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Nia Arrington-Seward

Professor Davola

My Professional Goals

One of the biggest goals I want to accomplish over the course of the semester is to use technology to streamline

information and make my classroom more efficient, accessible, and enjoyable. in 2019, technology has taken

us to heights that were previously unimaginable. From 3D printing to hosting classes offsite, technology can

and has changed the way we teach. Personally, I would just like to be able to teach and manage my classroom

in a more effective manner, while keeping my students engaged. For instance, having assignments due online

as opposed to paper sheets. Or conducting tests online to eliminate any possible cheating. Throughout the

duration of this course, I hope to pick up tools and develop a skill set that will help me make my classroom

and my course easier and more engaging.

One of the ISTE standards that I implement in my class is the fifth one: Designer. Like any

teacher, I want my students to do well and walk away from my class feeling like they have learned

something that will serve them well in their future theater careers. Thus, I put an emphasis on

ensuring that each activity is designed to have a purpose and an overall goal. Students learn

differently, and so I will use technology to design activities that can be tailored to each individual

student, while still managing to teach the same material. For instance, I can create a visual

representation for a lesson and an audio representation to accompany it, that way there is more

than one avenue available for learning the material. To fully apply this standard in my classroom,

however, will require me to spend more time discovering various technological tools and platforms

to help encourage engagement while simultaneously informing my students and ensuring they

comprehend the material.

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It is important for my students to know about the ISTE standards because they should be

aware of what the expectations are of them as they increase their technology use over the course

of the class. True, it is important for them to learn the material being taught, but at the end of the

day, I aim to prepare them for life and a future in education as well. They should know these

standards because even at their young age they should be striving for excellence and to embody

these ISTE standards. More often than not students see iPads in the classroom and think it's an

excuse to play games or goof off when the teacher is not paying attention. In my mind, that type

of behavior is completely unacceptable and an abuse of amazing tools that not everyone is

privileged enough to receive.

Students need to know that although technology is apart of their daily lives, there are still

certain expectations that need to be met when they enter a classroom, and the introduction of

technology does not change that. In fact, if anything it emphasizes those standards. Because they

have much more access with this newfound introduction of technology to the class, I expect more

from my students than ever before. Of course, I do not expect my students to mature overnight,

but I do expect them to dive deeper into the material and learn more than they would have without

their new gadgets and gizmos. The tools and access to information have upgraded and I expect my

students to uphold the ISTE standards and upgrade their learning experience accordingly.

The SAMR model will be very useful to me as it pertains to upgrading the technological

use in my class. It will help integrate the use of various tools in a way that the students can

understand and become accustomed to. For instance, if I were to have students create their own

scenes and were interested in introducing technology, I would use the SAMR model so that

students could get comfortable with the new tools. I would start out by having the students write
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their scripts in as a Microsoft word document, and emailing them all to me, which would represent

the Substitution part of the SAMR model.

The next step would be to have them transfer their scripts to a Google Drive document so

they can access them whenever they need to, which would be the Augmentation step. The third

step, the Modification step, would be granting me access to their google docs so I can edit them

and we can conversate about them in real time, as opposed to waiting until the next time they have

the class to hear back from me. The final step would be to have each student use a screenwriting

app such as Final Draft or Fade- In that is designed specifically to help writers create scripts, which

would be the final step of Redefinition. Ultimately, the SAMR model makes integrating

technology into the lesson plan and the classroom, simple.

In conclusion, I have high expectations for both myself and my students. Introducing new

technology can be intimidating, but that does not mean that it should not be done. And if we are

going to do something, I believe it should be to the best of our ability, with our best foot forward

and our chins up!

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