Copyright Courage

(Title is a transformative use of Ken's question, "Do we have the courage “to take defensible positions on the use of copyrighted materials and contribute to the evolution of this issue in our time.”)

     I had the courage to leave to security and comfort of a teaching job in Cheyenne, Wyoming to attend UMO for my master's, knowing I might have to live out of my car while I looked for a place to live.

Although the sleeping quarters were tight,
it wasn't a bad place to call home

 
     It took courage to ski Black Diamond trails, run marathons, get married. I have courage to scale the Knife's Edge, fight cancer, have kids. I have the courage to teach.

Not quite the verbose valor of Parker J. Palmer, but the simple courage of showing up, in the present moment, every day. 

But am I brave enough to use copyrighted materials in the classroom? 

That is the question?

Who owns the copyright?

Who else owns Demi Lavato's arm?
http://www.eonline.com/photos/6990/top-10-celebrity-tattoos-of-2012/238578

We've been studying copyright laws in my digital writing class, so when I saw this headline 

Whose Tattoo is it Anyway?

in the Maine Sunday Telegram on October 13, 2013, my interest peaked. Can artists own a body part of another person? Last year, tattoo artist, Stephen Allen sued Electronic Arts for using one of his designs on the cover of the video game, "NFL Street." Ok, it was more complicated than that. Allen's original design was tattooed onto the arm of running back Ricky Williams. That case was settled out of court, but copyright laws are getting more and more complex and the courts will sort it out. 

       I'd always thought copyright laws were to protect the financial interests of the producers, but I learned in Ken's quicktime movie that "In a democratic society, copyright is about protecting creativity and progress". I love this!

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said it best:

"The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors...but encourage others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work."


Wow! this is new thinking for me. And  I found a wonderful 
TED talk that broke open the idea of protecting creativity and progress. Click the link below to hear Lawrence Lessig - my new hero:

I recommend Julie and Julia, not only to the foodies out there, but to people interested in seeing the startling difference in the world of publishing in the last fifty years. Of course, any fan of Meryl Streep has already seen it. Meryl didn't disappoint. In fact, she nailed the performance. Is the cook with David Letterman Meryl or Julia? You be the judge.

     Susan Corcoran wrote an excellent review of the film. It's posted on our Reflection #1. Check it out. I agree with Susan that today's authors are more willing to share their personal lives in any format. Maybe there are no secrets anymore. Another difference between old and new publishing is the time element. I'm writing this at 8:07 am and sending it out in the world within the half hour. Authors of the past spent years, even decades perfecting their work before sharing it. 

     However, at the heart of both stories was the stark truth: writing is hard. Hemingway said it best: “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”  

 

I am an Immigrant

    I am an immigrant in our digital nation. Ok, I realize that’s a stretch as I haven’t suffered the discrimination and homesickness of a true immigrant just off the boat. I never walked in my grandmother’s shoes, never stepped out of steerage onto Ellis Island, a girl of nineteen, alone. Fortunately, I was Born in the USA, not mandated to pass a test to become a citizen, a situation so frightening that Nana lived for seventy years without the rights and protections afforded US citizens. She never voted, never learned to drive, never worked outside the home after her first couple of years as

for a rich family in Bar Harbor, although I don’t think she dressed as lasciviously as Fran Drescher, well, at least not on job .

   “She’s afraid,” I overheard Aunt Nora when I was ten, “of failing the test. Then what? Would she be forced to return to Ireland?”

  

    My immigrant status is not dire. It doesn’t frighten me and I know, we all know, that we’ll never return to a world without technology.  However, as a digital immigrant, I do share some commonalities with Nana. First, there’s the language barrier and on this point, I think I have her beat as her native tongue was English. There were some differences here in America, but nothing that sounded too foreign. Wish the same were true for me. jRSVP, RSS,   Machinima,  Mashup, Crowdsourcing, and Augmented Reality (Vuforia), I mean, are we still talking English?  

   Second, the customs and traditions of a new land could be confusing. Nana was used to eating rashers and bangers for breakfast, but Boxty and Barm Brack were more difficult to find. Irish wakes, here in the States, were a more subdued affair, the parish priest didn’t come to Sunday dinner and families were not forced to give one back to the Church, although we constantly teased our youngest sister that it was her duty to go the nunnery. Perhaps she could have been swayed by knowing the The Joy of Being a Catholic Nun. Damn, I may have become a bride of Christ, if I’d seen this video.

