Copyright and Fair Use

For this assignment we were asked to read The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use. Teachers are the number one target for copyright problems because of the amount of information that is relayed to students. We were given a quiz to see if we know what is permissible and what is not. The quiz was there to enforce how little things we use in our everyday lives could be considered stealing.

1. A student snaps in half a CD-ROM the teacher really needed for her next class. The teacher decides to make a back-up copy of all her crucial disks so it never happens again. This is permissible.

True. Technically, this should be done in the library. The law allows archival copies, and, in some cases, lost, stolen, or damaged originals may be replaced with copies if the originals are unavailable or unreasonably priced.

I agree with this completely because if this is being used for educational use then it is not being sold to other people that are going to try to claim it. The major thing that makes me think that this is fair is in the answer it is clearly stated that the "law allows archival copies, and, in some cases, lost, stolen, or damaged originals may be replaced with copies if the originals are unavailable or unreasonably priced" this makes it so it is not being sold or stolen.

3. A school has a site license for version 3.3 of a multimedia program. A teacher buys five copies of version 4.0, which is more powerful, and installs them on five workstations in the computer lab. But now when students at these workstations create a project and bring it back to their classrooms, the computers (running 3.3) won't read the work! To end the chaos, it's permissible to install 4.0 on all machines.

False. Alas, the teacher bought a product that isn't backwards-compatible and should complain to the manufacturer. It's likely the law would deem it reasonable to install 3.3 in the new machines (after removing 4) until the issue is resolved.

I think that this is completely unfair for the teacher but fair for the manufacturer. Yes the teacher did purchase four copies of the product but she did not purchase the same amount of computers as the class has and it is unfair for her to copy his software. That is completely stealing and she needs to complain about the product not reading.

6. A middle school science class studying ocean ecosystems must gather material for multimedia projects. The teacher downloads pictures and information on marine life from various commercial and noncommercial sites to store in a folder for students to access. This is fair use.

True. The Web may be mined for resources. Download away (of course, don't hack into subscription sites)! But remember: you can't put these projects back up on the Web without permission from the copyright holders.

I am so glad that this is stated : "you can't put these projects back up on the Web without permission from the copyright holders." This makes it clear that you are able to use their pictures or information but you must credit it when you put it back out to the public.

7. An elementary school designs a password-protected Web site for families and faculty only. It's OK for teachers to post student work there, even when it uses copyright material without permission.

True. If the site really is protected, then this is considered OK. The school should monitor its Web hits, though, and make sure the outside world isn't sneaking in.

This was very confusing to me? Why would this even be an issue if it is dealing with students and families and they are given the password I do not see the problem here...I guess that is why is is aloud!

8. A student film buff downloads a new release from a Taiwanese Web site to use for a humanities project. As long as the student gives credit to the sites from which he's downloaded material, this is covered under fair use.

False. Educators may use "legitimately acquired" material without asking permission, but many file-sharing sites are suspect in this area. Use common sense to determine if those peer-to-peer resources are legitimate or pirated. (You can also check copyright ownership at www.loc.gov or www.mpa.org.)

So because he is using film the law change and I agree with that completly. Like it says in the answer, "use common sense to determine if those peer-to-peer resources are legitimate or pirated" so this is also helping you to make sure that not only are you not stealing the matieral that is being used but you are also getting real information and film that everyone knows they are in.

13. A history class videotapes a Holocaust survivor who lives in the community. The students digitally compress the interview, and, with the interviewee's permission, post it on the Web. Another school discovers the interview online and uses it in their History Day project. This is fair use.

True. That's the other side of fair use. Just as you can use other people's intellectual property for educational purposes without permission, so can your own be used.

This is a great example of how you need to claim your own work if you want. Compressing an interview and asking is great and if you want others to be able to use it then you will need to post the rules of use that you want. This will ensure that no one else is taking the credit you deserve.

