Inspiration

The first teaching idea that I found was the cause and effects lesson plan. The idea behind this lesson is that students will analyze the causes and effects of historical events. Cause and effect is a concept that is very prevalent in history, but I feel it is often looked over because most students are just interested in the different battles. I believe that being able to break it down this way will help students organize it and understand it better in a fun way. This is definitely a lesson that I would use in my classroom because I believe that it would be effective, fun, and target multiple intelligences.

The second teaching idea that I found was the analyzing primary sources lesson plan. The idea behind this lesson is that students will be able to break down and analyze primary sources to understand different perspectives. In high school primary sources were something I struggled with a lot, and my teacher never really developed a way to present it to us, or get us to apply it differently that could help us. This is definitely a lesson that I would use in my classroom because primary sources are really hard to decipher sometimes, and I think that breaking down the information like this will benefit students a lot. It will also tap into a lot of different intelligences such as, verbal, logical, and spatial. I feel that both of the plans that I looked at would fall under the modification level on the SAMR model, especially if all of the features of inspiration are put to use in each lesson. What is special about those features is that you can transfer from one to the other with ease, and before you know you don’t just have a graphic organizer, but an entire presentation on that information. You could not do that without this technology.

Wes Fryer Chapter 6

Chapter 6 provided some really helpful examples, and advice for video usage in the classroom. One of the links that I explored was the link that explained the guidelines of downloading Youtube videos. This took me to the appendix of Fryer’s book where he himself explains the guidelines. I learned that it is prohibited to download any videos off of Youtube without prior permission. However, in some situations for teachers downloading Youtube videos to show to their students, it may be covered under the fair usage provisions. This could be helpful in my unit to bring the technology usage to a redefinition level. Students could embed videos into their Prezi, or iBooks that they will create. The next link that I clicked on was Kahn Academy link. I have heard of Kahn Academy, and have used it a few times, but I was unaware that it covered subjects other than math. I started to watch one of the history screencasts, and it was great. It had visuals, it was auditory, and it even had captions. This could be a great tailor for students who need it, and it could also be used by a student when they are absent if the video covers what we covered in class. Another link that I looked at was SchoolTube which is a site like Youtube, but for educational purposes only. I think that websites like these are a great idea, they filter out unwanted videos, and allow students to view other students work. It would also allow them to share their own work with other students’, which I feel is really powerful. In my unit students could be asked to upload their video project to this website so that they can get feedback from students all over the country. This would bring the usage of technology in that lesson to a redefinition level on the SAMR model. The last link that I clicked on was the using Storykit, Storyrobe, and Sonic Pics on your iOS device link. This was a video of Wes Fryer giving a brief overview of how each app works. I think these apps would be useful in the classroom because they are easy to use, and it would give me an excuse to let students use their phones in class for an educational reason. Students could use these apps to make their newscast for my unit instead of using podcast. That way they would get a chance to incorporate pictures like an actual newscast.

Copyright and Fair Use

I chose to read The Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Fair Use, and take the quiz from the Illinois Community College Board. This article explained copyright and fair use in the classroom, and gave a corresponding quiz at the end to test your understanding based on what you had just read.

The first two quiz items I want to talk about are quiz numbers two and three. Two states it is a violation of copyright law for a technology coordinator to distribute a program through the school’s server. This is false that it is legal for the technology coordinator to do this, however quiz item number three says it is not okay to install a newer version of a program on all computers in the school when they only bought five copies. My question would be is what is the difference here? How come it is okay for the coordinator to distribute a program through the server, but not okay for the teacher in question three to distribute it one computer at a time? Similar to these two quiz item is quiz item number 5, the item states that it is fair use for the teacher to make several copies of a software so that all students may have access to it. The correct answer to this would be False, because “the number of students who can use a software program simultaneously is restricted to the number of copies the school owns.” If we look back to number two, the technology coordinator only had one copy, but he was able to distribute it through the school’s server. The first question that comes to mind is, how does the guy with one copy get to distribute it to more people than the guy with what sounds like more than one copy?

The next two questions I found to be a little bit contradictory were quiz items six and seven. Item six states that it is fair use for a teacher to download pictures and info on marine bio and place them in a folder for her students to look at. The answer to this is true, however you cannot repost it back to the internet without the source's permission. Item seven states it is okay for teachers to post student work on a private website, even if they used copyrighted material without permission. The answer to this is true, because the website would be private. However, I feel that nothing is truly private on the internet anymore. What if somebody cracks your password and it becomes public because they share your password online? You are then responsible for sharing copyrighted material without permission on the web. The last item that I would like to talk about is quiz item number eleven. It stated that it is fair use for a teacher to video tape an old TV show so that students may edit themselves in to make a parody of it. I answered false to this question because in my opinion it didn’t sound right that students should be able to take original clips of a show, add themselves into it, and then pass it off as their own creation. I felt this way because you would still technically have parts from the original show in your product. However, it turns out I was wrong and the correct answer was true, and I still don’t completely understand why. Overall, I found that some of the answers were contradictory, which was frustrating. It seemed like it was the slightest differences that were taking a fair use situation to a non fair use situation.

As I’ve come to find out this is a very complex thing, I feel as though one little thing could influence whether it is fair use or not. For me as a teacher it will mean that I will just have to be that much more careful when it comes to using copyrighted materials. If I get caught using sources that are not sited correctly I could end up in big trouble with my school, and I wouldn’t be setting a very good example for my students.

Wes Fryer Chapter 4

In chapter four of Wes Fryer’s Playing With Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing, he introduces four major types of media. He used the acronym Harry Potter Can Fly, and the H stands for homegrown, P stands for public domain, C stands for creative commons, and F stands for fair use.

