Standard 6.9

"Candidates model the legal and ethical use of technology resources"

 As a teacher, I need to not only know the difference between the right and wrong ways to use technology, I need to exhibit that in everything I do. That means that I need to be the example others look at when they are debating about whether to cheat on an online test, or whether to illegally download movies or music. Technology has made our lives so much easier that all too often we forget that just because it can do something for us that makes our lives "easier", that doesn't mean we should utilize it that way. In teaching 8th graders, my students will be at that crucial cusp of life where they will start making decisions that will create the adults they will become. I need to  able to show them why it is so vitally important to make the right choice when using technology. Things like Facebook and Twitter can be so very much more damaging to a person simply because they are not done face to face. There is no way to read intent or tone in what is posted online and as a teenager, especially as a teenager, it is so very easy to assume the worst aspect of intent and tone from a single sentence!! If a student falls into that habit while in school, it's something that could very well affect them throughout their entire lives! 

8th Grade History Class Tutorial 

The above tutorial was created for an 8th grade history/social studies class. When I tested the readability level, the Flesch Kincaid score was 7.9. What I really want my students to understand is that while it is in human nature to put down others for a multitude of reasons, nearly everyone will fall victim to someone else treating us the same way. I want to stress to my students that their action or inaction could be the one thing that forever alters someone's path. One of the biggest things I've learned from this assignment is that cyber bullying is so much huger than I ever thought. I know I sometimes got made fun of at school but I was somehow one of the lucky ones who managed to let most of it roll off my back. I knew a lot of other kids who weren't able to do that. But I never knew that 94% of kids have witnessed cyber bullying. That means that nearly every child I know either already has witnessed it or will in the near future. Something else I've learned is that there are copyright laws in place that affects teachers. I would have thought that anything that can be used to teach would be more or less usable but that seems to not be the case. While you could do something along those lines and possibly have it hold up in a court of law, it would essentially come down to lawyers from both sides splitting hairs to make their case. If it's a matter of splitting hairs, don't let the ax get that close to your hair in the first place. This may not seem like something big to have learned, but I've also discovered that something like Pinterest can be used for this purpose. I think I knew that on an abstract level, but when most of what you see on something like Pinerest includes recipes, crafts, etc., you don't think about it so much as a platform for ethics and morals. But it can be. In fact, in some ways it might be better because it's something you're not expecting to see and it makes more of an impact that way. 
I plan to do some more work with helping to  stop cyber bullying. I want to get involved with Change.org and I plan to do research about what is being done at whatever school I end up at and helping to further the cause of building kids, not destroying them.