Chapter Nine School Copyright Issues

Gerard Fabiano 55% (11/20)

I remember hearing stories about kids getting in serious trouble for plagiarizing a paper. I always wondered how this could be. Don’t get me wrong, I always figured you had to copy what you read onto your paper and that was good. Facts that you read about and wanted to copy over was good, but only to a certain extent. "Putting it into your own words" can be the best way to sum it up, because that is how you avoid plagiarizing. The quiz that I just took was somewhat of a logic quiz regarding copyrights, and even though I only scored a 55% I feel that I do understand the difference between using something as a source and stealing it. Because when you do think about it taking someone else’s work and passing it off as your own is stealing. I feel the best way to avoid this from happening either on purpose or just by mistake is having teachers give unique assignments that cannot be copied. Rather than do a report on a certain topic, why not have the assignment be something along the lines of, write as though you were from a certain time and are there as it is going on in a story format. I feel assignments like this would be more fun to write and read, and  will also bring a creative side out in many of the students doing the assignment. Overall I think something like this along with a podcast or PowerPoint slide with voice over would be better suited than a drawn out report someone can read already since its been done a countless number of times.

Chapter Eight: Technology Intergration Matrix

The example I decided to go with for this week's assignment was Collaborative Learning Entry Level. This activity would correspond to everyday use in classrooms all over the world as collaborative learning is essential to today's teaching and learning. Technology can be confusing, but it is a very important part of the classroom. With Collaborative Learning something difficult such as new technology can become easier, making it a great resource.

Collaborative Learning exhibits traits from NETS For Teachers and can take a small piece from all five. Both Students and Teachers can take good advice from Collaborative Learning. In addition students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.


At this point in the semester I would say Adaption and Infusion are my levels of comfort. I am a fan of using creativity and not being afraid to "not follow the crowd". Technology gives a good way to have someone express their own thoughts and take initiative when trying to learn a new topic. This was a good assignment to help compare and analyze a few things we might have already read about. Again a very informative assignment.

Week 7 Podcast

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This week I went over math answers from a quiz with a podcast presentation. This assignment was exciting and fun. Podcasts help students stay interested and are apart of classroom technology.

Week 6: The 21st Century Skills Debate and Schools Kill Creativity

"I'm kind oF A big Deal" is a shirt 21st century skills would not wear because the importance of 21st century skills are in fact a big deal and far from a fad. All of the articles had a great deal of value in each of them and the one I enjoyed the most was The Value of Teaching 21st century skills from The Boston Globe. I strongly agree that the skills are extremely important to be taught and will only become out of date if someday we do not use these specific skills anymore. One of my favorite lines from the article is "That is why the debate over the value of teaching students so-called 21st century skills is baffling" I would prefer to use the word "comical" but baffling will do. If you think about it, because I know I have pretty much all the jobs I had since I graduated from college had nothing to do with what I learned in college. My game design position was from the 15 years I played card games. My position at the start-up company came from my entrepreneurial experience I gathered through out the years of coming up with ideas and trying them. Then finally my position as a financial adviser I just fell into and pretty much no direct skills from college I carried over to it, even though I took many finance classes.

The simple fact is that for people to progress and learn things relevant the topics that are being taught always need to change.

So sure if the question at hand is are 21st century skills important to teach, and the answer in the 21st century is of course "Yes". I think overall teaching is on the right track since this is coming to notice. There are a few things that I might not agree so heavily with, for example state testing, since most of the exams given are not related to 21st century skills.

In the video Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity the point he is trying to get across is that schools are teaching kids not to make mistakes and is taking away the confidence from the kids to try new things. I agree with his point, but on a different level. I truly believe that it is more than just schools doing it, it is society. If there is one thing I never cared about it is what society says. If everyone is going out to the bar on a Saturday to get drunk and I want to go to a friends house to play a game, that is what I am going to do. Because it's not about killing the creativity from kids it's that people are scared to be wrong and if society tells them to the bar then they're going do it. I think the people who are creative and are not to afraid to be wrong, also need to have good morals and understand how to learn and listen. Many do not and they become either social outcasts or criminals, so having the teachers teach a certain way is kind of taking a "hedged bet" but either way a teacher can't fully control the outcome of a student.