Week Nine, Exercise Twenty-Three

Eric Faden’s parody of Walt Disney’s movies to teach copyright is cleaver and humorous especially since Disney is notoriously persnickety. The fair use declaration in the beginning is startling to the unprepared. Because I can never keep the rules straight, several years ago I bought, Copyright for Schools: A Practical Guide. Carol Simpson, ed. 4th ed. Worthington, OH: Linworth Books, 2005 as an ebook. This way I can get to the rules while working with a colleague at another library, at my library, or at home. It is depressing how often I’ve gone to workshops given by other teachers or agencies that should know better, and they teach something that involves improper use of copyright. How can we then expect our students to keep the laws straight? And people don’t want to hear the fair use rules. Last year my daughter came home from her school with an entire Xerox copy of Elie Wiesel’s Night. After a fruitless discussion with her teacher, it took the school librarian to have the copies withdrawn. There wouldn’t have been a parent in that class that would have objected to paying for a legal copy.
Additionally, California Technology Assistance Project’s website will be helpful in developing a project for my own students.