Rooom aragement

1. Use a room arrangement consistent with your instructional goals and activities.
This room to the left is the way that teacher A has his room set up and it is very consistent with his instructional goals because he chooses not to have group discussions or group work ever. He uses the desks and the tables for students that need to plug in their lap tops.
2. Keep high traffic areas free of congestion.
In teacher A's design traffic does become a problem because if there are more then one student movie around in the room one has to step back and wait for the other. It is very difficult to get from one desk in the corner to the opposite one in a short amount of time due to the distance, and bothering students because of the commotion.

3. Be sure students are easily seen by the teacher.
Although teacher A has his desk setup in the back of the room and when he sits there he can see all desks and lap top screens he is unable to see the other students if he is working one on one with a student. This makes it very easy for students to get off topic.

4. Keep frequently used teaching materials and student supplies readily accessible.
In teacher A's room they use mostly laptops because he does not have enough materials for the entire class. The problem here is if a student does not have his la top because they would have to partner up with another student and the room setup is just not suitable for that. the student has to sit in between seats in the way and not comfortable.

5. Be certain students can easily see instructional presentations and displays.
Teacher A can accommodate to any students and if certain students need to sit somewhere so they are able to learn better they can and there is no issue with his seating arrangement with that. Where the problem would arise would be if there were multiple students that were having trouble seeing the presentations because there is only so much room to have students sitting very close to the front.


1. Use a room arrangement consistent with your instructional goals and activities.
I designed the room to the right and this is consistent with my instructional goals and activities because in my lessons I choose to have class discussions everyday and work with partners and groups. Not only is this setup easy to have whole discussions but it is easy to move desks to make small groups.

2. Keep high traffic areas free of congestion.
There should not be any traffic issues because the classroom is so open and students will not be getting in the way of each other. It is a lot easier for my to move around as well.

3. Be sure students are easily seen by the teacher.
I decided that keeping the teachers desk in the back of the room was still suitable for this classroom. I would still be able to see all students and there is still room for me to walk around the back of the seats during discussions so I can see laptop screens.

4. Keep frequently used teaching materials and student supplies readily accessible.
I would still be having the same problems that teacher A has. (Refer to question 4 above in picture 1)

5. Be certain students can easily see instructional presentations and displays.
There will no seats in front of other seats so that can help students see the presentations better and for students that need to be close to the front of the classroom could be able to sit in the seats that are closer to the open side.

Maine Memory Network

The "Maine Memory Network" was a great resource that we can all use. Being a social studies major this will come in handy many, many times. I went on and looked at Hermon, my home town, to see what our history was like and it was amazing! Things have changed so much and I can not believe how many fires we had in the early 1900's!! I could use this in the classroom all the time, we could have the students compare and contrast the differences and make maps showing how things have changed or put on a skit after researching the history of the town and acting out the differences. I saw these examples from other school examples and so not only is this helpful in information but it is a useful tool to be able to think of fun lesson plans for the students in Maine!

How to help someone use a computer

"How to help someone use a computer" is a very useful article for everyone because it helps people that are looking to help and also people that do not know things about computers. Something that stuck out with me is "if its not obvious to them, its not obvious" what an easy statement but it is so true. It would be so easy to judge a person that does not understand technology as much as we do and make them feel dumb. I can see myself say "well it is obvious".. and that would not help the situation at all it would just make things more tense and stressful. This will be something that i will tell myself often. An important rule "Never do something for someone that they are capable of doing for themselves" We are trying to help them, not do it for them. Whatever they are working on is their project, not ours.

I can use this information for the rest of my life. It is great for our class o be reading this because we will be groups and have to do projects with other students that may not know as much we know and we need to stay calm and be a resource that can help. We can always refer back tho the ideas and advice from this article.

Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Classroom

Arranging internships for students is such a great idea! "However modest our contribution, doing real work in a field that interests us not only develops new skills and habits but also gives us more motivation for academic work"(178) This is awesome, if I was able to get internships for the students they would be able to work outside of the classroom and we could talk and do projects about it while we were in class. They could be in groups or individual but it would be all voluntary and would benefit our classroom and the people that they are helping. I never would have thought of this before EDU 101 because we were mentors in classrooms and although it was megar it was the most helpful thing I did all year. I was able to see what it was like to be in a classroom and so what if it was a learning lab I was not a student and I was doing what I want to do!

