Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Blog Post #6 - What did you learn?

As I reflect back upon my experience taking this class, there are many things that come to mind that I know now that I did not know before. For example, I have always known what copyright meant but I have never understood the depth and complexity of copyright laws. Learning about copyright is truly important for life in general but especially for a teacher in a classroom setting. Copyright laws can cause a lot of grief and pain to those who violate them both consciously and unconsciously. After gaining a greater understanding of the copyright laws, I learned that I have violated them many times in my life. However, I now know how to avoid breaking copyright laws and this knowledge will help me in my future career.

Another important item of knowledge that I will take away from this course is how to utilize a blog in the classroom setting. Blogs can be used to keep both parents and students updated in regards to the assignments, lessons, and activities going on in the class. Often times children forget to give their parents important handouts and documents that need to be signed or read by their parents. A blog can fix these problems by allowing the teacher to post any of these important documents online for all pupils and parents to see and access.

1. Creating a blog was helpful because this skill can truly help teachers stay in touch with parents and children and it also provides a medium for students to experience different kinds of homework other than the basic textbook assignments. One thing that wasn't as helpful was perhaps the mini projects.

2. I would definitely use a blog in my classroom in the future and I would also probably use the movie making skills we learned to not only make movies myself but to give fun movie making assignments to students who can apply what they learn in a new setting. I probably wouldn't use twitter, one of the mini projects, with my students because I think it is more of a hassle than anything.