Lesson plans, and Copyright, Like Whoa!

Prompt #3

A paragraph describing a lesson plan you might create that uses technology in some way. Be sure to mention how you will use technology, what technology you would use, and what subject matter and grade level the lesson is for. (See Chapter 2 for ideas)

A paragraph in which you provide a visual critique of a web site using the rules presented in Chapter 6. Be sure to link to the site. If you’re up to an extra challenge, include images (screen shots or other sources) in your blog post.

A paragraph about your experience with copyright and fair use of materials in an educational environment. How would you deal with these concepts as a teacher, developing your own instructional materials and having students who may use other sources to create their own works?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As opposed to younger grades, high school students are able to fully maximize the benefits of technology in the classroom. As an English teacher in the secondary level, my uses for technology are endless. One of my first lesson plans as a teacher will most certainly be proper research and citation methods. A skill that will follow students throughout their academic and professional careers, I feel that the art of research, finding credible sources, and citing those sources is a skill taught rather lackadaisically in most education systems.

My lesson plan will include a lecture on finding credible sources (NOT google, NOT wikipedia). During this lecture, I will use a projector to project my computer screen onto the whiteboard and show various examples of .org, .edu sites, as well as sites with scholarly journals and insightful thoughts. Students will then be allowed to choose their research topic from a pre-approved list of literary topics, such as influential authors, poets, and historical movements. Students will then construct a well-written thesis about their topic using Microsoft Word, keeping their sources bookmarked on Internet Explorer. With their written papers in hand, I will then instruct as to the ways of citing using footnotes. The students will then use their knowledge of citations to cite their sources and turn in a research paper founded on credible knowledge that is properly cited.

Chapter six emphasized graphic and interface design in terms of web pages. I will be using http://www.nea.org/ to highlight the contents of this chapter.

As you can see, http://www.nea.org/ is easily navigated by new users thanks to its well-labeled navigation bars (Issues & Actions, Tools & Ideas, Grants & Events). Under each navigation bar, there are several bullets with newly posted material listed. This left-justified material is useful in allowing users to choose the topic that best relates to their interest and/or purpose in regards to the website.

Visually, this page is relatively pleasing to the eyes. The color scheme is consistent throughout, using a white background (with shaded sections of greys) and dark blue, light blue, red, yellow, and green buttons, logos, and even pictures. All color combinations are easy to read with no after-images. The site also integrates relevant graphics, boxes, menus, and links within the text, breaking up the hard text and allowing content to flow and be easily read.

As far as the text goes, one can see that the text is grammatically correct, using proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. There is no areas of all capital letters or incorrect spacing. Sentences are short and relevant with no superfluous wording. All of these elements make this page easy to read using a simplified structure. Points that are emphasized are done so using a Bold format; hyperlinks are underlined to provide emphasis as well.

All in all, this site is well constructed with easy-to-use navigation using bars, menus, and links with properly formatted text to allow for easy reading and comprehension.

Copyright was also discussed in class. I don't think copyright laws will be an issue in my area of education, as literature is easily accessible for educators. In my high school, all literature was provided in either book form or available in the textbook, or was purchased by the student. Reproduction was only done with poetry or scholarly essays, with the proper credit given.

This is definitely not my favorite post, in case you were wondering.