Every year Google holds a really cool national contest for students in grades K-12. You SHOULD enter online, download, or print the entry formhere.
You can create your doodle using a variety of materials which means it can be 3-dimensional if you would like! If it's not created on a computer, you will need to scan or take a picture of your doodle to enter it. Write a 50-word description of your doodle, and make sure you submit your doodle by December 7, 2015!
If your doodle wins, it will be featured on the doodle homepage for a day! You will also receive a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 Google for Education grant for your school.
(Corinth Holders High School Pirates:
you are all incredibly creative....that's
why we're creating our library art wall!
You can win this!)
You will also get to travel to Google HQ in California to meet the Google Doodlers and nominate a teacher to come on the trip. (No, it doesn't have to be me!) You also receive a Chromebook, an Android tablet, AND a t-shirt featuring your doodle!
There are also 4 National Finalists. If that happens to be you, then you will get to have your doodle in the Doodle 4 Google gallery, a $5000 college scholarship, a trip to Google HQ, an Android tablet, and a t-shirt with your doodle on it!
FINALLY, the remaining state and US territory winners will receive an Android tablet, a t-shirt featuring his/her doodle, and get to be in the Doodle 4 Google gallery.
Of course, all of the above winners also get a life time of.....
BRAGGING RIGHTS!
If you aren't motivated yet, check out our GoAnimate commercial, created by Mrs. Cox and me, featured on the October 30th Pirate TV episode!
(For those who don't know, a group of school librarians/media coordinators attending a conference in North Carolina, and we call ourselves "N.C. Slamma")
I had the privilege of attending this year's conference with one of my best friends and fellow members of Librarian Royalty, Angela West. We made sure to peruse the conference sessions to divide up everything we wanted to attend in order to share knowledge and resources. I gathered too much for one blog post so I'll start with Friday's first session...
(Actually, I'll start with a quick shout-out to King's Crab Shack where we ate an incredible and affordable dinner Thursday night. Yum. Highly recommended yum. Back to the conference.)
My first session was #2JennsBookClub. No, I did not make a typo. The hashtag does belong! This is a Young Adult literature twitter book club! (Fun idea, right?) Started by two women who are both named....Jenn! The premise is that when a book is chosen, a day and time is announced with their book club hashtag. Everyone reads the book before the day of the "meeting". Then, the meeting starts with everyone giving a 140-character summary of the book. Then there are questions posted every 10 minutes. Q1 is answered with A1 at the start of the tweet, etc. All tweets included the hashtag for the book club and in one hour the book club ends. Everyone has to be succinct in their answers and it involves making every character, word, and thought count! Ideas were given on doing this even at the elementary level using grids on paper where students could only put one letter, punctuation mark, or use it as a space and do the same thing. This would allow everyone to participate without having that one or two students dominate the conversation or shy students too nervous to participate since its either online or on paper! The 2 Jenns club is actually for adults who love YA books, but definitely an idea that translates well to the media center setting. A week or so before each meeting the author of the book is contacted on twitter to let them know about the meeting too. Often the author shows up!
My second session was on Coding. Unfortunately, the presenter had set up her activities in the wrong room so we were unable to do the hands-on activities. She does a lot of coding introduction with kindergarten students. Her seventh graders created a "Winds of Change" garden, using QR codes and World War II research. Each Japanese-art inspired wind-chimed had a laminated QR code hanging from it. That led to the research done by a student on an event or a person who died in World War II. (Many were Holocaust victims.) The artwork was a great integration piece, and creating the website as a project gave students more practice at putting their research and technology skills to use. The garden became a talking point within the school and within the community as well.
Ah...copyright...the one thing (besides technology which doesn't always seem to be on our side) giving educators, librarians, and administrators headaches everywhere!
It would seem to be easy: you can't copy. You can't have public performances of movies or music. That's it in a nutshell. Right?
But...
This is education. In education, there is a way to utilize copyrighted items for educational purposes. This is the Fair Use Exemption. Unfortunately, in the technological and digital age, copyright is not as cut and dried as it was years ago.
For instance, we used to simply have textbooks, teacher ancillary materials (which were supposed to be copied: worksheets, quizzes, and the like), and workbooks (which were consumables so could never be copied). Now there are free printables on the Internet, teacher pay websites (where it is not always clear if the worksheet is to be purchased to be copied, or if one copy is to be purchased for every student), online textbooks with student materials (can these be printed, or are they only for digital use?), and so on.