Chapter 9: When Things go Wrong

Report cards cause much fear in many students minds and in some cases it is a confidence booster but for others it may ruin their day and the only thing on the mind is what their parents are going to say. On page 164 one student proposes questionnaires students could fill out before they got their report cards and one to fill out afterward. This could show how they felt before and if it was very different then what the scores show the teacher would know to have a meeting regarding the grades they received. After the students got their report cards they would have the chance to fill in a different questionnaire stating if they were happy with the grades they got or how they could improve. Not only does this keep you as the teacher on the same page it gives you a greater understanding how the students are feeling and how you can help them improve.

Chapter 8: Teaching Students Who Are Still Learning English

I learned a lot from this chapter because I have never been in an ESL classroom so seeing what the students thought was great for me. "Looking past language mistakes" (150) this would be very important for teachers because we need to understand that if English is not their first language it would be hard not to make mistakes while taking in boat loads of information in English. We must praise what they have learned and complement often at the hard work they are doing and their new abilities. When I was in high school I took French as a foreign language and it was so difficult for me, I was able to speak but not able to write and this make homework and projects very hard for me. My teacher knew that I was having difficulties and worked with me after school everyday, having the one on one time with her helped me so much and I was able to write much better and felt more confident in front of my classmates. This was all due to her constant praise and helpfulness.

Chapter 7: Teaching Difficult Academic Material

Chapter 7 was a good chapter for me to read because breaking down material that is difficult to students will be a challenge to new teachers. It is going to be hard to overcome the fact that people do not always understand what is going through my head. I will need to practice what I am saying and how I am saying it in order to make it as easy to understand as possible. "Try different ways to approach things" (125) this is exactly what I am talking about, using different techniques and seeing what works the best. I might think that I am explaining it greatly and then the test scores come back and everyone has failed, I will conclude that I failed at teaching the material and go about it a different way so that the students will be able to understand better. While at Mt. Blue I was asked to make a test over Africa, I did as I was told and the test was given. After talking with Beth she told me new and fun things to do before taking the test like looking up youtube videos from Africa.

Chapter 6: Motivation and Boredom

Motivation is a hard thing to do when dealing with a classroom filled with twenty or so hormonal teenagers. The last thing most of them want to do it listen to lecture and take notes for an entire period, and to be honest, neither do I! We need to be able to connect things with the real world, like page 105 talks about. This should be easy for my major because when dealing with history it is easy to show how we got to where we are as humans now by looking at the past. Currant issues are so important for students to know and understand even if it is something comical like a TV show the class should cover stuff that is going on today and then lead it into what the subject is covering and how closely they may or may not relate. Having students choose what they do their project on but using the teachers guide lines might make it more enjoyable for students and more worth while for everyone, this would throw a little twist on each project to make them individual and tie the past with the young future.

Chapter 5: Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group

"Or without intending it, teachers might be sending messages that students' questions are not opportunities foe learning but rather annoying interruptions to the business of the class"(88) Not only is this awful, but it is awfully common. When I was doing the observation part of practicum I was in with mostly freshmen and sophomores and inquired many things. I would try to go out of my way to answer the questions because as a teacher I thought that was our job. The book gives a great example of how a student asked a question about a book they read outside of class and how it tied into what they were covering in class, the teacher abruptly answered back and seemingly did not care, this lead to the student placing his head back down on his desk. WOW! That is so sad, that a teacher would find a question annoying? Why are you a teacher then??? I saw this a lot at Mt. Blue in some of the applied classes because my mentor felt that they did not care or did not have the capacity to care so their questions were pointless. SOO BAD

