Blog Journal #3

 Copyright and Fair Use Laws 

When you copyright a piece of work or an original article, you are asserting legal protection over your property. Fair use is a part of the copyright process that allows copyright-protected pieces to be used on a case-by-case system. In the classroom, it may be tricky to develop lesson plans that contain copyright material, but under fair use laws and exceptions in the copyright process, there can be a way to use the material to teach. As a teacher, I would stick to purchased items by the school since those materials fall under fair use because of the purchase. Although, if I wanted to use materials that are not purchased or have to get around copyright laws, I would use the material in a face-to-face teaching setting, since there is an exception to copyright laws for this purpose. For my own material that I create, I would send out a form to a copyright office to have legal protection for my lesson plans. Depending on the grade that I am teaching, I would either suggest that students can do this (high school aged) or not post their work online or anywhere it can be copied or redistributed. 

Technology Implementation 

An important issue with implementing technology into the classroom is funding. Lack of funding makes it harder for districts and schools to purchase and distribute technology to students. While there isn’t a full solution for this problem since funding is decided based on test scores, I would propose for the school host school fundraisers to raise money for new technology. I would also consider having a field trip to a local library and having students work on the computers for the day. Another issue with technology implementation is academic dishonesty, especially with online test and quizzes. To fix this problem, I’d have students at the beginning of the year submit a signed slip that acknowledges if they are found to be academically dishonest (e.g., cheating on online test, plagiarism) then they get an automatic zero and have to set up a meeting with me and their parent(s). In this meeting, I would discuss the option for the student (how to improve their grade) and how to help the student if they are having trouble in the class (i.e. if they felt that they were going to fail anyway and plagiarized). 

Newsletter Design

This has been one of my favorite projects I’ve ever made! Although, it has also been the most challenging one by only using work to make a newsletter. Normally, I would just use Canva to create a design and go from there. I figured out how to use Word art effectively and move it to the spot that I want without messing up the rest of my designs. I also acquired the skill of planning and designing what features I want. I started off just trying to figure out the first article, but quickly learned that planning my articles and where I want them to stop and start helped me through the process! I think for the future, I would make a smaller banner and add more articles that are more specific. I felt that my articles were very general and basic, and in the future I want them to be longer and have more narrowed information. In my future career as a teacher or editor, I think these skills will help me design posters or infographics without relying on programs like Canva. Also, I now know how to efficiently use Word past basic typing skills, so I feel like that is a universally needed skill set for a professional job!