Plagiarism

I just finished reading this week's Kist assignment, and found that the section of chapter 3 dealing with plagiarism I had the most mixed reaction to.  In the section, she writes about "fair-use " and what it means in a web 2.0 world.  She explains that many teachers are afraid to use social networking tools in the classroom because of fear of plagiarism.  Evidently, to some, if you are concerned about plagiarism, you are out of style.

My initial reaction: "WHAT?!  Are you kidding me?"

Seriously though, I was appalled, and hoping that it really wasn't true that some educators are just accepting that it is going to happen, so we should all just go with it. Evidently, I was raised with the now "old school" idea that what a person creates is unarguably their property.  It seems as if Angela Maiers (whom Kist refers to in this section) is essentially of the opinion that if you put something on the Internet, it becomes a free for all, and anyone can use it however they see fit.  She also thinks that knowledge should be shared and not hoarded.  Basically, if you're putting something on the Internet, you are getting free exposure, so everyone can use it.

Then, I thought about Shakespeare, and the fact that if he wasn't able to alter material and create plays out of stories that already existed, there would be no Romeo and Juliet, because that was the property of Arthur Brooks. There would be no Julius Caesar, because Plutarch is the rightful owner of the story of Julius Caesar.  So maybe the 21st century is coming up with some good ideas, and moving in the right direction with the sharing of information on the Internet.  Maybe I need to change with the times and be more accepting of something I was taught to tolerate under no circumstances whatsoever. 

And then I read it again as I was writing this, and I think that this section is merely about a concern that teachers have about using an actual social media outlet as something that they reproduce a version of in their classrooms.  In this case, I still think that at least there should be an effort made to obtain permission to use other people's ideas before just accepting these fair use rules, and using other people's ideas.  As I understand, though, the rules are still being developed and changed, so I think that the most important thing that we can do as teachers is to always be aware of them.  I liked that they included the website for the fair use ideas, and I hope that when I am a teacher I will remember to check them from time to time.

My 5- year old author

My daughter, Madyson just started kindergarten and is at the beginning of her career as a reader and writer.  She has always loved to have stories read to her.  Now I am witness to something absolutely amazing in watching her learn to read and write. In fact, this is so amazing that I am very seriously  kicking myself for not going into early childhood education.  I think that being the teacher that gives a child the tools and ability to read year after year has to be incredibly rewarding.  Since we are all going to be English teachers, I thought that I would share a little about how she is being taught to read and create stories.
Among the most basic things that they are doing is teaching the children phonetics.  I have been working on this with her basically every chance I had since she learned to recite the alphabet (which was, mind you, pretty early).  Obviously when I started this, it was way before she should ever make the connection that letters all made their own sounds.  So, I think that my exposing her to this concept before she started school helped (at least I hope it did).  Regardless, there must be something magical about kindergarten teachers or kindergarten classrooms that makes kids actually want to learn this stuff, becuase when I was trying to explain sounds to her, and how "sounds go together to make a word" she was way more interested in playing with play-doh, or any number of fun things she could have been doing rather than talk about the sounds that letters make.  Rest assured, I didn't make my lessons boring either, we made words with our fingers in the sand, and made letters out of the afore-mentioned play-doh for some good old tactile learning, but alas, not much interest until entering magical room 304 at her school.
Aside from phonetics, they are learning what she calls "popcorn words"  these are sight words such as a, my, the. . .etc. that the kids should recognize immediately by sight.  I don't really understand why they are called popcorn words.  From what I understand there is no snack involved.  I'll be sure to keep you all posted about this.
There are many other interestng components to her learning process, but as everyone may not find my daughter's learning to read quite as fascinating as I do, I'll skip to the good stuff.
She is learning to create stories as well.  She has been doing this for years, as I'm sure all kids do, but is starting to get the basic heuristics for invention at 5 years old.  She has what she calls a "creation sheet,"  and on this sheet there are six numbered characters and six numbered settings.  In class, the kids roll 2 dice to see what character and what setting they get.  From that, they draw a picture, and then create a story based on their picture, and share the story with the class.  She loves this!  We have the sheet on the kitchen table at home, and she has drawn and created about a dozen stories based on her creation sheet combinations.  She has also informed me that she is going to be a "famous storywriter" and she would like me to make books out of the stories that she has created thus far (which, by the way, I am thrilled about, because previously she wanted to be a "car-fixer" becuase of a children's museum experience over the summer)  I am seriously considering making another blog that is a compilation of all of her stories along with pictures that I scan in to correspond with her tales. 
I think that it is important for us, as these student's future English teachers, to understand their beginnings.  I always hear complaints among people about writing, and how people hate to write papers (not necessarily among English major types).  I think that we should know and remember as teachers that writing was once fun for all students.  I don't know when the big chage happens, where some students decidedly hate writing, and some love it, but it would be an interesting aspect to study.  I think that if we are able to keep reading and writing fun in our classrooms, and meet the needs of each student as much as we are able, maybe we can reignite the love of words and writing that many of these students had in kindergarten.
So, if there are any among us who are going to be reading specialists, or who are going to teach kindergarten, you may find this as interesting as I do.  For the rest of you who may just think I am a mother using this as an excuse to talk about her daughter and are currently bored out of your mind, I apologize, and you're probably right.

observations

After a few weeks of reading about the importance of using digital technologies in the modern classroom, I cannot help but think back on my observational experiences in High School English classes in the area and notice one commonality among all of them; it could have been 1999.  The students were all learning the same content that I was required to learn in high school.  There wasn't a lot of use of technology in the classes I sat in on, unless we count the teacher who let her students listen to the radio while free writing.  That alone would have made me crazy, becuase I'm so easily distracted, but I digress.  My point is that I am wondering how much of what we are learning in our undergraduate classes is actually able to be put into practice in our classrooms.   I love the idea of being able to make learning English fun for everyone, but I also wonder how much technology we will actually be able to fuse into our future classrooms.  As a mother and a future teacher, i am a firm believer in doing anything you can to make learning fun.   But I also think that there should be boundaries.  If teachers are always letting you use your cell phone or laptop, or letting you do your assignments on skeedoodle, or whatever, are you going to be able to adjust later in life when you are working and aren't given assignments that are going to be fun and easy for you?  I think it's something to consider.

Blogging immigrant

Part of this weeks reading assignment, Kajder, chapter 3, made me feel that I was in good company.  I am obviously part of the group that she describes as digital immigrants.  I am definitely part of the group born before 1986 (though not way before) and am trying to make the adjustment to a more technologically advanced way of life.  Not that I am a cave-person or anything, I did grow up with a computer in my home, and actually used it a little in high school.  However, to do any sort of research (or anything else really) on said computer would have taken FOREVER.  We had a dial up connection to AOL, and I hardly used the computer to do schoolwork in the same way I find myself using it now.  I think that the students born after 1986 who are going to be teachers have a definite advantage in that respect becuase they have an awareness of technology and how it can be used in the classroom (becuase they expienced it) that I am still trying to adjust to.  I cannot imagine having a cell phone in school, let alone using it as part of the curriculum.  There is definitely a huge generation gap in just a few short years.  Hopefully I'll have it all figured out by the time I start teaching.