Week Twelve #12: Klausman: Plagarism and the Internet

On the Klausman, Plagarism and the Internet article:

In this article, Klausman examines three different forms of plagiarism: direct, paraphrased, and patch-worked. Direct is when a portion of a text is quoted without the proper quotation markings. Paraphrased plagiarism occurs when some of the words are changed in a direct quotation but not enough to make it actually paraphrased. Patch-worked is when only one source is cited and multiple ideas are used, but not properly.

I like that Klausman explains these in his classes. I think that it would be good for everyone who's ever going to write a paper to have someone walk them through what plagiarism looks like and what an acceptable paper looks like. You have to know what you're supposed to be doing before you can do it. I think that by showing students what is and isn't acceptable they can have a reference to go off of and that they will be more likely to catch themselves in the act of plagiarizing and be able to correct it rather than be graded down for missing it.

I think it's interesting that Klausman says that even though our technology would lead to more easily plagiarized work, most of the time, plagiarism is an accident. I think it's true--we might think that we are acceptably paraphrasing an idea, but without the instructions of what the proper form is, we cannot do so.

I am confused about patch-work plagiarism and I learned how to define different kinds of plagiarism. Before reading this, I could explain that I might think something was plagiarized, but I might not have been able to tell you why; now I am equipped with different terms that apply to different situations.

Final Project

My final project is now mostly complete! I'm so excited, it's come so far and took so much work, but will definitely be worth it!

For my project I created a webpage and connected it to this blog and a gradebook for future students. I have added some basic info to the page about me and my mock classroom, in addition to some resources and guidelines. It took a lot of time, but I'm pretty happy with it so far! I looked at a lot of websites and blogs and gleaned a lot of information form those.

Reflection #12: Money for Technology at NU

I find it curious that here at our little school it seems that education is ever lacking in funds while, oh, let's just say the sciences are rolling in it.

Not that I'm complaining, I mean I chose education for a reason. And yes, I do think that it's important for the sciences, as in nurses, to have the funds to access the best medical supplies as they might be helping to keep me healthy one day. I just find it interesting that it's so obvious.

I go through phases where I think it's completely just and then where I think it's completely not right. What do you think? Do you think that education should receive equal amounts of resources as the sciences or does science demand more for a reason?

Reflection #11: Lack of Technology

So I've been thinking about technology and the classroom and meshing the two and all the cool ways to incorporate technology into the classroom and connect to the students through technology. But I've run into a problem: not all classrooms have technology, and not all schools have access to technology.

It's a very interesting dynamic. I'm learning about all of these amazing ideas about using technology in the classroom and educating students technologically; and yet, in the classroom I was first assigned, there isn't really an opportunity to use any technology. The teacher was given a projector a few years back--meaning that only she has a projector and other classrooms don't--and that's about it. She has a computer that she can use, but nothing that the students have access to. What do you do then? How to you teach technology and expect you students to do well in the technological era if you don't have access to it on a regular or easy basis? Very interesting indeed.

Reflection #10: Cool Website for Teachers

I found a cool teacher's website: Technology Tips for Classroom Teachers. This teacher, Marilyn Western, has taken our toolbox idea and expanded it beyond belief. She all sorts of amazing sites and resources. Ms Western has posted articles, tutorials, handouts, PowerPoints, links to a few widgets, extra stuff. It's pretty cool, and very easy to navigate.

This PowerPoint has to be my favourite! Oh, wait, this one is pretty good too!

Reflection #9: Technological Weather

I travel between the East and West sides of the state on a regular basis. I have to cross one or two passes depending on my route. Needless to say, in the winter I am constantly checking the pass cameras to see what it looks like before I get there. This got me thinking--there are cameras on so many of our roads and teachers could use these. We could have the student estimate distances or times, we could see what the road looks like from an aerial view, we could see where people live. This connects to the the Google Maps as well. Interesting ideas.

Reflection #8: Audio Books

I have recently gotten into the world of audio books. I think that making more of these available to students would be very valuable. So far, I have found no limit on the audio books that I can find from the library. I know that I can read faster if I hear it and read it concurrently and I can understand it better. For students who are struggling, this could help them to read better or simply to read faster.

Or for students who don't like to read this could put a new spin on it so that they may want to or at least can gain the information without the agony of the task of reading. (Not that this should always be allowed, as some students need to push through and read anyway, but there are instances when it could be beneficial.)

End of Semester Reflection

I have learned that no matter how much I want to learn or how much I actually learn, I will never find the end of the ever-growing awesomeness that this the technological world.

I have learned that while I once thought it completely daunting to think about making a unit, there are SO many resources online.

I have found site after site for helping with rubrics, lesson plans, presentations, charts, chores, lists, grading, tips, articles, etc, that make the whole experience of education and becoming a teacher more manageable.

When I first read the NETs, I felt totally overwhelmed. But now, having done some research and reading, I've discovered that it's really not that big. Yes, they are important, but a good teacher is able to incorporate them into the subjects with ease. It's much easier to grasp when done like that, too. What does it matter if I'm told how to respectfully use technology if I'm not allowed to actually use it? It doesn't.

