Copyright, copyright, copyright.  As a future media specialist, when I hear those words I cringe!  I must say that I’m very happy to have read the article from mediaeducationlab.com!  There are many myths out there and I have to admit that I fell into the “myth trap” as well.  I’ll speak on a couple of myths and I think you’ll feel a little bit better about it yourself….

Myth 1: “Fair use it too unclear and complicated for me; it’s better left to lawyers and administrators.”

Okay – good, I’m off the hook on that one.  Oh – that was the myth?  Oh right – well here is the truth about that one.  There is a thing called fair use and lucky for us, the Copyright Act was actually written broadly, not narrowly, and is not as strict as you might think.  Okay – so maybe I can handle this one after all.

Myth 2: “School System rules are the last word of fair use by educators.”

That’s right – that’s what I heard.  Yep.  What, that was another myth?  You’re kidding me.  So you’re telling me that the school system may have gone overboard when setting the rules for copyright?  You mean we can actually do more that they give us rights to do?  Well, I’m not one to buck the system, but when the system is too tight, maybe it needs a little bucking!  I have to say that the copyright laws video in my system is very rigid.  They require that all educators read them at the beginning of the school year and they make you so scared about breaking the law that you wouldn’t even think about questioning it.  Maybe we need to have an in-service for the county office, to dispel the myths about copyright laws.  Hmmm – now that sounds a little backwards.  But hey, if it’s best for the children, maybe it’s worth considering.

Well, I’m feeling better already!  I know it is important to follow copyright laws, but it is good to know that the laws are not as stringent as I once thought they were.  Well, gotta go…..I’ve got a multi-media production that I’ve got to get started on….. ;)

Blog 6: Copyright and Multimedia – Sally Marable

To be honest with you, copyright laws scare me.  The more you read about what is allowed and what is not, it is easy to get paranoid about what you are doing and what you are allowing as the library media specialist.  Can a student use a particular song on their PowerPoint presentation?  Can a teacher make a copy of an illustration from a children’s book to use on a bulletin board?  Can I show a particular video over the closed-circuit cable system?  No one wants to break the law or get sued for copyright infringement, so the easy thing to do is to just stay away from all things that are copyrighted.  Right?  

Of course not!   The fair use doctrine is a component of copyright law that allows special permissions for non-profit educational purposes.  As educators and library media specialists, we must be educated about these special permissions and be confident in what constitutes fair use.  To become educated, we must also be aware of some of the common myths that surround the idea of fair use.  

According to the Center for Social Media’s Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education, a big myth surrounding fair use guidelines is that “fair use is too unclear and complicated for me; it’s better left to lawyers and administrators”.  Fair use is flexible and is very situation dependent.  Who knows best if something is being used with an educational purpose in mind, an educator or a lawyer? Administrators work hand-in-hand with educators and depend on them to make sound decisions regarding their educational practices.  Just make sure you have a clear educational purpose for using copyrighted material in your classroom or school. 

Another myth discussed by the Center for Social Media is that “educators can rely on ‘rules of thumb’ for fair use guidance”.  I remember finding guidelines such as these for inclusion in my Policies and Procedures Handbook and thinking “Wow! Who can remember all of this stuff? I better start memorizing now…”.  Now I realize, however, that these guidelines are not a set of rules, just a way for educators to be guided through the decisions they are making regarding the use of copyrighted materials.  Remember, copyright laws are designed to protect the rights of the original creator of the work; make sure you are balancing their rights with yours when you are making decisions regarding fair use.   Is it fair to give 20 students a photocopy of a poem from a book of poetry to teach iambic pentameter?  Sure.  Is it fair to give 20 students a photocopy of the entire book of poetry? No, of course not.

To read more about fair use and see more of the myths surrounding it, please check out the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education.

For an example of Fair Use Guidelines, please check out this one by Hall Davidson.

References

Center for Social Media. (n.d.). Code of best practices in fair use for media 

        literacy education.  Retrieved March 23, 2013, from 

        http://mediaeducationlab.com/‌sites/mediaeducationlab.com/‌files/‌ 

        CodeofBestPracticesinFairUse_0.pdf

Blog #5 - School News "Live"

SCNN (Sope Creek News Network) has been on air for 15 years at Sope Creek Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia. Daily morning announcements are videotaped live at 7:50am and read aloud by a rotation of a group of four students in fifth grade from a news-like anchor desk positioned in the teacher resource room in the back of the SLMC. The school views the live program on closed circuit television in their classrooms on Channel 5. Ms. Robinson, the SLMS oversees the production, but the students have learned to work together to make each live broadcast successful. These broadcasts, although not recorded or archived, serve as a way for the students to be active in the daily news.

Most recently, the sound equipment stopped functioning. However, the decision was made not to invest any more funds into replacing the equipment as a new way of producing the news would soon take over the current system. It will become a digital feed, going through the county system and then being bounced back to the school. I’m not clear on the entire process, but that is what I have been told.

Each 5^th grade class has a four week rotation for the crew. Ms. Robinson sends out the applications and interested students complete with a recommendation from their teacher. She then chooses two reporters and two tech crew students. They are trained by the prior crew and then complete their rotation. At the end of the year she sends out applications to all 4^thgrade homerooms and choose four students who will start the next year. The four students work as either news anchors or camera person.

Here is what you will find on SCNN:

Ø Opening Introductions

Ø Pledge of Allegiance (by a rotation of selected students in K-4)

Ø School Mission Recitation (with hand signals)

Ø Moment of Silence

Ø News Announcements

Ø Lunch Menu

Below you will find the Application Form/Recommendation Form as well as the Welcome Letter to the crew . Plus, I've attached a digital photo of the anchor desk area for your reference. I enjoy watching the morning news (as I have had volunteer hours that coincide with that time). I'm sure with the digital feed in place new technology will bring more modern additions. 21^st Century learning is happening in Cobb County!

