School Type: Public	School Setting: Rural
Level: Elementary	School Design: Traditional
Content Presented By:
NEIRTEC, Northeast & Islands Regional Technology in Education Consortium

Summary

The practice: Standards
All technology-enhanced activities should be deliberately and consciously aligned with local, state, and national standards.

• A cohort of second-, third-, and fourth-grade teachers learned how to integrate technology into standards-based lessons that had proven challenging for students in the past.
• Teachers took into account the New York State Learning Standards, including those for use of technology, English language arts, and mathematics ( www.nysatl.nysed.gov/standards.html), when modifying their lessons.
• The teachers used existing Web sites and mapping software to ensure that students learned to read, write, and speak for understanding, creativity, self-expression, and critical analysis.

Amy Spath, the technology integration specialist for the Mexico Academy and Central School District in Mexico, New York and the district's Director of Technology were concerned that elementary teachers were not using technology to enhance learning in the classroom. Many teachers saw technology as an add-on, not an everyday tool for engaging their students. The teachers also had varying levels of expertise and experience with early childhood learning software. However, the New York State Learning Standards clearly state the expectation that students will learn to "access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies" and apply the knowledge gained through technology use to address real-world problems ( www.nysatl.nysed.gov/standards.html).

To address this issue, Spath took an online technology integration course offered by TERC and the Northeast and Islands Regional Technology Education Consortium (NEIRTEC). Through the course, she designed a professional development opportunity for teachers in her district, in which they would learn how to integrate technology into their existing standards-based lessons. During the first session of the professional development opportunity, teachers participated in a model lesson, reviewed technology relevant to the model lesson and the New York State standards, worked in groups to determine which software or Web sites best fit their students and the topics of their own lessons, and discussed assessment strategies.

Once the teachers had participated in the model lesson and group discussions, they then used these tools and strategies to adapt their own lessons and team-teach them with Spath. The lessons asked students to listen to the information given, map out the elements of the lesson and their own observations, and gather more information on the topic to aid their understanding. Students would then write or design a document that showed their comprehension of the lessons' concepts. The lessons connected to multiple New York State learning standards, and the flexibility of the technology tools helped all students make sense of the concepts of the lessons, perform critical analysis of information, and demonstrate comprehension as required by the standards.

Special education students were integrated in the classroom and were not separated out into separate groups during lessons. For both students and teachers, this process encouraged attention to the real-world applications of the work and the skills and knowledge students must acquire to be successful at each successive level of schooling.

• Professional development should be primarily school-based and built into the day-to-day work of teaching.  
• Professional Development - School leaders must provide relevant, meaningful, and ongoing professional development for all staff.  
• Multiple Learning Strategies
  Technology-enhanced lessons and activities should represent a variety of learning strategies that include active learning strategies, constructive learning strategies, authentic learning strategies, cooperative learning strategies, and intentional/reflective learning strategies.  

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