Greetings!
I have a fairly short post for this week. I just got an idea for book reviews. So many times students do their assignments halfheartedly since no one really cares or sees them again. BUT . . . . what if you had them write out their book review and then post them on Amazon.com? They would be visible for others to see. Their opinions would help others when deciding to read that book or not. They would need to write it out first so it could be edited for punctuation and grammar, then typed into the Amazon website.
With one assignment students are composing, editing, using keyboarding skills, and internet skills.
If you or the parents of your students feel uncomfortable with the internet part of the assignment, one parent could enter the information for the students. Names can be pseudonyms to protect children’s identities.
What do you think? Can you think of any problems that I have missed? I like this because it can go for any age.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Monday, February 24, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Weeding Your Library
Greetings!
I must confess that I hate weeding in the library and really am not very motivated to do this. However, my library REALLY needs to be weeded, so I figured that if I send out the information in an email, I might be more motivated to begin doing this.
I think my main problem is that I see the whole library as one big section to weed. Maybe I need to look at one Dewey section to weed instead. Maybe I need to just set a time limit such as 30 minutes after which I can stop if I want to. I’ll have to come up with some way to accomplish this.
Oh, well. . .
Here are some basic weeding criteria for you to use in your library.
1. Weed out books that are torn, taped, yellowed, missing pages, damaged in some way, or dilapidated. If there are books that are used and loved in this condition, check to see if they can be repaired or replaced. It is actually fairly easy to replace most titles through a used book store or an online book store or Amazon.com.
2. Look at the old books. Determine if it is shelf worthy. Weed out those that aren’t useful to your library. Think about your audience, too. Consider weeding out books that are written for adults. Ask yourself if this book is one that YOU would be interested in reading. Is it something that is appropriate for your curriculum? Can you get a newer better copy that would actually be used?
3. Look at your E. G. White books. Do you need multiples of each copy? Have they been donated to you? I usually recommend that a small school keep one good set of the Testimonies and Conflict of the Ages set and one copy of each other individual book that you feel is useful to the school. Give the rest to your church library.
4. Take a look at your paperback books. How beat up are they? Are they shabby, warped, mutilated, or marked up? Replace any that are being used in your school.
5. Weed out books with very small print or poor quality pictures.
6. Weed out books that are outdated or have obsolete information. Think about technology, science, health, medicine, computers, and space. These things change quickly. Check the copyright date. If the book is more than 5 - 10 years old, you might want to double check the inside information.
7. Weed books with inaccurate or false information.
8. Weed duplicate copies. Do you need duplicates of the title? If you don’t, then keep the best one.
9. Encyclopedias can be weeded, too. How old is yours? If it is five years old or older, it is outdated. You might decide to go with an online encyclopedia if you aren’t already doing so.
Remember that you are making your library useful. If a book fits into one of the above criteria, but is something that is used by students or teachers, then don’t hesitate to keep the book.
Start a shelf of ‘Endangered Books’ and let students help you decide about books that you aren’t sure about. Most students will love being a part of the decision and will also take another look at the library. It brings a sense of ownership to them.
Let me know how you are doing on this.
I guess I need to get started now.
Audrey
I must confess that I hate weeding in the library and really am not very motivated to do this. However, my library REALLY needs to be weeded, so I figured that if I send out the information in an email, I might be more motivated to begin doing this.
I think my main problem is that I see the whole library as one big section to weed. Maybe I need to look at one Dewey section to weed instead. Maybe I need to just set a time limit such as 30 minutes after which I can stop if I want to. I’ll have to come up with some way to accomplish this.
Oh, well. . .
Here are some basic weeding criteria for you to use in your library.
1. Weed out books that are torn, taped, yellowed, missing pages, damaged in some way, or dilapidated. If there are books that are used and loved in this condition, check to see if they can be repaired or replaced. It is actually fairly easy to replace most titles through a used book store or an online book store or Amazon.com.
2. Look at the old books. Determine if it is shelf worthy. Weed out those that aren’t useful to your library. Think about your audience, too. Consider weeding out books that are written for adults. Ask yourself if this book is one that YOU would be interested in reading. Is it something that is appropriate for your curriculum? Can you get a newer better copy that would actually be used?
