Copyright Clarity

  After reading Copyright Clarity, I definitely got some clarity on what copyright and fair use is but still have some blurred lines within both things.  My biggest takeaway from this book is that fair use gives us the right to use copyrighted material when the cost to the copyright holder is less than the social benefit of the use of the copyrighted work.  In order to determine fair use with something, it has to be transformative.  In order for it to be transformative, we must consider four factors: purpose of the use; nature of the work; amount being used; and market impact.  We must also ask ourselves questions like “am I creating new audiences?  Creating new interpretations? Creating new markets?” in order to determine if it’s fair use.  

    If we are mindful of fair use, we can use copyrighted materials to support and supplement our lessons and activities.  With technological advances, it is so easy to copy and paste something from a website, use and share information, and modify and repurpose information so we must be mindful of fair use when it comes to using copyrighted materials and resources.  Knowing this information directly impacts my classroom because I’m aware of copyright law and fair use and I’m able to use that knowledge to supplement my lessons and activities with copyrighted material.  Personally, at times I’m afraid of using certain things so that I don’t infringe on copyrighted material.  I’m now able to use Copyright Clarity to guide me with what I can and cannot use, how to use it, etc., so that there’s no copyright infringement.  By  having a guide to help me with copyrighted material and having clarity on copyright and fair use, I’m able to provide resources to my students that allow them to be future-ready learners. 

Information Diet

  After reading The Information Diet, I was able to reflect on my information consumption.  I reflected on how much information I consumed and where I consumed it from.  After reflecting, I was able to learn how to better consume information which directly impacts my practice. 

These are things I learned to be a better consumer: consume consciously, consume locally, have a variety of places I consume information from, and consume with less advertisements.  Consuming consciously means being aware of the kind of information I’m consuming.  I need to be intentional with the kind of information I’m consuming, in other words, what’s the purpose of consuming that information?  Consuming consciously also means being aware of how much time I spend consuming information.  It’s important to create a flexible schedule that allows for time to consume information as well as breaks.  It’s also important to consume locally.  Before looking to consume information in other places, I should consider consuming information from local places and communities I’m part of.  In addition, it’s important to consume information with low advertisements.  As consumers, we tend to get sucked into advertisements and brand loyalty when it comes to consuming information.  Finally, if I am consuming information, it’s crucial to be consuming information with diverse perspectives.  If I continue to consume information I already agree with, confirmation bias will be at play.  These are just some of my big takeaways from The Information Diet. 

Now how does this impact my practice?  The kind of information I’m consuming directly impacts my practice because it will get passed on to my students.  If my information consumption isn’t diverse, then I’m not providing students with information with various diverse perspectives.  In addition, if I’m not being intentional with the kind of information I’m consuming, then I could just be giving my students information that isn’t relevant, true, or important.  Knowing how to consume information allows me to model data literacy to my own students.  With this model, they’ll be able to be literate themselves when it comes to consuming information. 

Students as Designers

Students are designers is such a vital principle when designing lessons for students.  So far, we’ve learned how to be teachers as designers and how to incorporate tools and technology in our designs.  Now, we’ve got to consider how to design our lessons and activities to allow students to be designers themselves.  We’ve now shifted our lessons and activities to allow them to take ownership of their learning.  This is a great connection to Vygotsky’s ZPD.  After all that we’ve taught our students, we are now able to let them explore and learn on their own and guide them as needed.  

When allowing students to be designers, we must consider all that we’ve learned in this course in connection to Vygotsky’s ZPD and allow students to take ownership of their learning and support as needed.  We must model and coach students to be designers themselves.  We must model a creative spirit in order to develop designers who are flexible and perceptive.  As teachers as designers, we must consider all the approaches, processes, techniques, and technologies to allow students to be designers themselves.  Our designs for students should allow them to use their imagination, interdisciplinary, and creation-oriented.  If we do these things, we are doing our best to allow students to be designers.

This impacts my practice because it allows me to be mindful of what I’m modeling to students everyday.  In order for my students to be creative designers themselves, I must model a creative spirit that allows them to see what creative designers look like.  They’ll develop as flexible and perceptive designers if they’re given a model that does just that.  My teaching will incorporate opportunities for students to be in their ZPD.  As a second grade teacher, it’s challenging at times to allow students to figure things out on their own, especially when they get frustrated or upset.  I must model how to be a critical thinking and designer so students are able to do the same thing themselves.    

Affordance Analysis and Educational Technologies

  I enjoyed getting to learn about and use different educational technologies that can be used in the classroom.  One of my favorite educational technologies that I’ve had the pleasure to have and use in my classroom are the Lego Spike kits.  This is a favorite of mine because it uses a toy students play with and turns it into a tool they can use to show their learning.  Lego Spike kits allow students to build something and code it to show their understanding of a skill or standard.  For example, we have used Lego Spike kits for students to show their understanding of habitats.  Students built an animal and its habitat and coded it to do things such as pretend to eat things in its habitat, how it finds shelter in its habitat, etc.  Students can not only code their Legos to move, they can also code it to say things that they’ve recorded.  This is a great tool for students to describe and explain their thinking.  Lego Spike kits have a specific lesson on habitats but teachers are free to create their own lesson.  Though some lessons are available for students to follow, they are also able to use their critical thinking skills to create their own projects to show understanding of what they’re learning.  This allows students to take ownership of their work.  With Lego Spike kits, students work in groups and this allows them to communicate with their group members and collaborate to complete their project.  Though Lego Spike kits are an amazing resource to have, there are limitations and constraints to them, just as any technology does.  

Some constraints Lego Spike kits have are that their lessons are only geared towards science.  This limits being able to use the technology with other content areas.  Another limitation and constraint is cost.  Lego Spike kits are costly and not all schools have access to these tools, which means not all students will have access to them.  Even if your school may have one, it could be scarce and your students may not have an opportunity to use them.  A common limitation we have in classrooms is time--we don't have enough of it.  We need to consider that using these kits requires time to introduce it then use it.  Teachers may be hesitant to use the kits because they don't want to lose instructional time to introduce it and use it.  Knowing what these limitations and constraints are with an educational technology, allows us to think about the affordances that come with using it.  

In connection to affordance analysis, educators must consider the affordances with any educational technologies.  We must think about the limitations and benefits to any educational technology we use in our classrooms.  Just as we do with designing lessons, we must consider our goals and outcomes, tools we need, activities to implement, and the limitations and benefits when implementing that educational tool.  Knowing about affordance analysis will allow me to be intentional with the educational technologies I use in the classroom.  I need to think about the limitations and benefits the technology has and determine if it is something that will support my students’ learning.