Comment's on Classmates' Blogs 2

Comment on Ariel McNamara's Weekly Reflections 7-8 post.

Comment on Alison Langstraat's Reflections #7-12 and Week #11: Lessons Integrating Microsoft Office posts.

Comment on Yajaira Garza's Week 11 post.

Comment on Ashley Buhler's Toolbox post.

Week Thirteen: The Future of Technology within Education

I read an article titled The Classroom of the Future. I found it very interesting. It says what I feel like a broken record for saying: technology is what our children are breathing.

It was pretty vague in what it actually had to say other than that to understand the students of the future and to be able to connect to them we will have to be able to understand, use, and teach with technology.

Technology is changing so swiftly that it would be impossible for anyone to keep up, but as long as we know that and are willing to continue learning, I think that we will be able to manage fairly well.

After all, part of the desire to teach is a love and hunger to learn, is it not?

Week Twelve: School's Site

I checked out the Wenatchee School District website and I really like it. It has a lot of links and tabs and information. There are links to each individual schools website from the district website. Within each school's site are a list of teachers for each grade or subject and link to their blog if they have one. There are newsletters and calendars; events; services; employment; links for students, parents, and teachers; videos and pictures; and so much more. This website is so much more detailed than my little private school's website ever was!

Week Eleven: Lessons in Technology

There is so much that you can do to incorporate technology! It used to be so daunting to me, but now it's second nature! You can use technology to present the bulk of your material through interactive boards and presentations, you can teach via videos from TeacherTube or YouTube or TED, you can use these same methods to simply hook the students and get them interested, you can use technology research for research projects, you can add sound and music to lessons, you can read books online, you can answer questions in the moment through the vastness that is Google, the list could go on and on.

There is quite a difference between integrating technology into other subjects and teaching technology. You can integrate the use of and the education of technology within other subjects. For example, if you assign a paper to be written, here is an excellent opportunity to discuss things such as Word, setting up a page with headers, footers, margins, spacing, dates, etc; or how to look up the right material for the paper using the appropriate sites; or how to decipher what might be valid and truthful and what might be false; or how practice typing. Or if your project is research, you could teach how to setup a PowerPoint, how to create note cards, how to look up definitions, how to cite internet sources and find out if they are credible, how to save photos so that minimal distortion takes place (right click on the image, click Save As, save as and where you want, open new image from where ever you saved it to). And all of these opportunities within the context of an English paper or a science presentation.

The other side of this is a class time or period dedicated to teaching the tech skills, not the content. Here the importance is to know about Word or PowerPoint, not so much the material used or presented. This is more beneficial for teaching typing and basic skills with a computer, not on integrating it or using it with what it will be most beneficial for.

English paper

How to properly setup the page.

The purpose is to write a good paper, not to know how to setup the page, but to be able to easily read the paper it must be set up properly and therefore this is a very valuable lesson. The point is not to teach the set up, but the English content, however, both are needed.

Science Presentation

How to know if a site is credible and worthy of time.

The purpose of the presentation is to research, to communicate well, and to gain information. But knowing which information to include and which to discard takes practice and understanding that must be taught. We don't always know what is incorrectly written. Therefore, we have an excellent opportunity to teach students to look up multiple resources and take the info that is the same in all.

Math Facts Games

How to opperate websites and games online.

There are many educational game websites out there. Some very useful ones revolve around math facts. Some students will come in knowing how to access the site that the appropriate game is located on, some won't. Here is a good opportunity to teach how to access the correct site and how to play the game. This is not the purpose, but necessary for the purpose to come through. If the student doesn't know how to operate the site, s/he won't know how to play the game and won't gain the information necessary.

Week Ten: Read and Comment on a Class Blog

I'm not sure that it will come through before class, but I commented on Mrs. Ida's Blog.

Mrs. Ida's blog has a lot of resources and some really cool posts. I picked this one to comment on because I really connected to it. I like the idea of having students present their material this way. It's kind of like Prof. Adair's students research projects that they are allowed to create and present as additional content. It allows the students to learn about something that is interesting to them and then teach it! And I personally believe that that is the best way to learn -- to teach.

Mrs. Ida's post didn't really discuss the idea, she just put it out there. I contributed by expanding on it and, hopefully, providing a different view on it than maybe she had thought of at first.

_______________________________________________

I found another blog that I really like! This one is from a school in the Wenatchee School District where I hope to end up. The teacher has a lot of information on her blog regarding the weekly happenings of the class, assignments, and other events that happen--planned or not. I commented a post that tells how the class was reading a story to learn about royalty and created a poster of a dragon to remind themselves to be respectful and polite--no whining!

