Copyright Confusion Corrected

 As citizens of a rich nation we take many things for granted; there are plenty of freedoms Americans have that many other countries do not provide their citizens. Living in this internet savvy world we have blurred the line of property rights. If we have access to it, then it is free to use at our leisure. Unfortunately, this is wrong thinking in many people's lives, including teachers. There are laws for copyrighting, and sadly I have seen most of my teachers break these rules. For example, when I was in high school right before the holiday winter break the school would play a movie broadcasting on all the TV monitors in the building. If classes did not have work and did not want to start a new topic the teacher could turn on the movie, one year I remember Finding Nemo. Nonetheless, this is breaking copyright laws. You are not allowed to show a full presentation of a movie in a public setting unless it is for educational purposes. These movies had no connection to education whatsoever. Additionally, after reviewing the powerpoint on Copyright laws I found it interesting only three minutes or 10% of motion media may be displayed in a classroom, along with only 30 seconds or 10% of a song, 1000 words or 10% of a text, and five images from one author. If you want to show more you must receive permission from the publisher. This seems like a lot of work for teachers, when we already have lesson plans to create, parent and teacher conferences to attend, tests and papers to be graded, and classrooms to manage. I guess if we learn in the beginning to follow copyright guidelines in our teaching methodology it will become habit.      

Google to the Rescue

I watched 21st Century Schools and how Google saved a school. This Bronx school implemented the use of technology in the classroom, in which everyone received a laptop. I thought it was very interesting how the level of proficiency in Math was at 9% before the use of computers in the classroom and then after the use of computers in the classroom the level of Math Proficiency rose to 62%. One student mentions how he likes the computers. The teacher emails the students assignments to work, and then the students use email, search engines and other resources to accomplish the classwork; he feels independent and involved. Nonetheless, students are distracted by the computer; students mess around on My-space and gaming sites to pass the time. But being a realist I understand computers or no-computers in the classroom students will still drift off into La-La Land. We should not blame technology for bad pedagogy. I am definitely in favor of technology in the classroom. I liked what the Principal stated in the video, "technology is like oxygen, no one will make an argument against oxygen." Rightfully so, students will be using technology outside the classroom and its time for teachers to embrace it inside the classroom- in a proper manner.     

Computers in the Classroom

Technology has come a long way. When I was in middle school there was never a whole class devoted to computers, but now, I go into my fieldwork observing classrooms called Computers. Everyday the students meet in the computer lab, doing projects with technology. 7th graders know more about blogs than I do, and probably type faster than me too. I'm excited about Computers in the Classroom, it's a chance for me to learn more about technology and how it can improve learning and pedagogy. Furthermore, technology is a key component of society today, and teachers must stay up with the times so they can show students to properly use technology to better themselves and society as a whole. For the first time I used a smartboard, and i thought it was really neat. Definitely a piece of hardware I want in my future classroom. I want to become more familiar with the aspects of smartboard. Additionally, I like how the professor assigns a technology to teach the class, a great device to help students talk and teach in front of people.