3. Look at your E. G. White books. Do you need multiples of each copy? Have they been donated to you? I usually recommend that a small school keep one good set of the Testimonies and Conflict of the Ages set and one copy of each other individual book that you feel is useful to the school. Give the rest to your church library.
4. Take a look at your paperback books. How beat up are they? Are they shabby, warped, mutilated, or marked up? Replace any that are being used in your school.
5. Weed out books with very small print or poor quality pictures.
6. Weed out books that are outdated or have obsolete information. Think about technology, science, health, medicine, computers, and space. These things change quickly. Check the copyright date. If the book is more than 5 - 10 years old, you might want to double check the inside information.
7. Weed books with inaccurate or false information.
8. Weed duplicate copies. Do you need duplicates of the title? If you don’t, then keep the best one.
9. Encyclopedias can be weeded, too. How old is yours? If it is five years old or older, it is outdated. You might decide to go with an online encyclopedia if you aren’t already doing so.
Remember that you are making your library useful. If a book fits into one of the above criteria, but is something that is used by students or teachers, then don’t hesitate to keep the book.
Start a shelf of ‘Endangered Books’ and let students help you decide about books that you aren’t sure about. Most students will love being a part of the decision and will also take another look at the library. It brings a sense of ownership to them.
Let me know how you are doing on this.
I guess I need to get started now.
Audrey
Monday, February 10, 2014
Book Awards
Greetings!
I know it is hard to find good books for kids. We want the books to be interesting, age appropriate, and have nothing in them that is worldly, has bad language, or fantastical creatures. Kids want books to be interesting.
Two medals awarded by the American Library Association are the Newbery and Caldecott medals. The books are chosen by committees and the winners are kept secret until a big announcement at the Midwinter ALA meeting. At the summer ALA meeting, the winners each give a speech at a big banquet. I was privileged to attend one of these banquets a few years ago and just by chance happened to sit at the same table with some of the Newbery committee members. I was thrilled beyond belief and even my husband was impressed. He has since had a little more appreciation for my interest in and knowledge of children’s literature. (happy face)
The Newbery Medal was established in 1922 and is awarded to the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year. Members of a committee read each nominee and actively discuss and ‘argue’ over the books until they finally agree as to the winner. They also specify other books that are worthy of attention and are Honor books.
Newbery books usually are not the kind of books that are mainstream such as Harry Potter or the vampire books. They are quality literature and are creative and well written. However, they still need to be read with an eye tuned for topics and language that may not be appropriate for our SDA schools. If you check the list, you will find many Newbery winners that are wonderful stories that you may have in your library already.
The Caldecott Medal was established in 1938 and is presented to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published the previous year. This past year – 2012 – 2013 – the Caldecott has been celebrating its 75th year. The process of choosing the book is very similar to the Newbery process and honor books are chosen. Caldecott books are usually appropriate for our SDA schools, but still need to be evaluated on a case to case basis.
For more information about these two awards and other awards given by ALA, go to http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia.
If you do a unit or study of award winners, don’t forget to include your local state award books, too. You might even have your own mock ‘Award’. Have students nominate their favorites. Put them on display long enough for other students to read them all, then have students meet to discuss which book they think is best. It will be an interesting debate. When one is chosen, stick your local school ‘award sticker’ on the book and put it in a prominent place. This will attract attention to the books and you might even attract some reluctant readers to the book.
I think I will do this at Rogers and let you know how it works out. If you also try it, please let me know how it works out.
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation.
Audrey
I know it is hard to find good books for kids. We want the books to be interesting, age appropriate, and have nothing in them that is worldly, has bad language, or fantastical creatures. Kids want books to be interesting.
Two medals awarded by the American Library Association are the Newbery and Caldecott medals. The books are chosen by committees and the winners are kept secret until a big announcement at the Midwinter ALA meeting. At the summer ALA meeting, the winners each give a speech at a big banquet. I was privileged to attend one of these banquets a few years ago and just by chance happened to sit at the same table with some of the Newbery committee members. I was thrilled beyond belief and even my husband was impressed. He has since had a little more appreciation for my interest in and knowledge of children’s literature. (happy face)
The Newbery Medal was established in 1922 and is awarded to the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year. Members of a committee read each nominee and actively discuss and ‘argue’ over the books until they finally agree as to the winner. They also specify other books that are worthy of attention and are Honor books.
