Copy That Copycat?

As we discussed in class, some copyright laws are very subjective and some are very clear. What law that we learned about in class surprised you the most? Why? Do you have any specific examples of teachers who have violated copyright law (don't use names)? Is it your responsibility as a teacher to teach students respect for copyright? Do you think teachers should have to pay attention to copyright? Will you model copyright ethics when you are a teacher? How?

I think the fact that all of the laws are so grey surprised me the most. The fact that I could resell cds for a profit yet couldn’t burn a cd from iTunes was also very shocking. This way if I buy a physical cd I can let my friend buy it off my for a dollar he can upload it and then I can buy it back with the same dollar. That is legal but burning a cd is not. It is the same thing yet the laws are different.

Teachers that I have had and teachers that I have worked with have all violated the copyright laws. At home teachers have photocopied whole workbooks for students because they have been discontinued or we can’t afford to buy a whole set. I believe that it is our job as teachers to show our students how to live a proper lifestyle and that includes following all of the laws.

I think that the rules for teachers should be slightly different. Using materials for educational purposes can make the situation muddled. For example if the teacher blows up a single copy of a book to make the text larger for a student with impaired vision- that should be allowed. Or to have the teacher write problems on the board for students to answer that should be okay as well. But the teachers should not be allowed to photocopy and distribute anything they want.

I plan to do my best to model the correct copyright ethics as a teacher. I won’t lie and say I will be perfect I’m sure that I will slip up because I don’t know the entire law or because it is something that my students truly need. I will show this by not photocopying dittos especially when they have the not intended for copy logo on them (this has happened to me before). I will instead hand write my own ditto sheets by using the copyrighted ons as an example. I will also be sure to cover copyright in my English unit, and social science unit (patents and inventors).

Smartboard, more like rightboard

Interactive whiteboards are becoming more common in the classrooms. How do you feel they enhance teaching and learning? Was the technology difficult for you to learn to use? What are the pros and cons to having one installed in your classroom? Think of some lesson plans you wrote in the past. How would you incorporate the Smartboard when teaching that content?

Whiteboards are becoming a key tool in the classroom I enjoy working with them very much. They definitely help keep the students focused on the lesson. The whiteboards also allow the students to be much more active and participate in the lesson. The students become more involved and take an active role in their learning- this can help build the students understanding and confidence when it comes to a new concept. The whiteboards are very easy to learn because they can work with existing programs such as powerpoint or youtube. The whiteboard itself is basically a dry erase board but the marker never runs out of ink. The whiteboard is usually pretty easy to work, the only problem might be that you need to either download the smart notebook software, or your internet isn’t working.

Having a whiteboard in the class is great because it allows the students to become involved, it allows the students to expand their ideas on the lesson, it allows the students to try new things, and it helps to build real world connections. But at the same time the lessons taught without the smartboard will need to be comparable to the smartboard lessons which could mean extra planning for the teacher. There also runs the risk of having the smartboard broken in the classroom. Some teachers also only use the smartboard as a game/distraction which may be a downfall to some lessons.

The previous lesson/content areas would be fun to include the smartboard in. For art the students could match/identify artists to paintings or do actual drawing on the board. For music the students could compose and then play the music back. They could also help create their own music video. For math the students could learn fractions by dividing and building wholes. For history there are maps and matching activities. For language arts there is dice to help build words, and also there are different pages to have students write on the lines on the smartboard. For science there are ways to incorporate different images, microscopes and movies.