Welcome to the 2009-10 School Year!!
Welcome students, parents, colleagues and friends to another exciting school year at MAS. Technology, and more specifically computer use, is one of the fastest growing aspects of our modern society. Education is no exception. I have three primary goals this school year:
- Implement technology standards at MAS that exceed local, state and federal standards.
- Increase the use of technology across the curriculum by students at MAS.
- Establish MAS as a "Technology Leader" among school districts statewide.
GREAT... but how does this help my son or daughter?
Goal 1
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has set three goals for educational technology:
- Use technology to improve the academic achievement of students in elementary and secondary schools.
- Ensure that every student—regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, family income, geographic location,or disability—is technologically literate by the end of the eighth grade.
- Encourage the effective integration of technology with teacher training and curriculum development to establish widely implemented, research-based best practices.
Currently, the State of New Mexico has no formal standards & benchmarks for technology education. In an effort to meet the NCLB goals, I have adopted the International Society for Technology in Education/National Education Technology Standards (ISTE/NETS*S) as a framework for my curriculum. These standards are also followed by many education technology vendors when designing their products. Three of the programs students will be using this school year - GenYes, GenTech and Gaggle - are all aligned to ISTE standards. Links to these programs are listed under the "Class Resources" of the navigaton bar at the top left of this page.
Goal 2
The use of computers and various forms of technology in the classroom is not a new concept. Many teachers have used technology successfully as part of their teaching for decades. However, for many reasons, some schools are quickly falling behind in the use of technology. One primary reason is that teachers are required to teach their respective subjects (math, science, reading, etc), and simply don't have the time and resources to also integrate technology.
To increase the use of technology school-wide, students will learn to use the skills and knowledge acquired in computer/technology courses, across the curriculum. Examples of these skills are: Internet research, use of MS Office, e-mail use, digital photography/video, use of computer networks, and many others. These skills will be developed by working on multi-disciplinary projects which reinforce concepts students are learning in other courses. All student work will be assigned and collected electronically via this web site, e-mail and the school network. I prefer this delivery and collection method as it creates an environment of "technology immersion", much like going abroad to learn a foreign language.
Goal 3
Each year, many much needed improvements in technology are being provided for the students district-wide. However, I feel with these improvements comes a responsibility to maximize the use of those resources. Our challenge is to: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way!" I believe we should lead.
Throughout the following school year, I will be challenging students to use their knowledge and skills across the district to increase and promote technology use. Being at the middle school level provides unique educational opportunities towards meeting this challenge. First, students are now at a level to draw on their past educational experience and share that experience with others. An example of this is a digital presentation for 5th grade students about what to expect in middle school. Second, students are rapidly developing technology skill both at school and in daily life. Many are eager to demonstrate and share those skills with others. An example of this is the GenYes program. A program where students partner with teachers to integrate technology into the teacher's curriculum.
Based on the three goals listed above, the following mission statement was developed.
2009-10 Mission Statement:
MAS students will intergrate the use of technology across the curriculum.