PLAGIARISM TEST WEBSITE

https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/plagiarism_test.html

Plagiarism is a serious and growing problem on the Web. At any moment, anyone in the world can copy your online content and instantly paste it onto their own site. After making minor changes, they will claim your content as their own.
The Web is built on the hard work of honest people who devote their time and energy to creating original content. The global epidemic of content theft violates people's rights and discourages the creation of new web content.

The site above help students understand plagiarism and how not to do it.  Enjoy!!!!

Video Assignment Groups

AFTER WATCHING THE VIDEO USE A TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION IN GROUPS AND CREATE A REFLECTION BASED ON THE SUBTITLES OF THE VIDEO.  WE WILL SHARE AS A GROUP OUR THOUGHTS. SAMPLE APPLICATIONS: GLOGSTER,PIXEY, COMIC STRIPS, ETC.

Beth, Jamie: The Remix

Catrina, Carrie: The Customer

Laura, Sharon: The Misinformer

Sarah, Alicia: The Photocopy 

Theresa, Amanda: Denny's Sampler

Plagiarism Video

{Free-write#2} SlideBomb

I have found an application that is so awesome to use as a teaching tool.  It is called slide bomb.  I found this application on WEB 2.0.  There is no stopping my creativity using the application.  An instructor can embed videos in the video, use pictures, music, text features, and embed YouTube demonstrations.  I am a PowerPoint lover, and I have been looking for an application that is somewhat close to it.  I need applications that can handle all the visual that I love to use, because I am a visual learner.

Here is a link...Just try it! For Free  http://slidebomb.com

{Free-write#1} Final Project Thoughts

Even though I am a 6th grade English teacher. I am going o challenge myself and create a syllabi.  Creating a syllabus is going to be challenging for me because I had never been required to complete one.  I decided to do this because my dream is to become a college professor, and I extremely excited about preparing for the next season of my career path.  I have been so inspired and pushed technologically from this course, that I plan to have my students create a memoir using the writing process.  They will be required to introduce themselves using video, post discussion board reflections of the chapter readings and class discussions weekly, create several genres of writing based on their own experiences, complete peer reviews that will graded, and so much more.  I have a passion for technology and all that it entails.

Chapter 9: CCC It Wasn't Me, Was It?: Plagiarism On The Web

Citation: Danielle DeVoss, Annette C. Rosati, “‘It wasn’t me, was it?’ Plagiarism and the Web.” Computers and Composition, Volume 19, Issue 2, August 2002, Pages 191-203

Reading and Thinking  

Plagiarism is a tricky thing, and it is an ever-present battle in the English classroom. I enjoyed the article, because the authors gave a practical insight into situations teachers have encountered. As well, I agree with the authors in that multiple reasons exist for plagiarism and we must realize that not all of those reasons are out of pure intent to plagiarize or laziness.

The article also prompted me to wonder how much plagiarism has gone up since the internet has spread.  Copy/pasting and obtaining papers via online services is so easy to access from the web. But, really, a lot of students plagiarize because of lack in confidence. They don’t think that they can say it well enough, so they’ll just take it from someone else.

Writing in with confidence would be a wonderful conversation/example for the classroom discussion. If online sources are to be used, students need to learn what makes them credible enough to use in academic assignments.

CCC: Chapter 8 Champing at the Bits: Computers, Copyright, and the Composition Classroom

Citation:Logie, John. “Champing at the Bits: Computers, Copyright and the Composition Classroom,” Computers and Composition 15 (1998): 201-­14. Rpt. in Computers in the Composition Classroom. Eds. Michelle Sidler, Richard Morris, and Elizabeth Overman Smith. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 135-­50.

Reading and Thinking

Copyright laws for technology have been used since before 1976. I felt that John Logie's article Champing at the Bits: Computers Copyright and the Composition Classroom was a good summary of copyright issues on the Internet that gave me some information I had not previously been aware of before. The section on the historical foundation behind copyright  1790 Act and the origin of fair use in 1841 s Folsom v. Marsh was well-presented offering up a lot of the information useful for a college composition course. 