Newbery books usually are not the kind of books that are mainstream such as Harry Potter or the vampire books. They are quality literature and are creative and well written. However, they still need to be read with an eye tuned for topics and language that may not be appropriate for our SDA schools. If you check the list, you will find many Newbery winners that are wonderful stories that you may have in your library already.
The Caldecott Medal was established in 1938 and is presented to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published the previous year. This past year – 2012 – 2013 – the Caldecott has been celebrating its 75th year. The process of choosing the book is very similar to the Newbery process and honor books are chosen. Caldecott books are usually appropriate for our SDA schools, but still need to be evaluated on a case to case basis.
For more information about these two awards and other awards given by ALA, go to http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia.
If you do a unit or study of award winners, don’t forget to include your local state award books, too. You might even have your own mock ‘Award’. Have students nominate their favorites. Put them on display long enough for other students to read them all, then have students meet to discuss which book they think is best. It will be an interesting debate. When one is chosen, stick your local school ‘award sticker’ on the book and put it in a prominent place. This will attract attention to the books and you might even attract some reluctant readers to the book.
I think I will do this at Rogers and let you know how it works out. If you also try it, please let me know how it works out.
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation.
Audrey
Copyright
Greetings!
This week we will start with a little quiz about copyright. Read the scenarios and see how well you do.
Questions:
A. A history teacher was teaching about World War 2 in his classes. One evening he was watching television and noticed that a great documentary was coming on and it would be a perfect addition to his teaching for the next day. He videotaped the documentary and used it in his classroom. Is this legal to do?
B. True or False. The drawings your students do are copyrighted.
C. True or False. It’s OK to copy things if you want to use them for educational purposes. You don’t have to worry about sources; it is fair use.
D. True or False. It’s OK to make copies of your computer software, music CDs, or movie DVDs.
E. Your 8th graders want to use a mix of songs during graduation. Is this legal to do?
Answers:
A. Yes, this is legal to do. There was no time to ask for permission. However, if the teacher wants to keep his copy and use it again the following year, he must then write for permission to use the entire work in his classes.
B. True. Intellectual property is defined as any original creative work that is tangible such as a writing, diagram, work of art, musical compositions, sound recordings, photographs, movies, computer software, and more. Copyright laws today apply as soon as the work is created. You don’t need to mark the work with a copyright symbol. All original creative works – student papers, drawing, etc. – are protected by copyright.
C. False. It is OK to copy things for educational purposes, BUT you still must cite your sources. Copyright law permits the teacher or student to use excerpts from a copyrighted work in a school paper without obtaining the copyright holder’s permission. Students and teachers must still cite their source to avoid plagiarism. Only a small percentage may be used for educational purposes. Students or teachers may not make copies for personal use or to exchange copies with other students.
D. True and False. This is kind of a trick question. It is OK to make a backup copy of your personal items in case one gets damaged. You will still have the original copy to use. However, it is not OK to share these copies with your friends. It is not OK to take your computer software and put it on your desktop, your laptop, and your kids’ laptops for everyone to use unless you are licensed for multiple use. It is OK to download purchased software on multiple devices if only one device will be operating at a time. For example, my husband and I both loved playing a game called “Zuma” a few years ago. He bought it for his computer and we took turns playing it. We would not have been legal if he also downloaded it to his laptop and both of us were playing it at the same time. At work, I have a copy of Microsoft Word on my computer. I am licensed through the school to use this. I can also download it at home so I can work at home and my files will transfer, but I don’t use my work computer at the same time I am using my home computer. The same thing goes for music. I can download my personal CDs on my computer, phone, and other players, but I cannot legally let my friends use my CD (or DVD) to download on their devices, too. If I give my CD to my friend, I must delete the CD from my devices.
