Blog Post #2

In the past, I've mostly used Microsoft Word to write essays and research papers that were assigned to me in my classes. Once in a while, I would also use it to copy and paste a picture from a website in order to print it. On rare occasions, some of my teachers have used Microsoft Word to present their notes for their lessons, rather than using a Powerpoint Presentation. But, the majority mainly used it just to create their tests, quizzes, and worksheets. From the textbook, I realize that there are many more ways that Microsoft Word can be used creatively in the classroom. For instance, it can create brochures, or flyers, or movie posters for fun and interesting projects that students can do. It can also be helpful when teaching a Language Arts class, or some other kind of writing class, as a teacher can project Microsoft Word up on the screen and show the students exactly what steps to take in order to properly format an essay or to successfully outline notes.

In my past educational experience, I really didn't understand the importance of copyright and fair use until high school. Once I had to start writing research papers and essays that required me to quote the author, or use a picture from a website, I finally understood the seriousness of plagiarism. My teachers made sure that we all learned how to properly cite sources in an essay, and how to give credit when using someone else's picture in a Powerpoint Presentation. Since then, I have been very careful in every assignment I do to strictly follow these rules. As a teacher, it's very important that you explain the severity of plagiarism to your students, and that you teach them how to avoid it. As a future teacher, I will probably provide my students with some type of educational video that can help to explain plagiarism and how to properly give credit to those who need it. I will also most likely include a day in my lesson plans devoted to teaching the different ways of quoting, citing, and creating bibliographies when using outside sources to gather information, in order to ensure that all of my students completely understand fair use.

As an active Twitter user before enrolling in this course, I already knew pretty much all of the basic Twitter uses. I knew about retweets, hashtags, communicating with other people, and all of the other fun stuff it can do, but I never realized how helpful in can be in the educational world. After following a variety of Educational Technology pages, I am constantly coming across so many interesting articles that inform you of what is occurring in different schools around the country. I also realized how easy it is to communicate with other students in your class, as well as your professor. It makes contacting teachers for quick questions or help much simpler. As a teacher of the future, I'm thinking that I could use Twitter in a very positive way for my students. Maybe we can create a class hashtag, so that if a student has a homework question, or any other question about the upcoming school day, instead of emailing me individually, they can tweet me the question with the hashtag so that all of the other students in the class can also see and benefit from my response. I can also create a Twitter page that parents can follow, so that I can post class announcements and updates in order to keep them informed on what's going on in their child's classroom.