Copyright

Well my thoughts are as follows: Teachers have so much content to cover in many grades. At times, the curriculum offered by the district doesn’t provide opportunities for students to make connection with what they’re learning. I have found myself creating literacy posters that may have involved photocopying parts of storybooks the students have read from their anthologies or those read during a teacher read aloud. Interestingly, there has never been a mention of copyright law knowledge or fair use during any part of my credential training or professional development.

In the article I read titled “A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright” http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm#Introduction there is mention of the teacher’s responsibility of being aware of such laws and that teachers have the burden of demonstrating honesty in the use of copyrighted media. I’ve observed many times specific software left behind by a teacher that previously occupied the classroom in which a new teacher is now its tenant. The new teacher ends up using the software in his classroom for instructional purposes making the assumption that the site has a license for its use on all computers located in the school. I’ve probably made that mistake myself.

I think it’d be easier if somehow there were a mechanism or device that would prevent certain media from being downloaded on a computer without checking the appropriate use. It’s really hard to keep up with all the legalities of things, especially when all one is trying to do is provide the best learning experience for students. Additionally, copyright law is constantly changing.

In the article, “Fair Use Guidelines for Education Multimedia”, http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/ccmcguid.htm#1, there is a section that caught my attention in which it is warned that care should be taken when downloading images from the Internet. I download images all the time and print them to make vocabulary cards. Vocabulary cards are a great for visual learners and English learners. I’m not selling the cards and I’ve never leant them to anyone else, but now I worry about such practices in school.