How to Practice Professional Ethics
Teaching Students About the Informational Moral Compass
Copyright and Plagiarism
BrainPop has fantastic videos and activities on topics such as "Copyright," "Plagiarism," "Paraphrasing," and "Citing Sources" to help you reinforce these concepts in lessons throughout the year. Your students can also use websites such as EasyBib and Citation Machine to help cite the sources they find during research. Fifth and Sixth Grade teachers may even consider having students submit research papers to Turnitin.com - a service for "originality checking, online grading, and peer review."
Internet Ethics
After reading and evaluating Weatherford ISD’s Acceptable Use Policy, I quickly realized how thoroughly our Administrators and Technology Directors have planned for our district’s Internet use. This policy was written as a legal document and covers everything imaginable pertaining to the Internet, including: System Access; Individual User Responsibilities; Inappropriate Use; Vandalism; Forgery; Privacy, Monitoring, and Filtering; Use of Personal Computers; Internet Postings; Email; Network Etiquette; Limited Personal Use; and more.
Take a moment to read over our districts AUP so that you will be better equipped to help your students adhere to the guidelines and demonstrate appropriate, honest Internet behavior.
You can also visit the MediaSmarts "Stay on the Path" link below to access resources to promote and encourage ethical online behavior and digital citizenship.
Right to Privacy
As students journey into the research process, be sure they are aware of their rights to free speech and free thought. When they come to the Library for help or guidance, I will always do my best to facilitate - not monitor - their access to information. All students' inquiries and checkouts will always, by law, be kept confidential.
To learn more about students' rights to privacy, check out the "Privacy Toolkit" link below.
ALA Council (2014). Privacy: An interpretation of The Library Bill of Rights. ALA.org. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=interpretations&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=132904.
Challenges of Library Materials
Watch the video below to hear what the often-challenged author of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey, has to say about banned books. You can also check out the ALA website for more information on Banned Books Week, and share my Prezi over one of my favorite banned/challenged books, The Giver, with students.
Let's stand together and defend our students' freedoms while creating an ethical learning environment for all Crockett Roos!
American Library Association (2015). Banned & challenged books. ALA.org. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/bbooks/.