Journal Post #2

As a student, I have used MS Word very frequently throughout my academic career. I utilized this application for everything from writing a paper to taking notes for class. Even now, I am using MS Word to create this post and to check my grammar and spelling, before posting it on the blog. In my experience, educators have used this application to create assignments, present notes, and formulate tests. I have also seen several teachers use Word to create graphics that they use for other projects and formulate graphs for easy presentation of data.

            Understanding copyright and fair use regulations are essential in the classroom, as teachers and students alike often find themselves pulling from various sources in the creation of the materials used. Personally, my teachers have taught me the basic of these principals through lessons targeting it and through demonstration in their own work. For example, it was an expectation of every student to cite materials they have referenced in their presentation and papers. As a teacher, I hope to teach these concepts in a way that allows students to interact with the material in their everyday lives. For me, this means making a presentation in which I describe the rules of copyright and fair use, and how to obey them through citation methods. Also, I hope to teach future students to obey these rules through practice in lessons. I will follow these rules and their limitation in using reference materials in my lessons and in supplemental use to show students that you need to remember and follow these rules all throughout life.

            Understanding that there are difficultins to implementing technology into schools is of the upmost importance an for educator, as it must be understood to create a safe learning environment. One such difficulty is protecting students from the dangerous parts of the internet, including protection from cyberbullying. To combat this in my future classroom, I plan to have a roundtable discussion with the students that highlights the dangers of the internet and how to protect themselves. To further this, I will also have a lesson focusing on cyberbullying, in which it will allow the students to be able to identify cyberbullying through the exhibition of examples and highlight the proper ways to report this behavior. These discussions and example will also allow the students to become better “digital citizens”, thus meeting an ISTE standard. Another commonly encountered issue is that of ensuring the students remain academically honest. In order to prevent this in my classroom, I will start by explaining the importance of good character in and out of school in a guided discussion. In this discussion, I will pose question like “Would you want a thief to watch your pet?” or “How would you feel if someone took credit for your work?”. In addition to this, I would also explain the rules of the school, go in-depth into the consequences for these actions, and make them aware that teachers can always see if they plagiarized through the use of antiplagiarism software. A final issue teachers encounter is that of protecting students’ privacy. To mediate this action relies heavily upon the educator, as they must remain alert at all time to ensure that they do not mistakenly compromise a child’s privacy. In my future classroom, I hope to prevent this by getting parent to allow, or forbid, me from posting a student’s work online or in the online school newsletter with a permission slip that they sign at the beginning of the year. Also, I will be prudent in my observation of the students, while online, to make sure that they are not compromising their own privacy by sharing personal information. If this does appear to be the case, then I will report it immediately to the administrators and parents to mediate the action.