Week 2 Classmate Comments #1

My Comment

Irving,

I agree, it’s amazing how this book has put together ideas I’ve heard before in my life, but in a new way that is really opening them up to me. I “get it” now, or at least I think I do! It’s all our there for us, we just have to see it and believe in it! This book really has me thinking too about how I can apply the give an A concept, not so much in terms of actual grades but in the way I teach and approach every student in my class.

-Alyson

 

Original Post

Wk 2 Reading: Chpt 1-4

What an incredible book!  Every chapter deals with the truth that if applied to one’s life it can make a difference.   I started thinking about my own life and how there has been things personally that I’ve invented or followed. Things that have hold me back from moving forward or at least reaching the next level.  I have probably questioned my potential do to the “inventions” of our society.  At my local church, I have the privilege to talk to a group of young adults about life and life in general.  Things such as how we can improve or make the best of life with faith. I’ve preached the message of pursuing life to its highest potential.  I have talked about the endless possibilities that are out there available to anyone who stretches out their hands.  I’ve been mentioning this in our meetings and I find it incredible how this book makes so much sense.   I agree with the idea that the universe has endless possibilities, but not only that; the world is actually waiting for people to reach their potential, take risks, set goals, etc.  I’ve already started brainstorming on how I can use the concept of giving an A at the beginning of every semester or even every week at school.  It would be interesting to experiment with this idea and see where it takes my classroom.  I agree with the statement that a grade does not tell the full story.  Grades are important for data, but sometimes students only focus on the number rather than the product.  The testimony of the Taiwanese student summarized the first four chapters.  Choose who you want to be, its all a game…one word, powerful.

Week 2 Reading – Art of Possibility 1-4

I really enjoyed the TED video from Ben Zander. As a musician I really understood what he was talking about with where you put the emphasis and the long line of the music. Although, I had never thought about applying that theory to anything outside of music, it was brilliant. This video made me really excited to read the book The Art of Possibility.

Scarcity-thinking is something that I see in my everyday, among my students that have little to nothing and among our central office employees with 6 figure paychecks. I permeates our culture as we strive to have more than others just to say or feel like we have more than others. Scarcity-thinking leads us to the thought that there can never be enough for EVERYONE, so i have to make sure I have enough for MYSELF both now and int he future. It eliminates the possibility that there could be enough for everyone when they need it and can create real scarcity for others.

I got the most out of Chapter 3, which was tough for me to get behind at the beginning. As a teacher I view grades not as a way to compare students against each other, but to measure the students against the set of goals or expectations made for that course. The way I teach and grade it is perfectly possible for all students to earn an A, I have no requisite bell curve or # of grades to give out. But as I read I started to understand. It’s not about getting something for nothing or creating an un-motivating environment. It’s about each student believing and knowing they are an A, and why not? It eased my fears when I got to the part about second-fiddle-itis as this is what I was immediately worried about with concept of giving an A. It is true, if you believe you make a difference and that you are important why would you miss class or not do the assignment, you matter. Giving an A is the belief that all people want to participate and be an A, there just might be some “stuff” in the way of that right now, it doesn’t mean those motivations aren’t there, as under the surface as they might be.

Drawing by Peter Durand
Photo by mriggen

Week 3 Leadership – Project Hub

Dealing with problem behavior in the classroom and throughout the building has become an issue at my school. It has taken time away from teaching content during class and from the teacher’s ability to create new lessons during their prep hour. The implementation of a Positive Behavior System (PBS) is my solution. It is split into two parts, a behavior plan/process for negative behavior and a recognition system for positive behavior. Each of these parts was rolled out separately, first to the school staff and then to the student body. Since implementation negative behaviors have decreased (as tracked by referrals) when compared to the previous years data and students feel it is having a positive impact on the school climate.

I will be sharing my project through an article which I will submit to the journal Teaching Exceptional Children. This journal focuses on all aspects of working with students with exceptionalities, both gifted and in special education. It encourages the use of first person writing and asks for manuscripts with an easy to read style. They also appreciate if you can supplement your manuscript with video or other “add ons” to help bring your article to life. I thought that this all sounded right up my alley and would be a great fit for my project which includes a rap video and our AR project movie trailer!

Week 1 Leadership Post – To Publish or Present?

Week 2 Leadership Post – Where to Publish?