Chapter 4: Creating a Culture of Success

This is such a great chapter, it points out so many different perspectives of the treatment of students that teachers do and most likely do not mean to. "Don't compare us to other students" (67) I can not agree with this more. Not only do students strive to be known in high school, but it would be a huge put down if a teacher were to compare your work to another students, after he or she put all of their effort into it. When I was in high school I did not see this as a huge problem, but I can foresee this being a huge and hurtful problem if students were always being held to standards of their peers. Going along with message was a little excerpt for teachers to "stick with the kids" and not give up on them, we can not go by face value when it comes to dealing with high school students. They will do whatever it takes to be liked or be the person that they feel will make them cool and if we as teachers give up on them then we are to blame. We need to encourage and reach out to kids so that each and everyone of them feels that they have their teachers backing them up with education.

Chapter 3: Classroom Behavior

Chapter three covers a lot of topics, one that I strongly agree with is "Practice the habits that create a good classroom tone"(39) It is a teachers responsibility to practice what they preach in order to have the students following them, all students and teachers must follow the same classroom rules. Taking care of issues before they disrupt the classroom is another way that teachers can practice good habits in the classroom, if small things such as kids leaving trash in the classroom, can be stopped immediately it will hopefully take care of the issue so that students in the future will know to throw all trash away when they are finished with it. Kids do not want to feel like they are being babysat, and it is so important for teachers to follow up with what they say in order to gain respect from the students.

Web 2.0 Educator

The Web 2.0 Educator I choose is Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis. First I choose her for her awesome name but then as I read through some of her blogs I found her to be so intelligent and funny! I love the lay out of her blog and I can not believe how many adds she has! Go her! She post poems and quotes and funny but knowledgeable things, and seems to be a huge advocate for technology in the classroom and a Mac lover like myself. I think that I will enjoy her blog a lot!

Type I and Type II Technology

While reading the Type II Applications of Technology in Education: New and Better Ways of Teaching and Learning by Cleborne D. Maddux and D. LaMont Johnson I was able to understand their terms greatly. In my own words I would consider Type I to be the misuse of technology in the classroom, mainly because the teacher is unsure or unwilling to learn how to use the technology. Because of this students are at the disadvantage. Examples of this would be not having an available computer in the classroom, not teaching computer skills as a class in elementary school because the sooner you become comfortable with technology the easier it will be in the future and the last example of Type I would be not upgrading the technology in schools. I understand that it is a major expense but it will eventually pay off, students will be able to use faster internet for better research, better programs for their projects and new techniques that could be used in the future work field. It will engage much more of the student population. Type II is a lot more familiar to me and my generation. I consider Type II to be using new programs and new technology on a daily bases, teachers teaching students new thing and students teaching teachers! Type II is having the world wide web at out fingertips, much like it is now. I was never in a school that did not have multiple computers in each room for all students use. We had a MAC lab in elementary - high school and our high school refurbished old air box computers, gutted it out and put new hard drives and MAC programs on all of them. We had a computer for over half the population of the school! That is a ton of computers! We were on the cutting edge of technology, being a school about ten years old. We had a great facility and teachers that kept up with technology. My example classes were Video Production where we made movies ALL the time, and I was anchor for the school news that we filmed and edited daily to show over the TVs in each classroom. I also took a desktop publishing class, that may sound boring but we did projects on almost every program that was offered on the computers. Other teachers and people in the community would have us putting their news out and we were getting graded on it! The last class that is a great example of Type II was Web Design. So many people took this class and were making their own webpages for school news, sports updates and homework that teachers wanted put on the web. This class alone sent 14 kids to NESCOM (New England School of Communications) in Bangor in just my senior year! I think that integrating technology has to be done for every student and we see this in our classes this year with blogging our homework! There should not be a future school that does not offer the highest technology that they can afford!!

