Microsoft High School

I just read an article about a school that was run by Microsoft. Instead of books, the school is run entirely from computers. The $63 million project school was started in an area with at risk kids. The hope was that the kids would be equipped with technology skills that would help them get jobs. After three years in operation the school has been deemed a failure. The school, dreamed up by Bill Gates, has gone through four principles and has never had any good leaders. I personally think the school is a bad idea because students need books! Apparently they even decided to forgo a library in favor of more computers. Kids need to hold books and be able to take them home and study them. A school based entirely around technology sounds good, but I think it would have worked better if paired with a more traditional style of education. Computers are good, but they will never take the place of a good old fashioned book!

Copyright laws and English class

As an English teacher, I think I would mostly be concerned with the print aspect of copyright laws. With all of the technology out there today it is becoming all too easy to simply copy and paste someone's work off the internet and use it as your own. Plagiarism has always been a factor in writing papers, so I think an English teacher should stress the consequences that come along with plagiarism.

Although I think print laws are the most important, I think all teachers should find a way to teach students about all copyright laws. It is so simple to download illegal music from the Internet and this is one of the most common copyright violations, so teacher should try to encourage their students not to do this!

Are high school kids worse?

The other day in my Educational Media class, my teacher brought up the subject of high school age kids. She has always been an elementary school teacher except, of course, when she is teaching this college course. She made the comment that after visiting a high school she saw how bad the kids were and that those of us who were in secondary education would need some prayers.

When I told my family I had chosen secondary education as my major, my grandmother had much the same reaction as my teacher concerning high school aged kids. She said that kids are getting worse and worse every year and that by the end of my teaching career, kids behavior will be almost unbearable.

These opinions really scare me! I guess I knew when I chose secondary education that high school kids were hard to handle. After all, I was a high school kid just a few years ago, but I thought I could handle it. I am still confident that I can handle these unruly children, especially with a few years of practice under my belt.

Fair use of copyright

     While learning about copyright in my educational media class we discussed the term "fair use." I thought I had the copyright rules down to a simple "Do not copy anything without permission." Although this concept of fair use may require learning a few more rules, I think it is very beneficial. 

     We learned about the four tests to use when determining fair use and that all four tests must be used when determining if something was indeed "fair use." The first test is to determine the purpose and character of use. For example, if a teacher is using something to show to her class for educational purposes, this is okay. Burning illegal songs onto compact discs and selling them would not be okay. The second test is to determine the nature of the copyrighted work. Is the work being copied factual or creative? The third test is to determine the amount of the copyrighted material being used. It is usually left up to the owner of the copyright to determine how much of the work is substantial. The fourth and most significant factor is the effect upon the potential market value of the copyrighted work. It is important to remember that the court will consider all POTENTIAL use not just the ACTUAL use. When copying something it is also important to consider the damage done if not only you, but every other teacher in the world copies the work.