Sexting Report

I found the article and videos shocking. The first video about Hope Witsell, a middle school student who sent a half nude photo to a boy she liked, ending in the girls demise. From the article and the video, the schools could have done a lot more to prevent her suicide, or at least prevent the occurrence the sexting photograph from even happening.
First, the schools should bring up the dangerous repercussions of sending sexual texts and possibly show the students the videos we were assigned to watch.
Other precautions could be taken such as taking zero tolerance measures with the students that were doing the bullying and harassment. Hope walked down the halls every day of school receiving verbal threats, calling her, "whore" and "slut".
Hope consequently began hurting herself as a member of the school faculty noticed cuts on her legs. She was asked to sign a document stating that she will no longer hurt herself, but the parents were not informed. The next day, hope committed suicide by brutally hanging herself by her bed post.
This tragedy could have also been absolved if the parents had more involvement in the school. Niel Howe talks about Generation X parents who are incorporating themselves into the school system, so much so that they are very involved in the child's life and school obligations. A generation X parent, would not have sat back while this tragedy took place. They would have taken the situation into their own hands, as generation X parents are natural skeptical towards school and other bodies of authority (Howe).
This is why it was not only the school's obligation to inform the students, but it was also their obligation to inform the parents of the seriousness of the situation with sexting.

Fair Use and Education

After taking the test, I realized I knew less then I thought when it came to copyright and fair usage. The articles we read describes that the reason some people tend to misuse works is due to "ignorance and misperception" (Johnson 2). This is where the misunderstnading of fair use come into action. As Johnson states, "Educators too often interpret fair use as 'any use so long as it is done in school' or 'if it benefits the kids, it must be okay' or 'we aren’t making any money on it' (2). All of which I thought where legitimate enough, but it turns out that there are four factors to be considered when crossing a situation that you are unsure of the fair law. One, the nature of the use, (is it commercial or educational), two, the nature of the work itself. For example, while we were taking the quiz, it asked us a question about our old friend, Bill Nye the Science guy. Because of the educational purpose of the show, specific rights are granted to educational uses. The third factor is the amount that is being used which carries on to the forth factor regarding the effect the use or misuse of the work has on the general market.
With all of this to remember, as a teacher, it may become tricky to use certain works rightfully. Nonetheless, it is still important to refer back to the Cornell Copyright Center, if you are unsure of the copyright law in a certain situation. This is because the Cornell Copyright Center "provides a useful chart that outlines the current copyright terms for various types of work" (Langran 3).

NETS for Teachers

Goal Directed Transformation Level

This example from the Technology Integration Matrix touches on specific standards from the NETS for Teachers. The above Matrix talks about blogging, something we all have become very familiar with, breaking blogging into specific instructions that a teacher, who is interested in incorporating more technology in his or her classroom, can find fairly easily.

The specific standard I would connect with this particular Matrix would be under 1 Facilitate and Inspire Students Learning and Creativity, which is letter D (Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face to face and virtual environments).

The reason this standard applies to blogging is that blogging uses the concept of collaborative knowledge when students are assigned to read each others blogs and comment. This way, they are getting other perspectives on books or other worldly topics while creating their own base of knowledge. In other words, the students get a chance to act as colleagues in a virtual environment.

I feel that after many weeks of this class my level of technology integration would be classified as infusion. I feel much more comfortable tackling the tech labs and less intimidated by the hands on technology we have learned. These skills will enable me be soon progress to the transformation level where "the teacher creates a rich learning environment in which students regularly engage in activities that would have been impossible to achieve without technology." I feel that by the end of the semester I will be comfortably in this level of technology integration.

Podcast

This Tech Lab went a lot faster then the previous ones. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this (knock on wood).
I would use podcast for many different assignments. I think it's easy enough for students to use so that they can recite a poem of their choosing, or I can simple have my poems for class recorded. This way those who need the poem reread to them can easily do so. Also, I can use podcast if I'm absent and I want the class to listen to my verbal instruction. There are many uses to this easy to use technology.
The only part I did have trouble with is embedding the mp3 onto this blog. For now I'm just going to put the link in until I figure out how to embed the mp3.

http://michellehajjar.mypodcast.com/