1. How does technology affect you as a teacher? Technology is a huge part of teaching for teachers. A lot of the students are to be called "Digital Natives" now, so for us as teachers we need to make sure we have the information necessary to be educational technology. I think using technology like iPad's, SMARTBoards, and especially computers. All of these should some how be integrated into learning especially for the younger students, I think is important 2. How does technology affect your students? One thing about technology that has always stood out to me is that special education students can benefit so much from technology. I've observed so many Special Education classrooms and being able to see the students be able to talk via iPad, or communicate to friends and family by pointing at pictures on the computer or iPad really seems amazing. I also think that letting students be able to use computes for free time, playing learning engaging games and subject area games. 3. What will you teach your students with respect to plagiarism and the use of the World Wide Web? When teaching my students about plagiarism and the use of the WWW, I will stress to them how serious crediting a source is, and the serious consequences you could face if you fail to do so. I will explain to them that you cannot take text or pictures from another website without crediting the source you got the information from. I feel like they need to experience hands on how to do this and what not to do. So I think having them take a pre-copyright quiz first, then teaching them a lesson based solely on plagiarism, doing activities and then once again test them on the information. 4. What do you think are the 5 most important rules teachers should know about copyright law? One of the most important and often missed is taking pictures from the internet or on websites such as google. With that, you also cant take pictures from books/magazines and put them in your classroom or website without credit. I think this is big with teachers because they use them on websites for students, student projects, etc. Second, a very important thing to remember is showing videos, documentaries or movies in class, in fact is against the law, unless there is a copyright leisure on it letting teachers show the films for educational purposes only. Third, emails, something we would never think about, they are all original copyrighted material. Communication through emails is huge especially with teachers so its best for them to remember that it is copyrighted. Fourth; illegal music. Teachers and students like to use songs in their presentations or songs within clips, but using more than a certain percent usage of the song is illegal. You can only use a certain percentage without copyright permission. Another important rule that teachers should know is that they can use some of this information that they wish, but they must ask for permission from the owner and be given that permission by the owner for the material they wish to use.
Educational Websites.
1. Edublogs, I think communication with peers and teachers is very important in everyday learning and throughout the school years. Having students be able to go onto a blog and talk to one another about homework, projects, study together is very important, especially the older grade levels. For the younger ones, even having them communicate on a blog is getting them familiar with the computers and blogging world, helping them feel comfortable to communicate with one another possibly when needing help. (https://edublogs.org/) Starfall, this website has many different educational learning games and interactive wonderment's. Incorporating learning games for my students is helpful because it lets the students be creative while doing something they enjoy. (http://www.starfall.com/) 2. Edutopia, is a website that teachers can see the vision for new world of learning and the real-world information and community connections to make it a reality. This website has so many different tips, links, videos and blogs for teachers to stay up to date on the changing education. (http://www.edutopia.org/) 3. National Council of Teachers of English, With English being my major, I found a lot of information and help from this website. It offers so many different resources and links for English language arts majors. It has different age levels to search, learning for students and teachers.(http://www.ncte.org/) 4. Funbrain, This site covers so many different subject areas, also has a wide variety of age groups, going from Kindergarten to 8th grade. This site has information and resources for teachers as well. The students can interact by playing virtual learning games. (http://www.funbrain.com/)