Citing Sources Part 1: More on facts.

In my last post, I mentioned a few sites where I send kids to learn about copyright and fair use.  This is part two.   I spend a lot of time in class talking to kids about fair use.  I often start off giving examples of scenarios and asking kids if they think the issue is legal or illegal. It's surprising how many of the kids think things are legal!  (By the way, this is a great way to use polling software to get results and collect data.  You could even do a pretest- post test of the materials to see what kids have really learned.)

One of the places I send kids is readwritethink.org.  Although it is a site developed by the National Council of Teachers of English and not a librarian site, it is a fantastic go to site for teaching copyright (and anti-plagiarism). Upon visiting the site, you can search for copyright in the search bar and find over 50 lesson plans to help you teach the topic to various grades. This is a great tool for English teachers but also anyone who teaches the rules of copyright and plagiarism. I often pull a few of the lessons and do them with the kids. There is often a lot of discussion when I do the lessons.

The copyright alliance education foundation has a great copyright quiz I have used time and again to get kids thinking about the rules and laws. The site has a plethora of materials for teachers to use in their classrooms.   There is a comprehensive program for teachers as well as lesson plans. The tools here are excellent for teaching kids how to follow rules and guidelines about copyright.  This is a good starting point for a classroom teacher focusing on the topic. The site is lacking information about fair use, however.

To teach students about this, I visit the Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center.  Here, I find a lot of direction and information to share with kids about fair use. I really get them thinking about some of the rules. The discussions we have had have lead the kids to question a lot of things they face daily.  They have learned a lot of information but they start thinking about things, which is what I want to see happen.

Copyright with Cyberbee is a little more elementary, but if you are working with middle school kids, it may help get the point across. It has a bunch of questions you can click on and learn the answer.  I see success with grades 6-8 here, and no so much with high school, but, I have added it to my bag of tricks when the middle school kids walk through my door.

Finally, Richard Byrne also has a fantastic amount of information on his site Free Tech 4 Teachers.  He has information about everything, but, he has a nice site devoted to copyright.  It's worth checking out.

The idea of teaching copyright and plagiarism and citations can be a little scary.  Kids have no fear about what is right and wrong and it is our responsibility as teachers to make sure they follow the rules.  Hopefully, my links will help make that happen.

Next in the series...Citation Machine as a way to help make the proper citation.

Citing Sources Part 1: Teaching the facts

 When I started this series, I promised to share information about the tools I use in my classroom and the places I send my students to learn as much as they can about copyright.  I have had a lot of success with my classes doing this.  I have had kids question a lot of things that happen around the school when they come into class and start looking into things.  Our research often leads to some excellent discussion about what is right and wrong and what they can do to prevent it from being done.  I have turned kids into global citizens who know some things are not acceptable.  We talk about public domain and I teach kids how to use Project Gutenberg and sites like it.  Today, I am going to look at two sites I use to teach copyright.  The plan is to have a few posts in the series about sites such as these.

When I send students out to do their research, one site where I send them is the Copyright Clearance Center Academic section.   They are expected to watch a video there about copyright. It is free to use and I always see them leaving class with information they didn't know before.  The title of the video: Copyright on Campus. They also have another video called Copyright Is that I asked them to view.  This leads to some discussion in class and I feel the kids are a little more aware of the right way to handle things.

Another place I visit is Teaching Copyright.  This site features actual lesson plans about the topic as well as tools and resources that can be used. There is a quiz, FAQ pages about Fair Use, Copyright in general and Public Domain. It is loaded with great information that can be pulled into the classroom and used as a means of teaching students the right way to handle information. This site is not really geared for students to visit, it is more informative for the teacher.  I still feel there is a lot of things here for kids to be taught.

My next post, a few more places to direct students.  Check back soon!

Citing Sources: The Series

It is so important to get kids to understand citations, giving credit, plagiarism, and on and on.  There are numerous people who handle that role, the teacher, peers, the administration, and me: the librarian.  It is my duty to make sure kids are taking notes, citing their sources and paraphrasing what they have to say. I decided to do a series of posts on this topic and include several citation specific sites students can use to make their research better than ever.

First of all, let's focus on citation, what it means and where to go to learn as much as possible about it.

Back in the day, I used to teach a library media class.  I suspect after my French classes are gone and I am a little more open with a schedule, I will get to work with junior high and teach this class again.  I think it is important and necessary.  The focus I always spent on library media was the research.  What goes with it? Citations.  I always started the class off with a short pre test asking numerous questions regarding legality and morality questions. (When I say morality, I am referring to other people's work and not other more personal things.)

I spend a lot of time talking about copyright and plagiarism.  I make them read articles from different magazines about lawsuits and expulsions because of honor codes and copyright violations.  We spend a lot of time discussing the fair use laws.  When they leave my class, I hope they question some of their decisions.

The point I want them to take is that it is wrong to use people's thoughts without citing the source.  There are a few places I send them to do a little research about citiations, copyright and deciding how to handle a citiation.    In this series on my blog, I plan to spend a little time going over each place.  I feel so strongly about this topic that this could be a long series, so don't get frustrated that I go over the topic several times.

So, what is next?  Where I send kids to find information about copyright and citing sources, part one.  We are going to look at the Copyright Clearance Center, Teachingcopyright.org, readwritethink.org, The copyright alliance education foundation and copyright with cyberbee.   Richard Byrne also has a fantastic amount of information at his site Free Tech 4 Teachers  Some of these sites even have an entire educational program created you can use.  I decided to offer several and let readers choose the best one for them.

The second phase of the series will be looking at sites that help students cite their sources. There is a slew of them, but I am going to talk about the ones we use at our school.  Stop back soon and check out parts one and two.  Hopefully someone can benefit from this.