ISTE Standard 4

New avenues of human interaction demand establishing rules of conduct. One should never assume that others have the same set of beliefs and standards of public behavior. Even those of us who typically model and teach appropriate behavior to children need to be reminded that material typed and/or sent on a computer is potentially forever in the public arena. With this dilemma in mind, ISTE Standard 4 speaks to the safe, legal, and appropriate use of technology. One eye-opening experience I had involved searching for the words spoken by John Wilkes Booth when he leapt to the stage following assassinating President Lincoln. During a class change, I quickly Googled my search without placing my Promethean Board on “no show.” As is typical, Wikipedia came up as the first resource. Thinking that even that questionable source would give me these historic words, I clicked on it as students entered my room. Much to my horror, a very vulgar answer appeared on my computer and thus on that larger-than-life screen. Never before have I pressed the delete key any faster, and the students seemed none the wiser. However, I learned an extremely important lesson that day about privately accessing information before showing the results to my students. As a part of that lesson, I have been diligent in explaining to students that certain sites, like Wikipedia, though not blocked by the school, may be inappropriate and unreliable.  Also, teachers must be diligent in modeling appropriate email names, correct usage of cell phones, legal downloading of materials, and proper writing techniques in correspondence, among others.  

Another item that bears consideration is knowledge of the diverse technological needs of all learners. Fortunately, at Clemson Elementary, we have several centers in the building equipped with student computers. When I assign projects requiring a technology component, part of class time is allocated to students using school computers. In addition, my students are encouraged to email me their projects from home to allow them to work on the item at school. One of my ESOL students with weak English language skills emails his projects to me, I look them over for content, and then forward them to the ESOL teacher who then has a relevant piece of work to help him correct.

In teaching and modeling appropriate technology etiquette and practices, I have a deeper understanding of the capabilities of this expanding area of human interaction and recognize irony in the notion that the more global we become, the more conscious of each other we need to be. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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