Today’s students must be prepared to thrive in a constantly evolving technological landscape. The ISTE Standards for Students are designed to empower student voice and ensure that learning is a student-driven process.

Technology will be used throughout our school as we acquire new and exciting ways to meet the needs of all of our students and to enhance student outcomes. We will strive to use the most up-to-date technology tools in order to:

• design learning environments that will reach out to a diverse learning community,

• gauge and monitor our students’ individual levels of achievement, using that information to make important decisions about our programs and support the differentiated needs of all students in all content areas,

• Model and encourage collaboration between and among us all: teachers, students, parents, administrators and the global community.

Technology: The ISTE Standards are a framework to rethink education and create innovative learning environments.   

ISTE Standards - For Students

ISTE Standards - For Educators

ISTE Standards - For Educational Leaders

ISTE Standards - For Coaches

In our classrooms, teachers will be confident and knowledgeable about the range of technology tools that can assist them in making effective choices in designing learning experiences. Supported by accessible technology and professional development, teachers will develop and share authentic and engaging learning activities that require students to hone problem-solving skills.  

Through this creative and collaborative environment VHE teachers will use technology:

• To continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning.
• To seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning.
• To inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world.
• To dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and solve problems.
• To design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability.
• To facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students.
• To understand and use data to drive their instruction and support students in achieving their learning goals

In addition to the above standards for educators, VHE teachers will use technology in the classroom: 

• To help students prepare for future careers
• To connect with students of all learning styles
• To provide options that match learning experiences to the individual learner
• To enhance interaction among students through collaboration
• To provide students with opportunities to develop digital citizenship skills(knowing how to use technology correctly and responsibly)
• To increase student engagement by providing multiple ways to learn new standards and objectives
• To enhance the learning experience of all students
• To provide students with opportunities to access the most up-to-date information quickly and easily
• To promote intellectual experimentation,
• To promote the development of higher order thinking and creative problem-solving
• To re-define and transform learning tasks to create authentic learning experiences.

All students, administrators and teachers will be accountable for basic technology skills while continuing to develop their technological literacy.  Students will have access to all technology and software, through the Atlanta Public Schools “My Backpack” application. “My Backpack” is a district-wide platform where children can access programs from school and home using their district issued login. As 21st century life-long learners, the students of the Virginia-Highland Elementary will:

• Leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences
• Recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.
• Critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others
• Use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.
• Communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
• Use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.

In addition to the above standards for educators, students will use technology in the classroom to:

• Develop literacy skills that require them to identify reliable and credible sources,
• Use those sources to develop their own distinctive voices,
• Demonstrate responsibility for the ethical use of technology,
• Engage in the use of technology to promote participation in the global learning environment,
• Distinguish and demonstrate the appropriate technological applications,
• Use technology to enhance their own learning experiences,

In all of our classrooms, and offices, we will use technology to enhance interactions and understand that technology will never replace our human need for one another. 

Fine motor skills and handwriting will still be emphasized and are considered essential to the overall development of the child.

• Technology allows us to better serve the diverse learning needs of our students.
• Skillful use of technology supports the development of process skills such as flexibility, adaptability, critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and collaboration, which are essential to success in our rapidly changing information age.
• Our school must prepare students to be lifelong learners who are responsible for their own learning, skilled in accessing and processing information, confident in using technological tools, able to solve complex problems alone or collaboratively, capable of being creative and innovative, and able to communicate locally, nationally, and globally.
• Equip Virginia-Highland ES with quality technological resources that support and enhance teaching, learning, and administrative processes.
• Provide a safe, flexible, authentic learning environment for all students.
• Engage students in meaningful curricular content through the purposeful and effective use of technology.
• Provide the training and support for teachers to become competent and confident in using the full range of technological resources to deliver effective curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
• Encourage and support innovative uses of technology.
• Assess technology plan progress annually and revise the technology plan as necessary to stay current and relevant.

All students have access to “My Backpack” a district program that grants access to academic software programs that are purchased through the district and through our PTO.  In order to access “My Backpack” students will need their district issued login information. Programs accessible through “My Backpack” include:

With the use of technology growing inside classrooms, educators must monitor and balance the amount of time students spend with digital devices.  As we have considered the addition of digital devices in our classrooms, we use the following questions to guide our decision-making about how best to incorporate technology into the classroom.  

• Is the time students spend in front of screens engaging and purposeful?
• Are students joining together in focused face-to-face conversations, without the interruptions of digital devices, for a significant amount of time during each school day?
• Will the teacher play an instrumental role in reviewing, monitoring and guiding their students’ technology use?
• In the classroom, is technology viewed as “just one of the tools” students can use to solve problems, answer questions and present information and not just the only tool?
• Are students taught and encouraged to read deeply instead of simply skimming, to evaluate sources and consider viewpoints different from their own? 
• Are students learning how to become monitors of their own screen time and to know when and how to disengage from technology?  

The frequency of device usage can vary depending on several factors, including curriculum, grade level and educational goals.  We use a balanced approach where we integrate technology with traditional learning, and we limit screen time for younger students (K-2) to between 30-60 minutes a day.  Older students (3^rd-5^th) may use devices from 60-90 minutes a day.  This again varies on the day and the topic at hand.  We do our best to be green and limit the amount of paper usage throughout the day as well.