My Leadership Document

Week 2 Wimba – Copyright

Here is my summary of the Week 2 Wimba session on Copyright

Info from the copyright “quiz”

• Only those who the copyright owner gives permission to (and themselves) can use the work
• Permanently fixed work that can be seen or heard can be copyrighted
• Books, Plays, Music, Films/Movies and Dance can be copyrighted
• Copyright duration is Author: lifetime plus 70 years, Company: 100 years

Demystifying Copyright, the 10 myths about copyright all boils down to this:

It’s not about how you get or use the media, but if you have permission to use it in the first place

For more information about the myths go to…

A bit about Fair Use….it’s fairly scary!

• There are limits to copyright
• It is “fair” to use a small bit of the work can be used for Teaching, Parody, Critical Comment, and News
• If you have permission from the copyright holder/owner the work is “fair” to use
• It is “fair” to use a small percentage of the work (there is no set percentage in the law books)
• Your use cannot keep the copyright owner from making money from their work
• Fair use is not a right or a law it is a legal defensible position
• If you can teach without using the work it does not qualify as Fair Use
• If you cannot teach without using the work it MIGHT qualify for Fair Use

Creative Commons…a solution for the creators!

• A straight forward solution for creators to license their work for use by others
• Includes requests for attribution, commercial/non-commercial use, derivative/non-derivative works and share alike
• Each creator can decide how they would like their work to be used and how derivative works can be used
• If you do not follow the license of the creator you must get permission or it falls back to traditional copyright

Week 2 Leadership – Where to publish?

After being daunted by Dr. Bedard’s list I had a stroke of genius (or maybe a simple idea smacked me on the forehead) and decided to look into journals from which I used articles for my literature review. I think I have found the perfect journal for my soon to be manuscript, Teaching Exceptional Children. The journal focuses on all aspects of working with students with exceptionalities, both gifted and special education. This particular journal encourages the use of first person writing and asks for manuscripts with an easy to read style. They also appreciate if you can supplement your manuscript with video or other “add ons” to help bring your article to life. I thought that this all sounded right up my alley and would be a great fit for my project which included a rap video!

My second choice would be to submit to the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions which is focused more narrowly on the type system which I implemented in my action research project. This journal prefers work written in a more academic style and accepts research-to-practice articles that give example strategies for implementation. This journal would also be a good fit for my project, but a bit less fun than writing for my first option.

Hopefully this (watch video below) doesn’t happen to me or any of my cohorts if they are accepted into a journal!

Week 1 Leadership – To Publish or Present

by Michael Flick

Ok so I felt like that cat looks at first…but I’ve calmed down since first learning (or more realistically…realizing) that we would have to apply to present at a regional or national conference or be published. My initial reaction was to present. I am very comfortable in front of people and have done many presentations at professional development sessions in both school districts I have taught in. I also think it wouldn’t take a whole lot of effort to turn all the work I’ve already done on my AR project into a worthy presentation. However, once I thought a little deeper, issues like having to leave school or be gone over the summer (we’re house hunting and planning a wedding at the same time…crazy I know!) were starting to nag at me. Also, I’d like to see if I can push myself to create an article worthy of being accepted for publishing. I have always done ok with writing but have never really had a lot of confidence in it. Being published is something I would truly be proud of. As it stands my plan A is to publish, we’ll see next week if I can find an appropriate journal to apply to and plan B will be to contact a our RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency) which serves 34 school districts to see if they have any presentation opportunities.

Week 1 Classmate Comment #2 – Copyright

My Comment:

Bill,
I agree with you that in the US we push too hard towards the making money aspect of copyright and start to lose sight of the protecting the art part. I saw this more clearly in the Good Copy Bad Copy movie when they were interviewing the filmmaker in Nigeria. I found his ideas about releasing straight to DVD instead of waiting and having pirate copies released first so opposite of how the industry handles the situation here in the US. His reasoning made perfect sense and in the end I think would make the movie companies more money (besides adding competition to the whole costs an arm and a leg movie theater experience).

Original Post by Bill Harris: Link to Original Post

I thought I knew a little something about Copyright until I went through the lessons on Copyright. I then found I knew little about copyright and learn the something. I had seen the “What the Heck is Copyright” before and had a good understanding of its application or so I thought. I had assumed that copyright was there to protect the copyright owner from having his or her intellectual property stolen from them by denial of proceeds due them. In fact as Peter Jaszi says, Copyright exist for one purpose: “to promote the progress of science and useful arts”.  He further goes on to say, which makes perfect sense, that Art doesn’t come from nowhere. Cultural progress depends on the ability of artists to make reasonable use of preexisting material and that includes copyrighted material”. How obvious is that! It reminds me of another saying, “There is nothing new under the sun”.