Boys' Stories

Ryan: Ryan the Brave Saves Everyone from the Dragon

Josiah: The Enchanted Prince Tries to Save the Princess

Quinlan: Space Story

Reflection #7: Students Reading Books for Podcasts

Josiah:

Ryan:

Quinlan:

To encourage the boys that I nanny to read, I told them that I would record them and put them on my blog. It was great incentive! I told them that I've had people from different countries and different states look at the blog and that got them really excited. It made for a good geography lesson in the midst of reading. Someone from California looked at the blog. My boys have family in CA, so they really connected to that--got them really excited.

I would like to be able to do this more--maybe next time they'll have to practice a little more to be more confident in their reading skills. I would really like to help Quinn know that he knows the words--almost all of them!--he just need to be confident, and patient, enough to read them.

I am excited for what this can mean for future students! (And my boys!)

Assignment #4: Technology Project Plan

I have set up a webpage (www.MissSmith.webs.com) to keep parents and students up to date with the happenings of the class. The site has a plethora of tabs including a calendar, a gradebook, an assignments list, news, resources, and photos among others. I will post weekly learning objectives, assignments, large projects and materials needed, special class events, school events, and other important information on the webpage. I will create a few mock assignments to demonstrate how it works and I will do the same with the online gradebook that I have created that is linked to the webpage.

I chose to do this because I need organization and these two sites are a simple way to keep me organized and all of my information in one locale. I think that students will also benefit from this because they are from the technologically rich world. It's what they know, how they think, what they play with, and how they communicate. by having something online that they can access for a calendar or grades, I believe that students will be able to stay on track more easily. Because of the world that my students come, one that can download or upload anything, anytime, anywhere, I think that this is the best way to keep in touch on a regular basis outside of the classroom.

Follow Up

www.MissSmith.webs.com

I added a million tabs to my site that involve all the stuff that I could think up at the moment. I am 100% certain that I will think of more when I actually get into the classroom, but the site is so easy to manage, that that will not be a problem.

I think that it will be very useful to me. It keeps all my ducks in, at the very least, the same pond if not the same row. I think that it will be helpful in communicating with parents.

My project promotes NETs 3 and 4 for teachers because through this I am demonstrating how to use technology and I am encourage my students to become users of the technology as well as helping them use it properly. Also, it promotes student NETs 5 and 6 because it encourages students to be familiar with the technology world as well as learning more about how it works.

Week Nine: Panel Questions

1) Do you students have a computer lab time where they are taught about Word or Excel or Powerpoint or other programs? Or does that fall on you?

2) How does your library blog work? Are you the only one who posts things or do the teachers post things as well? Or the students? How does all of that work?

3) How do you do you stay sane?

Week Eight: Caught on Video

Read Bob Sprankle's Blog post titled Caught of Video

I really like Mr. Sprankle's ideas for using a Flip video camera in the classroom. I think my favourite was #5: film students asking questions at the beginning of the unit and the same students answering the questions at the end of the unit. This really shows to both the students and the teacher that the students are learning.

I also liked the comment about how it can be really powerful to show what a student has done without adding an interpretation to it. It's so easy to put your own spin on a situation that having concrete, this-is-what-actually-happened evidence is really valuable.

I'm a little bit scared of his comment that the more teachers use this kind of technology, them more students and parents are going to expect them to be used regularly. It's so cool, yet so daunting! If sounds like a lot of work, but if we could use this tangible grading as evidence we might be able to eliminate other pointless forms and it would become easier and ever more valuable.

There was a little bit about how a student could use a clip of herself doing well as encouragement in the future. I have often heard people encourage a visit to the past via a project or a letter or a card or whatever to encourage in the moment of discouragement. This could be really powerful. (But think of all the space that would be needed to save it all!) It also makes me think of how timeless it could be. A video has so much more weight than an A+. Who cares about that? What does it really mean anyway? It doesn't demonstrate learning; it demonstrates settling. I have even come to the point where the grade doesn't matter--if I'm passing that's good enough for me. I know that there is more to me than any test or paper and there is more to the teacher than that one moment in grading. If I could see how I have grown and learned over the years, now that would be something. And I might care a little bit more--I'd have something to show for my efforts.

PS If I am remembering correctly, I believe a friend told me that NU has Flip cams that we could test out...

Comments on Classmates' Blogs

Comment on Ariel McNamara's Cool Education Blogs post.

Comment on Alison Langstraat's Reflection Entries 1-6 post.

Comment on Yajaira Garza's Technology Reflection 1 and 2 post.

Comments on Ashley Buhler's Reflection #3 and Reflection #2 posts.

Reflection #6: BookSneeze

"Great books are contagious." BookSneeze's tag ling.

BookSneeze gets books into the hands of people who love to read, and who love to blog--and the books are free!! I found this really cool program that gives books away to people who will review and post the review on their blog. You get to choose from the books on their website, and they ship the book to you for free and you get to keep it.

I think that this is a really cool way to get people books that they want to read, at a good price--I always liked free--and get the word out about the book. It also makes people think about how the book might affect other people.

I don't know how it would work, I still working on it, but I think that using this in a classroom would be a really good idea. The majority of the books are geared for adults, so it might work better for HS than elementary.