My MEL experiences

• Student /Teacher relationships: The best example I have for a great student and teacher relationship is from my 7th & 8th great english teacher, Ms. Henry. She was great in trying to get to know all of her students individually and making her room a comfort zone. I can not remember a time when she was not positive with any student. She understood the drama that is middle school and established a great life line for students to talk to her when they were feeling down or confused. Another great trait of hers was having a sense of humor and making all of our projects FUN! She was always starting new clubs and getting people involved with each other that may not have done so on their own.
• Helping Students Succeed: The figure states that having high expectations will help students succeed and i could not agree more. My high school history teacher Mrs. Luce always pushed us and set the standards high. This was not because she thought that we would all fail but she wanted us to work hard, learn and feel good about ourselves when all is said and done. Another great example is from my Algebra 2 teacher Mr. Langivine was always trying to keep my spirits up with math. I am not a great math student, and have a hard time learning by coping notes so he would meet with me one-on-one. I would get discouraged but he would constantly tell me that having a good attitude can only help my and my learning.
• Hands-On: Doing hands-on activities is a great way for many students to learn as I read in the article, it is more engaging and exciting for students. I had a lot of opportunities for hands on learning when I was in high school. This occurred a lot in my chemistry class with Ms. Merril (LOL). Due to the nature of the subject it is important to have many activities so that we can see with our own eyes how science is working. What she did above and beyond was having us changing lab partners for each activity and having extra credit things to do at home to make students understand even more!
• Learning Styles: This was something that we covered in great detail in Dr. Grace's class today. This is such a strong aspect that needs to be known in all classrooms but the sad part is that it was not practiced much in my high school. Just giving out standardized tests over and over again shows nothing and students gain almost nothing. This happened a lot in my middle school years. I am not a strong test taker but I know from my best friend that this was an awful approach to education. She is extremely smart but when it comes to tests she becomes fearful. Her mind goes blank and she forgets what she had studied the night before!
• Connections: This is very important! I believe that if teachers can connect what they are teaching to something in their lives that has happened it is going to take away the excuse "when will I ever use this in my life" that seems to come from many students (including myself!) Fortunately I just had an example of great connections during Dr. Grace's class. She is able to recall times in her career and schooling that puts a real life situation to everything that we are learning.

Chapter 2: Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness

On page 22 in chapter 2 the part that jumped out at me was "If teachers don't like students, the students can also tell, and it affects their learning". It is going to be difficult for a teacher to like all the students that they have in their classes, but a teacher is in the wrong for letting that show in front of other students or through grades. One example in the book is "My friend said one little thing, and now that's the end of her. The teacher wrote her off, so she has a 65 now and I have a 90 and we have done nothing different"(22).

I have seen this a lot in my high school. There were many teachers that had children going to the same school and if their kids did not like someone or if it was a past boyfriend or girlfriend it would reflect in their grades. I am embarrassed for these teachers and the unprofessional approach they took to teaching. This is going to greatly impact my teaching because I will always try to remember that students are KIDS and do not always make the right choices but they should not be punished on their homework or class participation if it does not involve that. Teachers are teaching high school not attending it!

Chapter 1: Knowing Students Well

The part of this chapter that JUMPED out at me was the "Who are you? A Questionnaire for Students on the First Day of School" starting on page 9. The author is focusing on the confidentiality that needs to happen between students and teachers, unless a student is going to harm themselves or others. Showing the questionnaire as it would look for students is a great tool that we can all use in the future! By having this information the teacher is able to deal with different situations with out involving more people then need be.

The reason that I chose this part of the chapter was for a special reason. I had to fill things like this out all the time and it is really nothing new to see this as an approach for teachers. What is so different about this questionnaire is the question on the first page (9) "Who would you like me to tell when you do something especially well?" This jumped out at me because rather then starting the year off with a negative question such as "disciplinary contact number" the author shows the students the excitement and trust in their upcoming year and assignments! This is such an awesome idea!! If I were a student taking this quiz I would feel very conformable around the new teacher! :)

Learning Style Inventory Results

Learning Style Survey and results from learning-styles-online.com

This graph is SO accurate! I am a very social and also very physical. I prefer working in groups and my weakest subjects involve logical thinking such as math, and all of this is shown greatly on this graph.