E. Probably not. The music industry is very picky about this kind of thing. From all that I have read, you would need to contact the artist or the manager or the record company to check for permission. There are lists of songs that are in the public domain which could be used. It takes some researching to find songs that you would be able to use without contacting the industry for permission. It also takes a long time to hear from them, so if this is something that your school does, it would be good to start very soon.
Just in case anyone is interested, when our churches post the words to hymns or makes transparencies of songs to sing, they should be paying for the right to do so and citing the source.
It can get pretty sticky and some people may think that they won’t get caught. Unfortunately, this is probably true. You may not get caught. But more and more, copyright violators are being caught and sued. Average costs to settle out of court run about $4,500 or more. Copyright violators can also be prosecuted on federal criminal charges. Fines can be up to $250,000 or imprisonment for up to five years or both.
It is my opinion that SDA schools and teachers should be doing their level best to follow the law. Our students (and their parents) need to see us being a good example. I know I am preaching here, but I always ask myself, “Do I want to be kept out of heaven for this?”
For more copyright information go to www.copyright.gov . For lessons for students on copyright go to http://ymiclassroom.com/lesson-plans/b4ucopy/ . These lessons can be downloaded and used with your students.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
This week we will start with a little quiz about copyright. Read the scenarios and see how well you do.
Questions:
A. A history teacher was teaching about World War 2 in his classes. One evening he was watching television and noticed that a great documentary was coming on and it would be a perfect addition to his teaching for the next day. He videotaped the documentary and used it in his classroom. Is this legal to do?
B. True or False. The drawings your students do are copyrighted.
C. True or False. It’s OK to copy things if you want to use them for educational purposes. You don’t have to worry about sources; it is fair use.
D. True or False. It’s OK to make copies of your computer software, music CDs, or movie DVDs.
E. Your 8th graders want to use a mix of songs during graduation. Is this legal to do?
Answers:
A. Yes, this is legal to do. There was no time to ask for permission. However, if the teacher wants to keep his copy and use it again the following year, he must then write for permission to use the entire work in his classes.
B. True. Intellectual property is defined as any original creative work that is tangible such as a writing, diagram, work of art, musical compositions, sound recordings, photographs, movies, computer software, and more. Copyright laws today apply as soon as the work is created. You don’t need to mark the work with a copyright symbol. All original creative works – student papers, drawing, etc. – are protected by copyright.
C. False. It is OK to copy things for educational purposes, BUT you still must cite your sources. Copyright law permits the teacher or student to use excerpts from a copyrighted work in a school paper without obtaining the copyright holder’s permission. Students and teachers must still cite their source to avoid plagiarism. Only a small percentage may be used for educational purposes. Students or teachers may not make copies for personal use or to exchange copies with other students.
D. True and False. This is kind of a trick question. It is OK to make a backup copy of your personal items in case one gets damaged. You will still have the original copy to use. However, it is not OK to share these copies with your friends. It is not OK to take your computer software and put it on your desktop, your laptop, and your kids’ laptops for everyone to use unless you are licensed for multiple use. It is OK to download purchased software on multiple devices if only one device will be operating at a time. For example, my husband and I both loved playing a game called “Zuma” a few years ago. He bought it for his computer and we took turns playing it. We would not have been legal if he also downloaded it to his laptop and both of us were playing it at the same time. At work, I have a copy of Microsoft Word on my computer. I am licensed through the school to use this. I can also download it at home so I can work at home and my files will transfer, but I don’t use my work computer at the same time I am using my home computer. The same thing goes for music. I can download my personal CDs on my computer, phone, and other players, but I cannot legally let my friends use my CD (or DVD) to download on their devices, too. If I give my CD to my friend, I must delete the CD from my devices.
E. Probably not. The music industry is very picky about this kind of thing. From all that I have read, you would need to contact the artist or the manager or the record company to check for permission. There are lists of songs that are in the public domain which could be used. It takes some researching to find songs that you would be able to use without contacting the industry for permission. It also takes a long time to hear from them, so if this is something that your school does, it would be good to start very soon.
Just in case anyone is interested, when our churches post the words to hymns or makes transparencies of songs to sing, they should be paying for the right to do so and citing the source.
