TEACHER RESOURCES

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT COPYRIGHT?

Copyright is an important topic in today's classroom. In fact, a majority of states have made copyright education a required part of the K-12 curriculum. Here's a chance to check your own understanding of copyright as a first step toward building respect for copyright among your students.

Check your knowledge against these True/False questions, then Visit Copyright in the Classroomfor FREE copyright education resources, including a professional development video, the Educator's Guide to Copyright, and a library of copyright lesson plans for all grade levels.

  1. My students own the copyright to the original works they create in my classroom.

  2. My students must register their work with the US Copyright Office if they want copyright protection for something they have created in the classroom.

  3. Music can be downloaded in the classroom from any website since it's only being used in school.

  4. "Fair Use" means that teachers have the right to copy anything they like, as long as it is for classroom use.

  5. If an article on a website doesn't carry a copyright notice, it is in the public domain.

  6. My students must contact the US Copyright Office in order to obtain permission to use copyrighted work in their school reports.

  7. As a teacher, I can photocopy a set of pages from a student workbook for the class.

  8. It is permissible to publish a link to a list of resources from another website on my class website.

  9. One of my students is a talented artist who redrew several student photographs taken for the class yearbook to use in her class project. Since it's an intramural situation, it's OK for her to do this without getting permission.

  10. It is permissible for a student to share computer software with a classmate, as long as it will be used only for school projects.

Answers: 1-T, 2-F, 3-F, 4-F, 5-F, 6-F, 7-F, 8-T, 9-F, 10-F.

Remember to have your students cite their sources at grade appropriate levels. K-1 may just write what type of resource they got their information from like a website, a book, etc. Grades 2 & 3 write the title and author of the book or magazine or the name of the web address. Grades 4-5 should do a fuller form of the MLA or APA (for science) citations, and grades 6-12 should use the full MLA or APA citation format. Photos need to be cited as well…at least the web address they got the image from should be placed under the picture on all PowerPoint presentations. For the complete MLA, APA and other citation formats, see the Purdue OWL Writing Lab.

Not citing = academic theft, and we want to teach our students responsibility with the written word and images as well!

CHANNEL ONE AND CHANNEL ONE CONNECTION

The Media Center is home to Channel One at Northwestern. This news broadcast is shown daily in every study hall. Another component of Channel One is Channel One Connection. Every night programs are broadcasted in the area of social studies, language & the arts, math, science & technology, health & fitness and events & encores. Check out the program schedule on their web site at ChannelOne.com. If you see something you would like, send me an email and I will record the program(s) for you and deliver them direct to your classroom. Couldn't be easier!

ELECTRONIC BOOKS

NHS has over 2000 electronic books available to you right from our electronic catalog! Topics include anything from 100 Spanish words everyone should know to creating a will to medical books and more. Just about any subject you could need for academic or personal use is available. Instructions for finding and using this great resource is available below.

eBook Instructions

EDUCATOR DISCOUNT CARDS

Free Educator Discounts are available from many retail stores. I've started a list here, but if you know of more, let me know and I'll add it. I've attached the sign up forms if I had it.

  • Books-A-Million

  • Barnes and Noble Booksellers

  • Joann Fabrics

Barnes and Noble Discount Card Application