Blog Post #2

I have been using Microsoft Word for many years as a student. I started using it during elementary school, but I would just play around with the settings. I first started to seriously use it in middle school. I wasn’t taught how to utilize microsoft word physically in school, but I taught myself as I was growing up by messing around with all the different functions. Microsoft Word helped me in school by providing me with many useful functions. Microsoft Word would highlight or underline my grammatical mistakes and correct them. It also has many different templates that would help me create newsletters, advertisements, essay formats, and more. It made it easy to change fonts and font size and to tell me my word count. I have seen my teachers utilize Microsoft word since elementary school too. They would use it to create classroom newsletters, compose spelling lists, and make graphs and charts. Almost all teachers use Microsoft Word to formulate their handouts and study guides. My teachers have also used it to create their lesson plans. I think Microsoft Word is a very important piece of technology used in education.

Copyright is “the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same.” It is important to be aware of copyright because many students and teachers use other people’s work. Fair use is a set of guidelines that was established as part of the Copyright Act of 1976. As a student I was always taught to not use other people’s work. But when I did use work that was not mine, I would correctly give credit to the owner. I was not taught much about copyright in school, teachers would focus more on plagiarism. Teachers told me that all my work had to be original. If I were a teacher I would try my best to develop my own instructional materials. But if I did use someone else’s materials I would make sure it was legal. I would challenge my students to use their own original work for all assignments but if they were to use other people’s materials I would make sure they would give them proper credit.

In my classroom I would try my best to create a safe and fun environment for my students. I would accomplish this by encouraging my students to have their social media on privacy settings, having no tolerance for cyberbullying, and promoting academic honesty. I would encourage my students to have their social media on privacy settings to make sure they are safe. I would explain that social media is fun but it can also be dangerous. I would tell my students to only let people they know follow and interact with them so no predators try to harm them in any way. I would also explain that people catfish online and make sure they do not meet up with anyone they do not know personally. I would have a zero tolerance rule for cyberbullying in my classroom. I will teach my students how to respect their peers and not comment or say anything rude about another classmate’s social media posts. I will make sure that my students know how to report cyberbullying and make sure that individuals who cyberbully others face serious consequences. If a student did cyberbully, I would let the principal or police know depending on how serious the situation is. In my classroom I would promote academic honesty. Students that cheat, plagiarism, or copy another individual’s work will also face serious consequences. They will receive calls to their parents or detentions. I will remind my students that if they need extra time with work that they can speak to me privately instead if cheating or using academic dishonesty.