Standard 11: Technology Standards for Teachers
Artifact 1
Within the past decade, technology has developed into a resource that is vital to learning in every classroom of all grade levels across the world. Platforms for online education have become more complex, provide more tools for organizing and analyzing student data, and open the perspective of students outside their hometown. All these websites all in the same way: they all start with hundreds and thousands of lines of code. For this artifact, the realm of coding was explored through the website Hour of Code and put into practice through the formation of a user’s guide to the website. Hour of Code is a unique website that collects hundreds of coding activities from online resources and organizes them based on topic, resources needed, time needed to complete the activity, experience with coding, and by grade level. For teachers that aren’t comfortable with coding, it provides a pre-made lesson plan by the creator of the activity and explicitly shows the exact Common Core standards that each activity addresses. Hour of code allows teachers to customize the interactive coding experience for a way that fits their classroom, whether it’s based on a large group or independent work. This aligns with Standard 11, Technology Standards for Teachers, as it exemplifies the interactivity and engagement of students while teaching the processes that are used to create tools students use every day. It creates a learning environment where teachers are learning with the students and are able to fully embrace the importance of technology in a learning environment.
Coding is commonly stereotyped as a complicated skill that is only useful for those going into the field of data science or computer engineering, but there are various other applications that are easier to understand and accessible to all. That is not the case. Coding, similar to painting and drawing, is a creative and interactive tool that teachers of all levels can use to engage students while bolstering their understanding of a topic. With coding students have the ability to create their own game or website with features unique to their own style of learning. Coding is a skill I am quite unfamiliar with, therefore when going into the workforce and into a classroom I will need to be comfortable with learning alongside the students. An effective classroom is one where students are free to explore their own interests even though the teacher may not be knowledgeable on it. It’s my job as a teacher, to guide students through their exploration of topics and to enhance their ability to deduce knowledge from any type of resource. In this case, it’s my responsibility as a teacher to aid in their exploration of code and to learn with them. It promotes an environment where all are engaged and students are able to take control of their learning. It promotes an environment where learning never ends, even for the teachers.
