Hola, everyone! My name is Armando Santiago and I am currently a public percussion ensemble and world language middle school teacher working towards a Master's Degree in Teaching at Northwestern College of Iowa. As part of my master's degree program, I am taking part of an amazing course called EDU 630: Technology Coaching/Leadership that stresses the importance of infusing 21st Century technology with the 21st Century classroom and applicable curricula to meet the short-term and long-term needs of all 21st Century students. As a result, I would like to assist educators and students from all over the world to come together on a united front to be the best learners and teachers possible.
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In order for 21st Century students to make real-time positive progress in gaining and maintaining effective academic, cultural and social knowledge bases and skills--both inside and outside of the formal classroom setting--it is imperative that 21st Century educators properly learn, understand and implement The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students alongside them as well.
As such, the following ISTE standards can and should be addressed through a diverse and dynamic range of school activities and programs for all parties involved:
1.1 Empowered Learner
By having students actively select, set and reflect upon their academic goals through the utilization of technology to become empowered learners, students are able to take charge of increasing their knowledge bases on different subject areas while gaining the skills necessary to accomplish what they originally set out to do with the assistance of educators and surrounding technology (ITSE, 2024).
Spanish can make great use of a Google Docs Virtual Choice Board to choose from a variety of input and output learning options--which features the four basic elements of language learning: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Once these students are done with setting up their daily learning goals and making their choices using school-provided laptops, they are then tasked to reflect upon on their language learning for the day by completing study charts with the Spanish vocabulary words they frequently used within each selection made and digitally-highlighting either a thumb-up emoji 👍for feeling at ease with a task; a raised-hand emoji ✋for needing a little bit of help with a task; or a thumb-down emoji 👎 for needing a lot of help with a task.
1.2 Digital Citizen
As digital citizens sharing and caring for their digital classroom contributions, students are able to securely control and protect their personal data while viewing and reviewing their digital footprints and responsibilities on multiple technological platforms (ITSE, 2024). In the world language classroom, digital citizens learning Spanish at all levels are expected to make full use of their digital classrooms to submit their written Spanish language work on school-provided laptops via programs such as Google Products and Microsoft Suite within a learning management system like Blackboard, BrightSpace, CANVAS, Google Classroom, etc. for proper review and grading of their digital work. In said digital Spanish classrooms, students would also be privy to digital norms and expectations documents in both English and Spanish as extended digital learning opportunities arise within a given academic school year.
1.3 Knowledge Constructor
By using digital means to select and review a diverse set of resources, students become knowledge constructors that are able to create their own works that provide authentic, impactful learning experiences for both their audiences and themselves (ITSE, 2024).
In the percussion music ensemble classroom, for example, a beginner percussion student has the opportunity to examine multiple pre-approved beginner percussion eBooks and percussion exercises on YouTube as digital resources to assist them in creating their very own Accent-Tap exercises that can be used on a percussion instrument and/or a practice pad with their provided drumsticks or mallets. As showcased in my personal example shown above, accents (louder notes played from the up-stick position to the down-stick position) are marked by students on their customizable Google Slides with an upside-down pink triangle; taps (soft notes played while in the low down-stick position) with a blue square; and lifts (taps played from the down-stick position and immediately lifted to the up-stick position) with a red right-side-up triangle. These markings, in turn, help all players to better connect with their percussion exercise creations using different combinations of these marked hand movements.
1.4 Innovative Designer
With students utilizing a wide range of technologies as they become innovative designers over time, student work within specific design frameworks to creatively identify and solve problems through thorough examination and testing of new ideas put into action (ITSE, 2024).
In the world language classroom, for example, an intermediate-level Spanish student can be expected to complete a final project that calls for them to create their own very food truck businesses complete with bilingual breakfast, lunch and dinner menus (in English and Spanish, in this case) featuring healthy food and drink items dispersed throughout the day to meet the needs of their local community. By making great use of provided bilingual cookbooks, digital sample menus and Google Slides filled with image resources, students design and showcase their semester-long food and nutrition learning in the formation of their food trucks in authentic, meaningful ways.
1.5 Computational Thinker
For students to become computational thinkers, they must learn to maximize their time and effort in developing an understanding and solving of real-world problems through different technological methods (ITSE, 2024).
In the percussion ensemble classroom, for example, intermediate-level percussion students could use their laptops--and other provided recording devices such as audio recorders and digital cameras--to record different audio and video feeds of their performances of given music at different angles and different tempi (played in both slow and fast rates of speed) for a set number of weeks to come to a grand consensus of which version they feel would best showcase their intent of playing said music to audiences both local and abroad. Not only would this multi-pronged data empower students to work together towards musical excellence, but it would also give proper perspectives and validation for their persistent hard work at different stages of musical development as well.
1.6 Creative Communicator
For students to be considered creative communicators, they must creatively communicate and express themselves in an appropriate, clear and consistent manner using all available digital means of communication (ITSE, 2024).
In the percussion ensemble classroom, for example, the advanced percussion student and their educators can promote upcoming fundraising events and performances through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube by recording short-form and long-form video content that provides audiences with opportunities to better highlight, profile and sample the ensemble and their music repertoire as a whole.
1.7 Global Collaborator
And for students to become global collaborators, they are able to demonstrate their use of digital tools in groups that work together on expanding their localized work into a global network (ITSE, 2024).
In the world language classroom, for example, advanced Spanish students can be tasked with sending e-mail correspondence in full Spanish to native Spanish speakers--through learning management systems like Blackboard, BrightSpace, CANVAS, etc.--in discussing topics in detail such as their opinions and preferences of different forms of celebration, entertainment, and/or school.
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References
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2024). ISTE Standards: For Students. ISTE. Retrieved October 31, 2024 from https://iste.org/standards/students.
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