On a monthly basis we get an updated Technology Newsletter from our head tech coordinator. This month the major focus of his discussion is PODCASTING. He mentions several schools that are currently involved in Podcasting (as he references the Ed Tech Magazine), and he mentions how great that can be when used in school. He tries to portray that this can allow the students to record speeches, conduct interviews, present information, create songs along with the stories they read, etc, etc. He recommends teaching important review lessons as they are being recorded and allow them to be uploaded so that there can be 24/7 learning on demand with our students. He also recommended recording special events in the classroom or school, so that it can be uploaded and student families and friends can watch these podcasts whenever and wherever they may be.
We'll soon see how many teachers are going to jump on the chance to have him help us create such podcasts and load them for viewing. I have a few teachers in mind that would do this in a heart beat or atleast try it, me being one of them. Most of these teachers are younger, and can relate to the technology aspect of teaching.
Let's see where technology will take us next :)
Monday, May 7, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Plagerizing
I went back and looked at the copyright article, and it got me thinking about a recent discussion that took place with my fellow fifth grade teachers as well as with my fifth grade class.
We assigned a group project that goes along with our Annual Nifty 50 Convention in which the students need to create a trifold of information about the state in which they were assigned. One of the main ideas that they had to portray 4 - 6 places in which people should visit within their state. They had to show a picture and a description of this place. After assigning this project, and getting the final outcomes from the 7 state groups that were assigned in my class, it soon became apparent to me, that these students used the internet to find this information. That was great, they did searches, and found numerous websites that would give them the information that they needed. The other thing that became apparent to me (and the other fifth grade teachers), is that they also cut, copied and pasted the information from the internet right onto their project, without even rewriting it into their own words. We discussed this among the teachers during our team meeting and realized that they had no idea that what they were doing was wrong. This then stemmed into a complete lesson on teaching the students on information access, and determining what plagerizism really is. We required each of the states to re-do thier tri-folds so that the state information was re created into their own words.
This lesson has taught me as well. Children don't realize that if the words aren't in a book, then it wasn't plagerizing to them. That amazed me. We often have discussed this with the students and I often find myself reminding them what plagerizing is, and how to avoid the consequences of being caught.
We assigned a group project that goes along with our Annual Nifty 50 Convention in which the students need to create a trifold of information about the state in which they were assigned. One of the main ideas that they had to portray 4 - 6 places in which people should visit within their state. They had to show a picture and a description of this place. After assigning this project, and getting the final outcomes from the 7 state groups that were assigned in my class, it soon became apparent to me, that these students used the internet to find this information. That was great, they did searches, and found numerous websites that would give them the information that they needed. The other thing that became apparent to me (and the other fifth grade teachers), is that they also cut, copied and pasted the information from the internet right onto their project, without even rewriting it into their own words. We discussed this among the teachers during our team meeting and realized that they had no idea that what they were doing was wrong. This then stemmed into a complete lesson on teaching the students on information access, and determining what plagerizism really is. We required each of the states to re-do thier tri-folds so that the state information was re created into their own words.
This lesson has taught me as well. Children don't realize that if the words aren't in a book, then it wasn't plagerizing to them. That amazed me. We often have discussed this with the students and I often find myself reminding them what plagerizing is, and how to avoid the consequences of being caught.
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