Sope Creek News Network Application Form 2012-2013

Name:______________________________________ Teacher:_______________________________

I would like to apply for the following position (please check one box): _____ Reporter

_____ Tech Crew

IMPORTANT INFORMATION Ø Return this application to Ms. Robinson in the Library. Ø The deadline for this application is Wednesday, January 30, 2013. Ø No late applications will be accepted. Ø You must ask your classroom teacher for a recommendation. GOOD LUCK! I feel that I am one of the best people for this job.Here are the reasons I am qualified: TEACHER RECOMMENDATION FORM Name: _____________________________________________Teacher:_______________________________________ _____ This student participates well in groups _____ This student can miss class without difficulty _____ This student works well under pressure _____ This student is good with equipment (TV, computer) _____ I fully recommend this student _____ I recommend this student with reservations (please comment) _____ I do not recommend this student (please comment) ______________________________________________________________ Teacher Signature

Blog 5 - School TV News

Today I am going to introduce you to Tiger TV.  Tiger TV is the creation of Mrs. Misti Sikes, LMS at Hubbard Elementary School in Forsyth, Georgia.  A production of Tiger TV is made once a week.  Early in the year, there was a slight hiccup that halted production for a period of time when the only camcorder charging cord quit.  HES does not use fancy equipment, just is a JVC Everio HD camcorder purchased from Wal-Mart. 

Once the recording is complete, iMovie is used to edit and finalize the production.  The intro (the graphics with the tiger) and the mission statement (with the background) were created by a parapro who was working on a degree in technology.  All of the jingles were created by students using the Apple Garage Band feature.  My favorite is the ROAR jingle which goes along with the school expectations. 

Teachers can pull the news show from the school website, but Mrs. Sikes also e-maila the school community with a direct link to the newscast on Youtube (usually on Sunday night, sometimes early Monday morning).  Mrs. Sikes states that it has been difficult at times for teachers to get the newscast to load in a timely manner without buffering, so some teachers pull up the show before the students arrive ensuring time to load. 

At the beginning of the school year (during media center orientation) Mrs. Sikes advertises the jobs for the Tiger TV news team.  Interested students can sign out an application.  The applications were numbered, so if someone did not turn one in Mrs. Sikes would know who it belonged to.  The applications had a section for the students to fill out (why they wanted the job, the skills they thought they had that would be helpful as a news team member, etc.), then the students had to get their parent to fill out a short section and give permission for their child to be on the news (and subsequently posted to Youtube).  After the first two sections were complete, the students were to bring the application to Mrs. Sikes and tell her which teacher could complete the teacher section for them.  The teacher section asked about grades, responsibility of the child, willingness to follow directions, etc.  The teachers returned the application to Mrs. Sikes, so they could be honest without feat that the student would see what they had marked.  The teacher section is organized like a checklist, so when Mrs. Sikes sifts through the applications she can assign each column a number (4,3,2, or1).  If a child is Outstanding in the area of responsibility, then they would receive a 4.  Mrs. Sikes tallies the teacher score for all of the students and then puts them in order from the highest to the lowest.  The highest scorers had the opportunity to interview by reading a script in front of Mrs. Sikes and another teacher with a video camera.  In the past Mrs. Sikes has had family members rate the students they thought did the best, but this year she just went with her gut feelings.  “I tried my best to get a good mix of children.  Also, if students already had another job within the school (as a banker or safety patrol person), then I took them off my list for news people.  It's always nice to share the love and the responsibilities within the school.”

The students take the positions of news anchors, camera people, directors, editors and music creators.  For the most part, Mrs. Sikes writes a script (with the exception of the mad scientist, who writes his own, and the book talks).  Student editors are still in the learning phase of it all, so Mrs. Sikes always goes back and checks their work.  There are 5 different crews of 4 to 5 students each that meet with Mrs. Sikes during one of their specials times each week (their extra PE period).  Each crew works on their portion of the news once per week.  Students are not rotated on the news team.  However, all team members do whatever job is necessary without complaints.  Each crew usually has a set segment or group of segments to record, but sometimes things get off kilter (with short weeks especially).  For example the Tuesday morning crew (4th grade) usually works on the Foreign Language segment and any miscellaneous segments that need to be added.

One problem encountered this school year has been that the media assistant works in In School Suspension several hours each week.  Her first Monday shift (she has 2 on Mondays) is at the same time that Mrs. Sikes is supposed to be working with her 4th Grade Monday Tiger TV Crew.  They have tried to be creative by having the ISS children come to the media center during this time, which works if there are only 1 or 2 students.  If there is a larger group or a student who has difficulty with focusing, Mrs. Sikes will try to run the circulation desk while her crew practices the script up until the minute they feel they are ready to record.  The news crew students have also learned to circulate materials to students, so they have become very helpful there, too.

Here is what you will find on Tiger TV:

-          Pledge

-          School Mission Statement

-          Moment of Silence

-          News for the week

-          Trait of the month (with examples)

-          “Mad scientist”

-          Geography question of the week

ROAR (behavior expectations) trait of the month with examples

o   Names of students receiving PBIS (Positive Behavior) awards

o   Names of Math Whiz Kids

-          Word of the week

-          Book talks

-          Foreign Language word of the week (Spanish and French)

-          Message from principal and AP

I think Tiger TV is a fabulous example of student produced news.  Please check it out. 

Other examples are available on YouTube if you want to see more. Just look for the Tiger TV videos by Misti Sikes.