As I see it, a study of music genres, reveals various genres merging with others from different time periods to create a “new” genre, only to have to revert to another at another time period. Its as though in order to avoid copyright infringement a “mix” of genres are created to create something so called “original”. Adding a sesame seed bun, special sauce, a different type of lettuce, and cooked another way than fried does change what it is…it’s still a burger. But without the original you can’t have the modifications that some people may want.

Even though Mr. Jaszi’s point is well taken, I can’t help but feel that we here in the United States make such a big thing over copyright to protect our money and not the art. Other countries as “Copyright issues, part 1 stresses seem to consider the arts more than the profit made. I believe in one scene a young music producer said that musicians were more interested in getting their popularity up by having their music mixed and played at parties and clubs so they could perform in concerts and make real money.

I now see that copyright does in fact support and protect the Arts (in legal terms) by allowing the use of “somebody else’s copyrighted music, pictures or words without paying or asking permission as long as it benefits society more than it hurts the copyright holder.”

Cartoon obtained from: http://www.michaelgaigg.com/blog/tag/copying/

Week 1 Classmate Comment #1 – Leadership Post

My Comment:

Rosa,
I was having a similar reaction to this when I first read about having to apply to present or be published. After watching you and your AR project grow over the last 10 months I agree that a presentation would be best suited to it and to your strengths. I think that you will be very successful if you can bring the swagger to your presentation that you teach your students to have in the job hunt.

Original Post By Rosa Santana: http://designcreativetruth.blogspot.com/2012/05/week-1-publish-or-present.html

Photo by Rosa Santana

Publish or Present. When I first read the assignment, I flipped my wig and began to worry and stress to see the amount of work that needed to be done with the little time I have to get it all done. The first thing I did was contact my friends who are also attending the same school and program. I expressed my worries and then breathed and began to reread everything and take it all one-step at a time. I began to think and analyze what I wanted to do. I thought about being published but I feel that I do not possess the proper writing ability to produce a well-written article. So I went to the presentation option and I believe that this is where I belong. This is where I feel most comfortable. Being an instructor and holding a leadership position within my sorority, I have learned to be comfortable with speaking in front of an audience and presenting my idea and thoughts on a subject matter. In the presentation, creativity is much more of a possibility. This is where I am able to apply my creativity and also present the information. I feel this will also be the best way to display the work. I am a bit worried about the whole idea of standing in front of professionals and presenting. It’s a bit nerve racking but I know that I can successfully produce a great presentation. Good luck to me (oh wait) Break a leg!

Week 1 Reading

As a musician I know a little about copyright issues and will always stop to read about it when it pops up in the paper or watch a segment in the news about it, but wow! By about video # 3 I had already learned several things I did not know about copyright issues!

One of the things I found most interesting was how copyright law has changed over the years and that items are now protected so much longer than they had been in the past. The way things stand now; by the time an item makes it to the public domain it has lost most if not all of its relevance to popular culture. (Folks, don’t get mad at me here, notice I said relevance to POP culture, not its relevance to the human race or anything crazy!)

The interview in Good Copy Bad Copy from Lawrence Lessig (from creative commons) really hit home for me the difference we’re seeing with the treatment of the written word versus music, film or other digital arts in terms of their treatment under copyright law. There was also a comment made by a suit (didn’t catch his name) near the end that almost made me topple out of my seat. He basically couldn’t understand why anyone would create anything unless they were going to get paid…. has this man ever written a poem, composed a song or made a drawing?!?!?

This brings me to creative commons and the series of videos we watched about their licenses. I am very impressed at the amount of work out there that folks are making available for Free. This flies in the face of the gentleman interviewed at the end of Good Copy Bad Copy. Due to these videos I am now much more confident and comfortable about using creative commons licenses work. I am now looking forward to using creative commons work in the near future!

Here is a photo of Lawrence Lessig, as mentioned above.

Photo by Gianfranco Chicco

 

Almost There…

The journey of my EMDT program is almost finished, I feel like I’m riding a camel in search of my oasis, so close yet so far away! With 2 months left I look forward to wrapping up my AR project and completing this long journey.