Blog Post 3

     As we learned in the video by Common Sense Education, there are two factors to consider when looking online for inspiration. We must look at copyright and fair use. Copyright is form of legal protection artists and other creators can put on their online work as a form of protection from others stealing their ideas. It makes it so you can't copy or use people’s original work without their permission. Copyright ensures that we are ethical with other’s work and if we give the original creator credit. Fair use is the idea that we can use a small snip of others work for our own purpose. It is not meant to hurt the original creator or purely to make money. Usually fair use applies to school and education, comedy, critical reviews, and the news. As a teacher, I would ensure we only use other people’s work for educational purposes and that the school pays if the material is copyrighted. 
    There are some realistic concerns with the integration of technology into the classroom. The two most common concerns are of cyberbullying and the distractions caused by technology. Cyberbullying can be more damaging than physical bullying as it is easily recorded and spread.   This is especially problematic for students in their early teens. As a teacher, I would ensure that the children know that online discussion done at school can be viewed by the teacher and any inkling of harassment will be strictly dealt with. This will not only ensure their online discussions are school related bit also that they are being respectful to one another. The concern regarding technology is a distraction can be easily debated. Technology such as online videos would not be played in my class more than once a week and the students would have to write down possible discussion points as we watched the video. Phones would be allowed in the class with the face down rule. Meaning students may play music but only when allowed and the phones must remain face down on their desk. I think music is actually a great way to help students concentrate and is not a distraction as long as its not disturbing other students. 
    In our recent newsletter design, I learned how to do word art, how to make columns, and how to insert clipart. In the future, I think I would spend less time on the little details of making it pretty in the beginning and start by getting all of my information down first. I think the newsletter would actually be something I used in the future to hand out to parents at the end if the week to inform them of what we were doing the next week. I also think the hyperlinks were a great idea if I also emailed the letter to the parents.