the ISTE/NETS website.

Upon exploring this particular indicator, I realized that I have already somewhat implemented this indicator into my Language Arts classroom. Woo hoo!! Go, Katie! :)

The example I'll discuss today was implemented during my first year of teaching, and it involved visiting a particular website, Poetry 180 (created by the U.S. Library of Congress). This website was designed specifically for high school teachers, but I think that a lot of the poems have merit in the middle school classroom. The objective behind this website is to provide 180 poems (one, theoretically, for each calendar day of the school year) for adolescent students to read, connect with, and write about. (Sorry, Fred, for ending that sentence in a preposition... I do that a lot. :))

As an introductory assignment last year, I took the students to one of the computer labs and had them complete a handout. They had to identify their favorite poems, interpret these particular poems, and explain why the poems were significant to them personally. Then, they had to list the titles of 4 poems that they'd like to investigate further.

This assignment was great because it tackled two areas of (somewhat) uncharted territory in eighth grade Language Arts:

1) Poetry (causes anxiety for students)
2) Technology (causes anxiety for me)

This allowed the students to approach poetry in a digital environment (which I don't expose them to enough), and it made poetry less threatening for the students. They were able to explore a somewhat unfamiliar subject matter in an environment that was comfortable and familiar to them.

On an unrelated note (or a somewhat-related note), the work on my project (4 class WikiSpaces) is slow-moving... but it's going. I haven't had the time to devote to developing the WikiSpaces that I would like to have had, but I'll be getting more in-depth with them soon. I will probably introduce the concept to the students in the next week or so... And we'll see where we can go from there! :)

Unrelated Note #2: In a technology professional development meeting last week (with my team), I was one of the only teachers in the classroom to know what social bookmarking was. All the rest of the teachers had to set up Delicious accounts... and mine was already in full-swing!! That was probably the one instance in my entire life where I knew more about the technology being taught than the others in the class. A proud moment for me, indeed.

How 'bout them apples??!! :)