Essentially what I gained from this chapter are ways of legally using media and other information I find. I learned that when using my own “homegrown media” I can decide how I want to use it, and if I want to allow others to use it. I now understand that anything in the public domain can be used in any way without permission. Fair use was something new to me as well, and I actually found it to be a confusing concept for some reason. Lastly, before reading this chapter I was unaware that wikipedia actually tells you the copyright a photograph on their page is under. I feel that this makes wikipedia very helpful, and an excellent source for photos.

I hope that by the time I actually have my own classroom I will have a much better understanding of these rules. I feel that this was a really quick overview of a rather intricate concept. Having a better understanding of these concepts will allow me to help my student when it comes determining useable sources. Most of all, like I said in my other fair use entry, I feel that it is important for me to be aware of copyright and fair use regulations, so that I can set a good example for my students when it comes to appropriately using sources. If I fail to do so I could end up getting in trouble myself, and my students may think that it is okay to use any source without permission.

Wes Fryer Chapter 1

I found this chapter a little bit hard to follow, because it was hard for me at times to follow his thought process, especially in the beginning. However, I was able to gain some insight from this chapter. I totally agree that some teachers use the excuse of being a “digital immigrant” to not use technology in their classroom. They aren’t comfortable with it, so they avoid it at all costs. I also think that many teachers don’t like technology, and are scared of how fast it is rapidly growing, and they use that as an excuse to not use it. However, what I think these teachers don’t understand, or don’t want to accept is that technology can help students do some amazing things. It is such a powerful learning tool, and it’s okay if you’re not comfortable with it, you will learn along with your students. I agree with Fryer’s argument that visual literacy is important, I believe that giving our students this skill will help them learn better. In my personal experience I have never been one that is able to read too much into photos, and I wish I could. So I think that teaching our students visual literacy through technology will be important. Two other things I really like about this chapter and agreed with were the sections about cell phones as a useful tool, and creativity being a product of technology use. In this day and age almost every high school student has a cell phone, and most often it’s looked at as a distraction in the classroom. However, I believe that we could really make it a useful tool. Taking a student’s cell phone away is just going to make them not want to listen to what you’re trying to teach them. So why not find a way that you can incorporate cellphones in your classroom every once and awhile? I also agreed with Fryer on the fact that we need to play with different types of technology, because with technology and all of its possibilities we could create some great things. Lastly, out of this entire chapter there was only one thing that I did not agree with, and that was the idea of a digital portfolio. I think this would be a great idea if you had all of your students doing all of their work using technology. It’s not such a great idea, however, when it comes to including items that were not done using technology. I have heard of experiences with digital portfolios and it did not work well for the students at all.

MSL Results

Style Scores

Visual	3
Social	15
Physical	7
Aural	17
Verbal	6
Solitary	3
Logical	6

My two highest results were social and aural, which were also my two highest for the multiple intelligences test. I think the social result was accurate, because I consider myself a very social person. I enjoying being around people, especially when doing projects or homework. I find it helpful to bounce my ideas off of other people, and hear other people's ideas. I also found the aural result to be accurate because I have found that I learn better when somebody is speaking information to me, rather than me reading it in a textbook. The lower scores, visual, physical, verbal, solitary, and logical also seem accurate.I do not find that I learn best through any of those styles especially visually, or solitary. 

Results from learning-styles-online.com

My MEL Experiences

• Student/Teacher relationships: In my high school experience I had a couple of teachers who really developed good relationships with me. One teacher in particular had a great sense of humor, made class fun, and had a positive attitude. One thing that I still remember about him is that he pulled me aside one day in class to ask me about a condition that was listed on my file, and if there was anything that he could do to help me in class. My condition is not a severe one, but this was actually the first time that a teacher had asked me about it. I instantly felt comfortable in his classroom, and felt he cared about me and was willing to be flexible.

• Helping students succeed: I have had many experiences with teachers who were very willing to help students succeed, however I have also had a lot experiences with teachers who weren’t as willing to help. Specifically, I had a math teacher my junior year, who was quoted as saying he was proud of his failure rate. I’m sure you could guess how well this class went for me. He taught in one way, and one way only, and was not available to stay after school at all. It was clear that he was not willing to help students, and that he frankly did not care whether students passed or failed.

• Hands-on: My favorite class in high school was my sophomore Honors U.S. History class. Now that I look back at it my teacher had many different activities when it came to delivering info, review, and projects. When delivering info he would give us the printed out version of the powerpoint so that we could write on it and highlight it. He always did a jeopardy game to review at the end of each unit, and he always did a variety of different projects with us. For example, he had us make a World War I propaganda poster that we had to draw all on our own. He did not score this on artist ability, but rather on whether or not you understood the concept of propaganda, and if what you were trying to promote was clear. There was always a variety of hands on activities for us to do, which made learning a lot easier.

• Learning Styles: Another bad experience I had in high school was in my junior year Chemistry class. This teacher did not in anyway take learning styles into account. She was one of those teachers that presented the information to you through presentations, and then would leave you to do whatever worksheet she had assigned that day. This is how it went day after day, we did the same thing and in the same sequence. This was very difficult for students who didn’t learn this way, and it actually created a bad teacher/student relationship because we were afraid to ask her questions about what she had just gone over. However, we created a much stronger student/student relationship because we relied on each other for help/

• Context: Once again I’m going to go revert back to my Honors U.S. History class in high school. My teacher did a great job when it came to using metaphors and creating mental frameworks. He would incorporate people in the class into what he was teaching. For example, if talking about a conflict between two countries he would say if Hannah was x country, and Johnny was y country, how do you think Hannah would respond to Johnny doing x. He would incorporate humor into this so it made it enjoyable, and helped simplify the information in a way. He would also compare issues of today with issues in history, and really emphasize that this is why it is important to learn history, so hopefully we don’t repeat it.