ITSE Standards Reflection

Content standards always make me laugh, just a little bit. Throughout my undergrad I frequently visited the California Content Standards website and I would find myself completely enthralled by all of the standards that are to be completed in the classroom. In particular, I was always surprised by the fine arts standards because I often would reflect on the fact that fine arts are typically non existent in many school districts simply due to funding. What ever happened to helping students become well rounded individuals? I guess fine arts just don't make the cut for being important. I guess I the only reason I am so bothered by this is simply because that is my forte and it makes me so angry to see it being cut out of schools. But just like technology in the classroom, without funding it is nearly impossible to provide the students with what they need in terms of those particular subjects. After reading through the technology standards I felt a bit relieved because part of me thought that they were going to be ridiculous, however, they are all very practical. The one that I enjoyed the most dealt with was the teachers role to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. Creativity is so important in the life of a child and I think that it is great to see that being brought into collaboration with technology. As technology becomes more prevalent in our society I believe that it is important for students to have some knowledge on the the subject matter. What I find so great about bringing creativity and technology together is that it allows the students to use systems such as computers in ways that are tapping into their creativity. Another part of the standards that I liked was the fact that it basically is pushing teachers to incorporate contemporary tools in the classroom. I think that the more that teachers use technology in the classroom the more positive experience it is for the children. With so much technology there is not reason to use simply a whiteboard in the class. By incorporating temporary tools it makes the learning process more fun. These standards are not asking teachers to be computer scientists, rather knowledgeable to some degree in technology.