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REFLECTION
The issue of copyright is so large and I have to admit I had a hard time reading all of the assignments
for this section. Although, I realize it should be rather easy to discern if something is being used inappropriately,
for some reason I become rather overwhelmed when I read all of the steps teachers must take to avoid plagiarism.
For example, using video tapes in the classroom is something I think most teachers have done at least once. Until this
section, I did not know all of the ins and outs about when and to whom videos can be shown. The same could be said for
music.
Being an English teacher, many copyright issues surface within my classroom. It
is my responsibility as a teacher to model good behavior, and making sure to give credit where credit is due falls under that
theme of 'good behavior.' Citation has never been an issue for me, but I realize I need to make those citations more
visible to my students so that they are aware of the steps they need to make within their own writing and referencing. Is
is also my responsiblity as a teacher to be constantly aware that there are so many options available to students in today's
media society that encourage plagiarism. I should make sure to design and implement lessons that challenge my students
to be creative and thoughtful. For example, a possible way to avoid plagiarism is to find alternative approaches to
teaching research and the research paper. There are many options available that stray from the traditional idea of reading
a source, paraphrasing, and re-producing the information within a written form.
At my old school, our librarian was diligent in making the teachers aware of what the
issues were and how we could teach within their guidelines. One of the big problems I saw was teachers who did not value
the ethical use of materials, which most likely rubbed off on their students. Do I think that schools should be allowed
to follow a different set of rules? Yes, in some instances I do, but the danger lies in how people would begin to interpret
and abuse a different set of rules for public schools. As someone on Blackboard mentioned, this is a tough issue.
Like all 'tough issues' teachers and adminstrators need to make themselves aware of the rules and guidelines. After
all, don't we always stress to our students that ignorance is not an excuse? We should learn to live our own cliches.
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