Then, there were movies: only VHS, of course. These were rented by the school or owned and housed in the media center to be shown on a VCR/TV cart. Teachers had 45-50 minute classes and would need to rewind between every class so any videos being shown were short, educational films connecting the curriculum to a visual/audio format. Now, with the advent of the 90 minute block and digital media, the "rewind" chore of the past is not an issue and longer videos can be shown. With Smart Boards and DVD drives on computers, there is often no need for equipment checkout as well. There are also the numerous educational videos on YouTube and Discovery Education for teachers to enhance their curriculum.
Of course, music was played at one time in a tape player which often "ate" more than it played so very few teachers risked personal tapes and everything was "educational". Then CDs could be put in a CD player, allowing specific tracks to be played; teachers began bringing music from home. For years classical music was heard in many math classes after studies showed it might improve mathematical reasoning skills. With the Internet, music became more readily available through Pandora and other streaming sites.
But what meets copyright law? What breaks the law? What could potentially cost a teacher his or her job?
Well, through many different situations, I offer the following advice:
Regarding copies:
If the source says "Workbook" or "Student" anywhere on it, it is most likely a consumable, one-use only book. This means students are not to copy it on their own paper, it cannot be scanned onto a website or into Google classroom, or copied. Look on the bottom and the back of the title page and inside the cover. The back cover also sometimes has information regarding copy permissions.
If the source says "Teacher Resource", "Worksheets", or something similar, it is most likely intended to be copied. This means you should still check the above mentioned places for copy permissions.
If you are purchasing it off a pay-site like Teachers Pay Teachers, PLEASE read the site carefully. We need to support each other within our profession, not take items without paying for their use. If the item is intended to be copied, do not share it with other teachers but feel free to use with your students. If the item is one use only, you will need to purchase one for every student, EVERY YEAR.
When in doubt, ASK! There should be someone at your school who is familiar with copyright and fair use, often the media coordinator/librarian or technology facilitator. Don't copy until you know it's okay to do so. This is not the time to "do first, ask forgiveness later" because breaking copyright law has legal and employment consequences. (Is that copy worth your job?)
Movies:
Copyright law regarding movies and the educational exemption is very clear: showing a "home use only" video (which is clearly marked on all VHS, DVD, and Blu-Rays) in the classroom is considered a "public performance". Buying the video gives you the right to use it personally only. HOWEVER, if it is shown in ONE classroom (not to multiple classes at once or over a video retrieval system) DURING face-to-face instruction by the teacher or instructor (NOT a substitute) in the NORMAL educational setting (i.e.: a classroom, not a charter bus), then you are allowed to show it. (Although check your school board policy. In my school system it is AGAINST school board policy to use a personally owned video in any format, even if you specifically purchased it for use at school.
The video cannot be a reward, to occupy students while you grade/do report cards, or because you are not ready to start the next unit (like on the day before a major holiday).
Many school systems have rules regarding the ratings system and whether or not Disney movies can be shown. In my school system it is school board policy that NO DISNEY MOVIES can be shown.
One solution: utilize video sites like Discovery Education for your video needs if at all possible. If your school system does not use this resource, perhaps you can work with your media and technology department on getting a subscription for your school.
Once again, ask yourself: For what movie are you willing to be fired and possibly lose your teaching license?
Music:
This is a difficult one for most people because we listen to music in so many places: stores, our cars, restaurants. But to play music purchased for personal enjoyment (CD, MP3 file, Itunes, etc.) in the classroom means you are holding a public performance of the music.
Just a little over one year ago, a restaurant in Raleigh was fined $40,000 for having played TWO songs without public performance rights. Do you have that much money if you are fined?
Pandora recently contacted our school system and alerted the county office that playing Pandora for free in the classroom was a public performance and was not allowed. Remember, most school systems can and do track what students and employees do on school machines on the school servers!
One solution: search for music in the "public domain" or in the "creative commons" because these are ALWAYS copyright allowed. Of course, the most up-to-date music won't be playing on your speakers, but there is some interesting music from by-gone eras to which your students can listen.
Can you guess what I'm going to recommend you ask yourself? That's right. Always think: is the music you want to play (or your students are asking to play) more valuable than your job?
Here's a video made with the help of some wonderful library assistants to teach copyright to students:
