Don't Plagiarize, Future Students

As a student, I've used Microsoft Word primarily for writing essays and papers. I was taught the very basics, for nothing besides some simple formatting troubleshoot was ever required. My teachers used it to present instructions on the computer and in paper form, to send home newsletters, and to do any basic computer work that PowerPoint was excessive. My teachers primarily used PowerPoint in class, because an interruption would not be needed for a new document, allowing the teacher to move at their own pace. I actually did not know how to do the majority of the skills we have learned in class, and I now know how to use Word better and not be as frustrated with it!

In my experience, my teachers generally did not have a lot of problems with copyright, but they also took as much as they could without having to pay to use a document. In band, for example, sheet music is expensive but very hard to get illegally, so my band director had to pay for the music he wanted to play, which took up a significant amount of the budget. My English teachers did teach the importance of citing work correctly and knowing how to paraphrase, as did my chemistry teacher; I was taught in eighth grade how to cite, paraphrase, and write a small research paper, so it is something I carried with me throughout high school and this first semester. I personally believe that the most important thing to instill in the students is the idea that it is not your work and you have to respect it as such, even if it's easier to plagiarize. This idea was taught to me by my eighth grade teacher teaching us how to hand-write citations, getting us the computer lab so we could look up websites and ask her questions, and actually enforcing us writing them correctly. So teacher supervision, availability, and development of assignments to teach us the skills are what I would focus on. As for instructional materials, I think that giving students a few websites of low difficulty to cite, and then increasing the difficulty and amount of articles to cite as their mastery increases. Eventually, a small research paper on what they want with proper citations would be the cool.

Decreased productivity is a problem that I struggle with (I am currently writing this while singing along to a musical, even though I know better). I think the key is giving students a lot of graded work they need to focus on that they can't rush through. If they have completed the basic work, different levels of work can be created for them. Unfortunately, not all students are like I was when I was younger, which was very focused, not super tech-savvy, and very obedient, so I will have to think on that more. I also like what my Statistics did with the phones- she took attendance solely based on if the phone was in the assigned pocket. Lack of funding is a reality for a lot of schools, so what often has to be done is making do with what's available. The basics a child needs to learn can be taught on any computer made in the last decade, as long as it still operates. The Microsoft Office package has improved in the last five years, but it only made it easier for the user to operate it. Although nice, iPads, interactive whiteboards, and modern projectors are not necessary in the classroom.