Technology Education

Tech. Education

The mission of the Technology Education program is to prepare students to become productive, technologically literate, members of society, by providing them with the skills and knowledge needed to be competitive in a shrinking global marketplace. The Technology Education program strives to develop students’ abilities to be creative thinkers and problem-solvers. Through a combination of computer based instruction methods, reinforced with real-world application activities in a laboratory setting, students will learn not only how our technology works but also how technology impacts our lives and society.

Technology Education Defined

Technology Education is the study of the application of knowledge, creativity, and resources to solve problems and extend human potential.

Explorations in Technology

Introduction to technology
Sixth Grade

Introduction to Technology is a nine week course where students first study the basic elements of technology, including construction, transportation, communication, and production/manufacturing. Finally, they relate the impact of technology on society, the environment, and culture to future consequences and decisions.

Inventions and Innovations
Seventh Grade

Inventions and Innovations is a nine-week course where students study significant inventions and innovations that have advanced our society. After studying these developments, students explore contemporary technological problems facing them, their community, and the world and applying systematic procedures to invent new products or innovations as solutions.

Technological Systems
Eighth Grade

Students combine resources and techniques into systems, realizing technology as a system. By simulating systems, assessing their impacts, and relating this experience to the two previous levels, students gain an insight into how to approach the problems and opportunities of a technological world in a broad sense. They also explore occupational areas and educational programs for technology-oriented careers.

Program Goals

• To enhance creativity in problem solving abilities.

• To integrate mathematics, science, and all other curricular studies into a hands-on
learning experience.

• To explore opportunities in technology and develop a positive self image.

• To consider future technology based careers and educational programs.

• To use tools, materials, and processes safely and efficiently.

• To introduce skills, concepts, and practices that are highly valued in the workplace.

• Digital Manufacturing
• Digital Video
• Forces
• Bioengineering
• Tools and Machines

• Digital Transportation
• Rocketry and Space
• Weather
• Entrepreneurship
• Safety

• Flight
• Robots
• Electronics
• Graphics and Animation

NBPTS is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization governed by a board of directors, the majority of whom are classroom teachers. Other members include school administrators, school board leaders, governors and state legislators, higher education officials, teacher union leaders and business and community leaders.
The future of our communities, our states—indeed, of the nation—turns on education.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards® is rooted in the belief that the single most important action this country can take to improve schools and student learning is to strengthen teaching.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is leading the way in making teaching a profession dedicated to student learning and to upholding high standards for professional performance. We have raised the standards for teachers, strengthened their educational preparation through the standards, and created performance-based assessments that demonstrate accomplished application of the standards.

The mission is to advance the quality of teaching and learning by:
• maintaining high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do,
• providing a national voluntary system certifying teachers who meet these standards, and
• advocating related education reforms to integrate National Board Certification in American education and to capitalize on the expertise of National Board Certified Teachers.

The success of the National Board came from the power of a good idea: Quality teachers are necessary for student learning.
And it has been teachers who have led the formation and implementation of the work of the National Board. Together, we tackled the difficult job of identifying what it means to be an excellent teacher. Our first policy statement, What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do, ignited widespread discussion between teachers and other educators, it led to broad accord and real enthusiasm that teachers are the unifying substantive framework for guiding the teaching profession. This statement describes a vision of teaching based on the Five Core Propositions that outline what the National Board values and believes should be honored in teaching.
Using the core propositions as a foundation, NBPTS Standards further detail what constitutes accomplished teaching in every subject and for students at all stages of their development. For individual teachers, NBPTS standards provide a career-long learning curriculum for accomplished teaching. For the nation, these standards are the keystones in efforts to improve teaching and thereby improve student learning.
National Board Certification® measures a teacher's practice against these high and rigorous standards. The process is an extensive series of performance-based assessments that includes teaching Portfolios, student work samples, videotapes and thorough analyses of the candidates' classroom teaching and student learning. Teachers also complete a series of written exercises that probe the depth of their subject-matter knowledge, as well as their understanding of how to teach those subjects to their students.
Teachers who have participated in National Board Certification have overwhelmingly stated it is the most powerful professional development experience of their careers. They say the experience changes them as professionals and that through the process they deepen their content knowledge and develop, master, and reflect on new approaches to working with their students.
National Board Certification is voluntary and open to all people who have a baccalaureate degree and three years of classroom experience in either a public or private school. It is valid for 10 years, after which a teacher must seek renewal. The fee for National Board Certification is $2300.
The advent of National Board Certified Teachers® is already resulting in positive changes in their classrooms, in their school districts, and in the larger education community. The recognition, visibility, new roles and growth of the numbers of National Board Certified Teaches are affecting not only their classrooms, but also the culture of schools where they work. They are affecting how teachers are viewed by everyone from the education policy establishment to parents in the community.
Equally encouraging has been the groundswell of support shown at all levels - local, state and national - in recognizing, and acting upon, the importance of the National Board's work in improving education. From their national associations down to their local schools, superintendents, principals, school boards and teachers' associations are providing support and recognition programs for teachers seeking National Board Certification. Colleges and universities have also organized support program for certification candidates and many are aligning their teacher preparation curriculum to reflect the National Board's standards for accomplished teachers. Recognizing the importance of teacher quality, more and more businesses are becoming involved by offering scholarships for teachers seeking National Board Certification and even providing supportive services for teachers during their candidacy.