It can get pretty sticky and some people may think that they won’t get caught. Unfortunately, this is probably true. You may not get caught. But more and more, copyright violators are being caught and sued. Average costs to settle out of court run about $4,500 or more. Copyright violators can also be prosecuted on federal criminal charges. Fines can be up to $250,000 or imprisonment for up to five years or both.
It is my opinion that SDA schools and teachers should be doing their level best to follow the law. Our students (and their parents) need to see us being a good example. I know I am preaching here, but I always ask myself, “Do I want to be kept out of heaven for this?”
For more copyright information go to www.copyright.gov . For lessons for students on copyright go to http://ymiclassroom.com/lesson-plans/b4ucopy/ . These lessons can be downloaded and used with your students.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Copyright Part 2
Greetings!
Last week after I sent my post about copyright, I got some great questions. I am going to try to answer these to the best of my knowledge, but please remember that I am a teacher like you are and not a copyright expert. The information I give you is information that you could find on the internet just like I did. My only ‘advantage’ is that I am interested in copyright and have attended convention sessions and seen webinars on copyright. If you are interested in viewing a webinar about copyright, go to Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.net), search for ‘Teaching Copyright and Fair Use to the Remix Generation’ and press enter. Then click on the ‘Webinars’ section. It was recorded November 13, 2013. The webinar is just about an hour long and should count toward your technology requirement.
One question I got was regarding using YouTube clips in church or school without permission from the artist. Is this OK? The short answer is yes, it is probably OK. Here’s why.
“People seem to think that because the public can access videos on YouTube, for free, the vids are in the public domain. (I suppose this follows from the “everything on the Internet is public domain” misconception.) They’re in a public space, true, and people don’t have to pay to see them, but that doesn’t affect copyright.
You do in fact retain copyright in your video when you post it to YouTube (that would be your video, not your Stephen Colbert clip). But by posting it you grant YouTube a license to do pretty much whatever it wants with your work. That includes sublicensing it to others and modifying it (making derivative works). The license terminates within “a commercially reasonable time” once you remove your work from the YouTube site. And you still own the copyright.” http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/10-misconceptions-about-the-public-domain.html
Another question was about something that many of our schools do. We make a PowerPoint with words to songs to project during a song service. Is this OK? Do we need to get permission to do this?
It looks like the short answer to this is, yes, it is OK if it is for a worship service. Here’s why.
The U.S. Copyright Law (Section 110 [c]) provides an exemption for performance and display of "works of a religious nature in a religious service." Many churches and ministries today need performance licenses from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC because they are performing or causing to be performed (playing) music in many non-exempt settings outside their religious services. The non-exempt performances or playing of music require licensing - concerts (non-ticketed), social and youth events, fund raisers, aerobics and dance classes, conferences, music-on-hold - really any time music is played or performed in your facilities outside a worship service.
One more thing. If you do use a song or the words to a song, and it is legally used whether it is for a religious service or song service, wouldn’t it be a good idea to give as much credit as possible? You may have noticed in our hymnals we give the author of the song and the composer of the tune if they are known. Why shouldn’t we do the same thing in our PowerPoints?
http://www.freeandlegaldownloads.com/resources/music_legal
What is the best way to check if a song is public domain? This is a hard question to answer because there are so many variables to consider. I guess that the best way to check for public domain is to contact the publisher of the music. That way you can get permission to use the song if you need it. Here is a website that I found with lists of songs in public domain and also lists of royalty free music. http://www.pdinfo.com/
Are movies shown at your school? If you have DVDs or videotapes for educational purposes, this is OK. But if you show movies for class parties, rewards, family events, school care programs, rainy day recess, or other things like this, you need to pay a fee in order to do this. It is a yearly fee and will cover all of the items mentioned above. The fee is $105.00 for schools with student populations up to 150 which would be nearly all of our schools. I know that it doesn’t seem like it should cost that much for a school that has less than 40 or 50, but it may be that the organization would make special pricing for our small schools.
