Cameron's Class » SummerCore

“To be (a thief) or not to be” (adapted from Shakespeare’s Hamlet)

dcameron — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:42:26 +0000

Bottom line is that copying software, downloading music and videos, and taking from others’ sites without following the copyright guidelines is thievery. I think that it’s all about respect (and to answer the question in the little box about whether I think that the K teacher’s sign was about this topic– No, but it applies to everything).

Every child I teach will be aware of one rule of the classroom community–Respect. Once a person respects themselves and others, these other “rules” fall into place.

Didactic thought for the day: It takes respect for a pirate to turn from his/her pirating ways to appreciate the mental processes that a software creator, musician, producer carefully travels through to arrive at their final product.

Blogs, Wikis, and RSS

dcameron — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:36:58 +0000

I agree that blogs and wikis help to expand student knowledge, give students ownership of their work, and make students accountable. Sometimes, teachers get caught up in the “dangers” of letting their students have at it with technology. Most children/students will be responsible with guidelines that have been set, reviewed, and discussed. We, teachers, just need to trust that our students will be responsible.

This chapter is really helpful in reinforcing what I learned today. It reminds me of all the great things I can do with blogs and wikis. I would love to be able to use this for parent communication and maintaining that community between home and school. I hope to learn more about RSS and how it can enhance my students’ learning and parent communication. I still don’t understand how it works . . . I get that it makes keeping up with several blogs much easier.

First Day of SummerCore

dcameron — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:15:14 +0000

I thought that I knew more about computers than I actually do. I’ve already learned some terms that I was supposed to know from Computer Applications 101 my freshman year of undergrad. In spite of all this, I do feel pretty good about my computer skills and I am excited about what I’ll learn throughout the rest of the week.