Teacher Collaboration

I think that teacher collaboration in an amazing idea. If we expect our students to work with each other, then why shouldn't teachers do the same? I've seen many teachers look like the feel that they need to do the job on their own, and in the process, succeed in frazzling themselves out more than necessary. Having groups of teachers sit down and discuss what they are doing, and trade ideas are not only beneficial to them--because they won't be as stressed out-- but the students also. That way, all the students can be on the same page, and no one will be going too slow or too fast. For example, in English classes, if all the teachers decide to read a book at the same time, then perhaps the students will feel like they have more support from their peers. Or in math classes, it would be easy for students to form study groups if they are all on the same chapter, and a similar teaching style is being shown to them. Working in a school, I am able to see how teachers sometimes form their own little “cliques,” which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just that animosity forms amongst the groups; which I think is counterproductive, as they would much rather shut others out instead of listening to ideas and talking about them. However, it is funny to see the teachers preach to their students all day about working together harmoniously and not practice what they preach. Having teachers work together would be a win-win situation for everyone, and I hope that schools begin implementing this practice in the near future.   

It's a copy...right?

Copyright. To many, this word can strike fear into their hearts. My image of copyrighting, and being caught is a S.W.A.T Team like scenario apprehending a person posting a picture on their blog or something. However, copyright protection laws are very useful. They protect artists from others stealing their work. If I were an artist, I know that I would not be very happy if someone were using my work as their own. As a future teacher, this is something that I have to be extremely careful with, knowing how to use and present the materials properly to students and possibly colleagues is extremely. Since I want to be an English teacher, this is even more important as I have to set the example for my students because they need to learn how cite any works they may use in their writing. As annoying and time consuming as it is, citing a source is very important, as people work very hard on their works, and it is a shame for people to steal them.

CLRN resources

The resources that I found were very helpful. The one that I like the most was BrainPOP. I feel that each of the resources I found were going to be useful and engaging, but to me, BrainPOP, was definitely the most attractive to me. I've seen this program being used in the classroom and students really seem to love it. The Human Journey one, about history was also very interesting, I feel like these were really helpful mostly to teachers to help them explain more about humans and how we have evolved since the beginning. CLRN has some amazing resources that are extremely helpful to teachers and students, and I will definitely use this when I am a teacher!