In much of my research into copyright laws, it struck me that the conflict through copyright and intellectual property often seems like a war. There are issues on both sides: RIAA suing individuals and families for songs they downloaded to the theme of hundreds of thousands of dollars per song; piracy itself which makes it possible for people to see an upcoming movie an entire month in advance; and in between are many of the situations we will continue to encounter in classrooms.  I am sure there are several instructors unaware of these laws, and maybe the universities and school systems need to find better ways to fully educate their staff on this issue for legal protection.

Teaching Philosophy

Learning is an interactive and collaborative process. In my experience, students learn better when they are active and engaged. Thus, my first task as an instructor is to learn about my students, what interests and motivates them, what they hope to learn, and how they learn best. Students are usually motivated by a teacher that takes interest in them and their learning style.  In order to support this, I always have my students complete a getting to know you activity. In classrooms that will be highly discussion oriented, it is often a game designed to open them up to sharing controversial opinions with one another. As a result of my beliefs about engaged learners, each class I teach is unique and tailored to my students’ learning abilities and interests. I am not hesitant to use a number of different teaching styles in order to make my point. I am comfortable with interactive lectures, facilitated discussions, homework, demonstrations, small-group activities, use of computers and hands on activities, guest speakers, pop quizzes, SOL formatted tests, large-group activities, and any other method of conveying information that I think will help.

Students should be critical thinkers. Complementing this is my belief that students should be able to actually apply the material learned in class. As a result, many of my homework assignments and in-class activities deal with questioning theories and their real life experiences. For example, I allow my students to read novels that tailor to their own lifestyles and create book reports that contain SOL formatted questions and reflect the skills that are curriculum based. I often have students write journal entries applying information from class to things that have happened in their own lives. I have staged debates in order to get students thinking about both sides of controversial issues, and I often use assignments and activities that require students to deal with things outside their normal range of experiences, such as inferring on what to do if they were blind for two hours in an unfamiliar place. Students often claim to enjoy these types of activities quite a bit. They both help solidify knowledge presented to them in more traditional ways and provide an experiential component that increases their understanding.

Another way I engage critical thinking and active learning is through relying on classroom discussion to draw out key points. In doing so, I model a number of important skills. I encourage them to test their own reading comprehension by the use of interpreting the text aloud. I also allow them to speak to each other and to me about controversial topics, points of disagreement, important skill based facts that I am teaching. This is especially important when introducing a difficult comprehensive skill, where the skill requires higher order thinking. I currently teach at a school that has a low number of highly comprehensive students, I have had to learn to differentiate instruction extensively through interactive technology, videos, small group hands on activities, and identifying the skills to relate to real life situations. I feel that my student assessments demonstrate that I have done just that.

I believe that a teacher should be transparent. In other words, I want students to understand that I base everything I do in class on a academic belief, and I want them to know what those beliefs are. I want them to understand what I expect of them and what they can expect of me. I want them to know what they will learn in my classroom and how they will be assessed. Not only does this allow them to effectively evaluate how well they are doing, it also allows them to decide how well I am doing. I am always open to student feedback, and am willing to make changes in order to do my job more successfully. For example, I often conference with my students about grades, benchmarks, tests, and content knowledge.  The process helps me to evaluate whether I need to make changes for the upcoming semester. Students respond positively to this, as I make it clear to them that it is a priority of mine that they learn and understand the material. I have learned through years of interacting with students, that there is a fine line between changing to better serve students and simply being a pushover. This is an area of concern that I continually revisit in order to make sure that I am being firm and fair, yet appropriately flexible.

Lastly, I believe that an education should provide skills beyond simple understanding of classroom topics. To that end, I focus on three main “life skills” that I believe students will carry with them into their working lives. These skills are 1) fluency in reading, 2) comprehension, and 3) technology. As a result, I often have students read and comprehend novels while using the novels to explain the skills that they are required to know.  The students love this concept, because in the midst of learning the skills they have an opportunity to express themselves and re-evaluate the characters and their actions. I encourage, and sometimes require, students to present information to the class. I give students assignments requiring them to use technology, such as creating a web page, creating books, pamphlets, diagrams, and Sol formatted. Overall, I believe that these key features of my teaching philosophy contribute to active, engaged student learning.