   In our  Digital Nation, customs are changing.  Generation Y has a new appendage. Although their cell phones are not physically attached to their bodies, they are never without them. My son, Devin, ran in 2012 Boston Marathon. The hardest thing for him was being without his phone for four hours. There is always a cell or text going off somewhere with people willing to stop and take the call. Every day a new product is being advertised like Withings Pulse and Bladepad. Our digital natives understand  so naturally, as easy as turning the pages of a book.

   Like newcomers to America, I see the beauty of the new landscape. I appreciate how Assistive Technology  has leveled the playing field for kids with disabilities. I value the options for creativity with lesson planning. I’ve grown accustom to the ease of communication. But the most techno-fun I’ve ever had is creating this Hyperlink. In the words of D.F. Warlick,  reading is now across, down and deeper. It’s 3D without the  American Paper Optics.  Dig in.

Butterfly Drought

Where are the monarchs?   

     This may not appear to be a technological issue, but I think there is some relationship between the lack of monarchs this fall and global warming.  For the last decade, I'd easily found ten or more monarchs in the J position clinging to a piece of milkweed. 


This year, I've searched almost every leaf of milkweed in the area and I haven't seen a one. Nada. Nothing. What a disappointment!


Last fall, my students and I watched a caterpillar wiggle itself into a chrysalis. What a thrill to witness this miracle of nature. What a magical transformation. It filled us with awe and wonder and left us speechless. Watching the butterflies emerge wasn't quite as dramatic, but was a good excuse to get outside, watch them dry their leaves and take off.  I so hope they're not gone for good here in the western foothills. I will miss them.

    

     I'm getting the hang of blogging so yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks. I've learned much from visiting your sites. I think it was Sarah of the bunny skirt who commented that it took her many hours of experimentation to come up with the awesome look of her blog. There's so much you can so do to portray who you are and what you want to say. I'll continue to jazz things up. Who doesn't like glitter and glam?
     I've changed the focus of my blog to reflect what I'm learning in class. My digital natives are hungry for it. However, I am keeping a journal to record the happenings in my DAY TREATMENT program, capital letters. Before accepting this job, I hadn't fully grasped the severity of need, but I'm a warrior, teacher warrior, and things have already started to improve.  I hope to post student response to my attempts at technology integration which leads me to Draggo.
     Last week we were asked to explore management systems like delicious.com. As teacher, this has always been a major problem; how to effectively and efficiently share the sites I want them to explore. For a couple of years, teachers at my school used Wikki, but viewing and adding links was laborious. As I was navigating my way around delicious.com, the light bulb went off.
   

It screamed high pitched and insistent like a yapping dog, "Draggo, draggo, draggo." Why should I start exploring yet another management site when I've  discovered the pot of gold this summer? I went back to what I started and added to it. This bookmarking tool is as easy as guzzling a cold beer on a hot afternoon. If I didn't have to hit the road, literally for my daily run before work, I'd share what I know.  Gotta go. Enjoy Friday. I'll be in touch. DRAGGO!

     I've had a busy weekend playing with blogger; adding a video and an image. Couldn't figure out how to make the pic smaller. Is there any way to do that?
     I really enjoyed my previous two on-line classes, but I'm finding some frustration with this one. Week one, I watched and rewatched Ken's Jing about starting a blog. I watched it again. My screen looked nothing like his. (Ken addressed this issue, thanks. Of course, there are different set-ups depending on browser.) Being a blog-virgin, I spent gobs of time exploring. Perhaps, I would have had more success with direct instruction. Just a thought. I'm not whining, but this experience reminds of research I did when our district instituted Investigations. Referrals to special ed math tripled and I found many studies that proved some kids, especially those with language based learning disabilities, are ineffective learners with inquiry-based programs. Sometimes direct instruction works best.

     I could also be having trouble because I'm constantly multi-tasking. Perhaps helping my son, Kee, with his Algebra homeworking as the stuffed shells heated on the stove was not the optimal time to learn something new. And the call from my neighbor, well, that was over the top, especially when I had to run outside to look for the dog.  Like the students in the Frontline report, I was surprised to learn that we don't do as well multi-tasking. Really. I feel the only time I'm not multi-tasking is when I'm sleeping. I was also surprised to hear that distractions do not lead to creativity. Don't most inventors daydream?
     I am not alone in my struggles with new technology. It's been a problem throughout the ages. Please open the attached video, if you haven't seen it already or even if you have. It's funny the second and third time. thanks