Week Twelve #12: Klausman: Plagarism and the Internet

On the Klausman, Plagarism and the Internet article:

In this article, Klausman examines three different forms of plagiarism: direct, paraphrased, and patch-worked. Direct is when a portion of a text is quoted without the proper quotation markings. Paraphrased plagiarism occurs when some of the words are changed in a direct quotation but not enough to make it actually paraphrased. Patch-worked is when only one source is cited and multiple ideas are used, but not properly.

I like that Klausman explains these in his classes. I think that it would be good for everyone who's ever going to write a paper to have someone walk them through what plagiarism looks like and what an acceptable paper looks like. You have to know what you're supposed to be doing before you can do it. I think that by showing students what is and isn't acceptable they can have a reference to go off of and that they will be more likely to catch themselves in the act of plagiarizing and be able to correct it rather than be graded down for missing it.

I think it's interesting that Klausman says that even though our technology would lead to more easily plagiarized work, most of the time, plagiarism is an accident. I think it's true--we might think that we are acceptably paraphrasing an idea, but without the instructions of what the proper form is, we cannot do so.

I am confused about patch-work plagiarism and I learned how to define different kinds of plagiarism. Before reading this, I could explain that I might think something was plagiarized, but I might not have been able to tell you why; now I am equipped with different terms that apply to different situations.

Final Project

My final project is now mostly complete! I'm so excited, it's come so far and took so much work, but will definitely be worth it!

For my project I created a webpage and connected it to this blog and a gradebook for future students. I have added some basic info to the page about me and my mock classroom, in addition to some resources and guidelines. It took a lot of time, but I'm pretty happy with it so far! I looked at a lot of websites and blogs and gleaned a lot of information form those.

Reflection #12: Money for Technology at NU

I find it curious that here at our little school it seems that education is ever lacking in funds while, oh, let's just say the sciences are rolling in it.

Not that I'm complaining, I mean I chose education for a reason. And yes, I do think that it's important for the sciences, as in nurses, to have the funds to access the best medical supplies as they might be helping to keep me healthy one day. I just find it interesting that it's so obvious.

I go through phases where I think it's completely just and then where I think it's completely not right. What do you think? Do you think that education should receive equal amounts of resources as the sciences or does science demand more for a reason?

Reflection #11: Lack of Technology

So I've been thinking about technology and the classroom and meshing the two and all the cool ways to incorporate technology into the classroom and connect to the students through technology. But I've run into a problem: not all classrooms have technology, and not all schools have access to technology.

It's a very interesting dynamic. I'm learning about all of these amazing ideas about using technology in the classroom and educating students technologically; and yet, in the classroom I was first assigned, there isn't really an opportunity to use any technology. The teacher was given a projector a few years back--meaning that only she has a projector and other classrooms don't--and that's about it. She has a computer that she can use, but nothing that the students have access to. What do you do then? How to you teach technology and expect you students to do well in the technological era if you don't have access to it on a regular or easy basis? Very interesting indeed.

Reflection #10: Cool Website for Teachers

I found a cool teacher's website: Technology Tips for Classroom Teachers. This teacher, Marilyn Western, has taken our toolbox idea and expanded it beyond belief. She all sorts of amazing sites and resources. Ms Western has posted articles, tutorials, handouts, PowerPoints, links to a few widgets, extra stuff. It's pretty cool, and very easy to navigate.

This PowerPoint has to be my favourite! Oh, wait, this one is pretty good too!

Reflection #9: Technological Weather

I travel between the East and West sides of the state on a regular basis. I have to cross one or two passes depending on my route. Needless to say, in the winter I am constantly checking the pass cameras to see what it looks like before I get there. This got me thinking--there are cameras on so many of our roads and teachers could use these. We could have the student estimate distances or times, we could see what the road looks like from an aerial view, we could see where people live. This connects to the the Google Maps as well. Interesting ideas.

Reflection #8: Audio Books

I have recently gotten into the world of audio books. I think that making more of these available to students would be very valuable. So far, I have found no limit on the audio books that I can find from the library. I know that I can read faster if I hear it and read it concurrently and I can understand it better. For students who are struggling, this could help them to read better or simply to read faster.

Or for students who don't like to read this could put a new spin on it so that they may want to or at least can gain the information without the agony of the task of reading. (Not that this should always be allowed, as some students need to push through and read anyway, but there are instances when it could be beneficial.)