Institutional Programs: Part Five

 

College Writing Information:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jewel001/CollegeWriting/home.htm

Reading and Thinking

This chapter explains the topic that most teachers placed there head on their chins about.  While preparing a lesson it is crucial for a teacher to know what technological information they are advising their students to use on writing samples, guides for writing, and explaining the concepts of information shared or taught in class.  Pulling out information from just any source could be quite dangerous.  I have found a sight that I have completed a prior evaluation on, and I felt that it was easy to use and very informal.  I didn't have a large amoutn of time to view the site, but from what I have seen it is useful, especially to a college freshman.  This particular site does not include videos.  I had to go on YouTube and get one.

Concerns;
My concern is that the students will not fully comprehend the material on the various sites alone without guidance.  Some students, especially freshmen need a guide to fully understand the material.
I am also concerned about access.  How much of it will be available without payment?

Questions;
*How do I ensure that my students are getting the most important information from the material ?
*What happens when the site is no longer available and I have assigned work using the site?
*What if the site is not supported by the University?
*What do I do as an instructor if there are no videos?



Brain Rule #11

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Technology Reflection

Animoto is a cool application.  It took me a little longer to create a video expressing my thoughts about gender.  I am not a huge fan of the source because of the one minute time restraint.  I found myself cutting pictures that I really wanted to use in order to have this video work effectively.  I really liked using it to express myself during a class introduction.

Chapter 18: CCC Looking for Sources of Coherence in a Fragmented World: Notes toward a New Assessment Design

Citation: Yancey, Kathleen Blake. 2004, March. “Looking for sources of coherence in a fragmented world: Notes toward a new assessment design.” Computers and Composition 21 (1): 89-102.

Reading and Thinking

Beginning with the assumption that “coherence” is the main attribute of both print and digital texts, Yancey explores what that means for digital texts, focusing on the kind of relationships that are created among various elements of a text. As a base for assessment, she presents a discovery to encourage an analysis based position toward digital compositions that focuses on types of arrangements created, their intention, and their effects. Are the effects conducive?

MC: Chapter 8 Responding and Assessing/ Sonya C. Borton

Citation:

Borton, Sonya C. and Brian Huot.  ”Responding and Assessing.” Eds. Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia Selfe.  Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. New Jersey: Hampton Press, 2007. 99-111.

Reading and Thinking

Assessment engages students in a conversation about course material and acknowledges when they have demonstrated effective communication, comprehension of ideas, and critical thinking. Assessment can improve learning and teaching because it provides an opportunity to establish what you value and how students can achieve course objectives. Teachers should be able to create a ladder of concerns, and to focus on these concerns, placing importance on the skills and knowledge the assignment was designed to develop.

When you consider student writing as part of an ongoing process, and offer questions to consider and suggestions for revision, students will learn from their writing and benefit from assessment. Responses that focuses on less significant aspects of writing or the assignment increases the likelihood that a student will misunderstand the learning objectives. A rubric is important when approaching an assessment.  The rubric allows the students to see exactly what the instructor is looking for in the assessment. This chapter gives detailed expalnntions of these practices.

MC: Chapter 9 More about reading, Responding, and Revising: The Three R's of Peer Review and Revision

Citation:
Alexander, Kara Poe.  ”More About Reading, Responding, and Revising: The Three Rs of Peer Review and Revision.” Eds. Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia Selfe.  Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. New Jersey: Hampton Press, 2007. 113-131.

Reading and Thinking

   "Students using technologies come to professional writing courses, and to the collaborative teams within those courses, with varying levels a technological literacy, a term that refers, not just to functional competence with computers, but also to practices and values involved in reading, writing, and communicating in electronic spaces." This quote stands out because of the importance of understanding technology and writing and what it entails. 

     Peer Reviews are important especially in freshman composition. If teachers are commenting on texts to encourage revision, then the comments need to provide students with reasons for revising the structure and meaning of their texts. Conflicting comments break the processes of revising, editing, and proofreading and, as a result, students may mistakenly think of the revision process as a rewording activity. We’ve probably all read papers where students have followed every comment and have fixed their mechanical errors as requested, but where the revisions remain on the surface, but the structure and meaning of the text itself does not improve at all. It sometimes gets worse.



Brain Rule # 9 Sensory Integration

Brain Rule: Stimulate Your Senses

Technology Reflection
I was so excited to be able to use glogster again.  I think I have almost mastered the application.  I enjoy using glogster because it is user friendly, and I am able to express my intereptation of the text in full capacity.  It still takes me a while to figure out my design, but I do not feel frustrated while completing the task.