Blogging About the Basics

Greetings and Salutations, 

In today's blog, we are talking about a scope of things. The first being Microsoft Word and its use. I am a big fan of MS not only does it make writing my book run as smoothly as possible, but it also is so cool to mess around with. It is the homing beacon of my various assortment of essays. It also converts a lot of big documents or articles into a compressed readable version that is easier for me to manage. My teachers in the past have used Word to make and print off documents that we could complete in class, charts, graphs in math, word puzzles, etc. My teachers also used it as a means of assignments. Majority of things I had to turn in online had to firstly be formulated in word and turned to Turnitin to check for plagiarism. Regardless Word has always been the middle man.

Speaking of plagiarism another thing that is widely know is Copyright in the class room. I thought copyright was mostly just for products and the music in YouTube videos. But I now know that copyright matters in the classroom. There are laws that prohibit teachers and students from using certain programs. That means the scanning of certain items for classroom use. But at the same time fair use is seen as the ability for these teachers to use these materials if they are doing so for nonprofit. In the past my teachers have always used Turnitin to make sure the kids were not copying other people or each other. We were to always put our name on our work, and to provide the source of any outside information we gained. my teachers would scan worksheets for us, but only to turn right back in to them after they were complete and we claimed none of the work. The programs they used were primarily school provided as to avoid any copyright issues. As a teacher in the future, to prevent copyright I would make sure that my kids created their own work by providing credit for any source of information they received. I would also make sure to abide by the fair use rules, and make sure that  I tried to remain as creative as possible with the programs I used, namely try to use only school provided things, and my own, as well as Pinterest of course!

If I had to deal with (1)Cyberbullying, (2)Academic honesty, or (3)Privacy in the class room I would implement these methods:

(1) I would make sure my students understand the concept of; "treat others how you want to be treated". Anyone caught cyberbullying would be restricted on their internet access and implements would be in place. But to prevent that in the first place, monitoring the students would be a big deal for me. As well as drilling in the meaning of respect. I would also make sure the technological environment the students are in would be virtually impossible to insult others or be insulted. That means internet use only as a group. Limited individual use, unless it was working with myself. Really focusing on that safe environment!

(2) Simply put, I would make sure that the students take credit for no work but their own. I would make sure the students knew what was expected of them and the penalties if they decided to be academically dishonest. Signing an agreement at the beginning of the year is something that worked for my teachers and their students. I would implement that.

(3) I would ensure that my class is a safe space for the students to share their true selves without any information being exposed (unless harmful) complete disclosure. That means privacy In the things they turn in, as well as the activities they react to only for evaluation by myself, not their fellow peers. Keeping the classroom experience as authentic as possible.