I have to admit that in the beginning I thought that the job of a teacher was as easy as cutting a piece of cake. In the perfect society that lives inside my head the students were well behaved, easy to teach, and that the lessons just sprung up from out of the ground. I was very wrong! After observing in the Guam Public schools I was faced with the harsh reality that I would have to make lesson plans myself, and because I am majoring in special education I would have to mold them to accommodate the needs of my students. This multimedia lesson plan assignment was a real eye opener for me. It showed me a glimpse of what I would be going through as a teacher, and I now understand/see how much thought goes in to creating a lesson plan.
The NET Standard that I feel applied to this assignment the most was NET Standard number two which was to Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, and to be more specific article A which according to the International Society for Technology in Education (2008) states that a teacher should “design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.” I really feel that in this digital age it is important to teach all students with at least 1 form of digital device. In my lesson plan I chose to show 2 YouTube videos, and for my students to play 1 online game. We cannot deny that the world is changing each and every single day, so we as teachers must adapt. By incorporating digital devices into our lesson plans we are teaching our students how to be more rounded learners, how to use different devices, that there are different ways of teaching/learning, and we are also promoting group discussion, cooperation, and independence. 
Mrs. Lolita Siguenza once told me that “as a teacher it is our job to assess our students, and make sure they are receiving the best possible services that can be provided.”(L. Siguenza, personal communication, September 2011). This is especially true for students who are receiving special education services. There is so much that goes into creating a lesson plan for them, but they are still people that deserve proper help. I have heard stories of students that have just been left in the back of the class to rot, and this really breaks my heart. I believe that every child has the right to a free and appropriate education, and this is one of the reasons why I chose to get into special education. By using digital devices in lesson plans we are opening a whole new door for children with special needs. Of course there will have to be revisions to all plans when dealing with students who have special needs, but it is really hard to determine what those revisions are without knowing the exact disabilities that the students have. The special education teacher is trained to look through a child’s (IEP) Individualized Education Plan, and make decisions based on the assessments of the child’s doctors, physical/speech/occupational and leisure education therapists, and by his/her personal assessments.
All in all I feel that I learned a great deal by being assigned to make my very own multimedia lesson plan. I am not going to lie and say that I enjoyed it because I didn’t entirely. It was very hard work, and it did stress me out a lot. Aside from that, I feel like it was a crucial component to this ED-271 course. By being tasked to make our own lesson plans we were challenged! It was something that I had never done before, and was a complete eye opener for me. I had to think about what students the plan would be made for, their ages/ethnicity, what I wanted to say, and what I wanted to show. I now feel that I am a more informed teacher candidate, and I feel confident that with the proper training I could one day become a good teacher. I will most definitely include some forms of digital technology into my students’ lesson plans. References:
International Society for Technology in Education. ( 2008). NETS FOR TEACHERS 2008.
ITSE(International Society for Technology in Education. [Retrieved] December 1, 2011, from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx
L. Siguenza, personal communication, September 2011.
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