However, if you show a movie for a fundraiser, this is not covered in the above umbrella policy. I understand that you must contact the distributor for permission to do this. This is the website for more information on the umbrella policy. http://www.mplc.org/page/dayschool
For your information, here is another site I found for information about copyright.
http://www.christiancopyrightsolutions.com/blog/category/Religious-Service-Exemption-US-Copyright-Law-Church-exemption
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you have copyright questions, I am happy to try to help you find the answers. But first, try typing in the information you want to know in the search box. Usually you will be steered toward webpages that will help you find the answer. If this does not help, please let me know and I will do my best to help you.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Last week after I sent my post about copyright, I got some great questions. I am going to try to answer these to the best of my knowledge, but please remember that I am a teacher like you are and not a copyright expert. The information I give you is information that you could find on the internet just like I did. My only ‘advantage’ is that I am interested in copyright and have attended convention sessions and seen webinars on copyright. If you are interested in viewing a webinar about copyright, go to Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.net), search for ‘Teaching Copyright and Fair Use to the Remix Generation’ and press enter. Then click on the ‘Webinars’ section. It was recorded November 13, 2013. The webinar is just about an hour long and should count toward your technology requirement.
One question I got was regarding using YouTube clips in church or school without permission from the artist. Is this OK? The short answer is yes, it is probably OK. Here’s why.
“People seem to think that because the public can access videos on YouTube, for free, the vids are in the public domain. (I suppose this follows from the “everything on the Internet is public domain” misconception.) They’re in a public space, true, and people don’t have to pay to see them, but that doesn’t affect copyright.
You do in fact retain copyright in your video when you post it to YouTube (that would be your video, not your Stephen Colbert clip). But by posting it you grant YouTube a license to do pretty much whatever it wants with your work. That includes sublicensing it to others and modifying it (making derivative works). The license terminates within “a commercially reasonable time” once you remove your work from the YouTube site. And you still own the copyright.” http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/10-misconceptions-about-the-public-domain.html
Another question was about something that many of our schools do. We make a PowerPoint with words to songs to project during a song service. Is this OK? Do we need to get permission to do this?
It looks like the short answer to this is, yes, it is OK if it is for a worship service. Here’s why.
The U.S. Copyright Law (Section 110 [c]) provides an exemption for performance and display of "works of a religious nature in a religious service." Many churches and ministries today need performance licenses from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC because they are performing or causing to be performed (playing) music in many non-exempt settings outside their religious services. The non-exempt performances or playing of music require licensing - concerts (non-ticketed), social and youth events, fund raisers, aerobics and dance classes, conferences, music-on-hold - really any time music is played or performed in your facilities outside a worship service.
One more thing. If you do use a song or the words to a song, and it is legally used whether it is for a religious service or song service, wouldn’t it be a good idea to give as much credit as possible? You may have noticed in our hymnals we give the author of the song and the composer of the tune if they are known. Why shouldn’t we do the same thing in our PowerPoints?
http://www.freeandlegaldownloads.com/resources/music_legal
What is the best way to check if a song is public domain? This is a hard question to answer because there are so many variables to consider. I guess that the best way to check for public domain is to contact the publisher of the music. That way you can get permission to use the song if you need it. Here is a website that I found with lists of songs in public domain and also lists of royalty free music. http://www.pdinfo.com/
Are movies shown at your school? If you have DVDs or videotapes for educational purposes, this is OK. But if you show movies for class parties, rewards, family events, school care programs, rainy day recess, or other things like this, you need to pay a fee in order to do this. It is a yearly fee and will cover all of the items mentioned above. The fee is $105.00 for schools with student populations up to 150 which would be nearly all of our schools. I know that it doesn’t seem like it should cost that much for a school that has less than 40 or 50, but it may be that the organization would make special pricing for our small schools.
However, if you show a movie for a fundraiser, this is not covered in the above umbrella policy. I understand that you must contact the distributor for permission to do this. This is the website for more information on the umbrella policy. http://www.mplc.org/page/dayschool
For your information, here is another site I found for information about copyright.
http://www.christiancopyrightsolutions.com/blog/category/Religious-Service-Exemption-US-Copyright-Law-Church-exemption
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you have copyright questions, I am happy to try to help you find the answers. But first, try typing in the information you want to know in the search box. Usually you will be steered toward webpages that will help you find the answer. If this does not help, please let me know and I will do my best to help you.
Have a great week.
Audrey
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