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Martin Burrett

Improving SPAG for All Ages - 0 views

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    "The teaching of grammar has changed completely in a generation. While formal teaching of spelling and punctuation have been a mainstay of the classroom, just a few decades ago there was very little teaching of grammar. Many pupils formally encountered grammar through the study of other languages. Now SPaG takes up a large part of the primary curriculum, but have secondary colleagues noticed a difference? In this session we are discussion how to improve SPaG skills and usage at all levels of schooling and beyond."
Patti Porto

TPACK - activitytypes - 14 views

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    "This is a virtual place for folks interested in learning to "operationalize TPACK" (Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge) using curriculum-based learning activity types ('LATs'), teaching strategies, and performance assessments. The curricula in which we are developing and refining learning activity type and teaching strategies taxonomies appear on the left"
Jeff Johnson

Digital citizenship curriculum encourages students to be good 'digital citizens' - 0 views

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    Students interact with music, movies, software, and other digital content every day-but many don't fully understand the rules surrounding the appropriate use of these materials, or why this should even matter. To help teach students about intellectual property rights and encourage them to become good "digital citizens," software giant Microsoft Corp. has unveiled a free curriculum that offers cross-curricular classroom activities aligned with national standards. The Digital Citizenship and Creative Content program was designed for students in grades 8-10 but can be adapted for use in grades 6-12, Microsoft says. In one unit, students are given a scenario in which a high school sponsors a school-wide Battle of the Bands. A student not involved in the production decides to videotape and sell copies of the show to students and family members. Later, one of the performers ("Johnny") learns his image has been co-opted by the maker of a video game without his permission. Students research intellectual property laws to see who owns the "rights" to the Battle of the Bands as a whole, as well as the rights of individual performers, to determine three or four steps that Johnny can take. http://digitalcitizenshiped.com
Fabian Aguilar

What Do School Tests Measure? - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com - 1 views

  • According to a New York Times analysis, New York City students have steadily improved their performance on statewide tests since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of the public schools seven years ago.
  • Critics say the results are proof only that it is possible to “teach to the test.” What do the results mean? Are tests a good way to prepare students for future success?
  • Tests covering what students were expected to learn (guided by an agreed-upon curriculum) serve a useful purpose — to provide evidence of student effort, of student learning, of what teachers taught, and of what teachers may have failed to teach.
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  • More serious questions arise about “teaching to the test.” If the test requires students to do something academically valuable — to demonstrate comprehension of high quality reading passages at an appropriate level of complexity and difficulty for the students’ grade, for example — then, of course, “teaching to the test” is appropriate.
  • Reading is the crucial subject in the curriculum, affecting all the others, as we know.
  • An almost exclusive focus on raising test scores usually leads to teaching to the test, denies rich academic content and fails to promote the pleasure in learning, and to motivate students to take responsibility for their own learning, behavior, discipline and perseverance to succeed in school and in life.
  • Test driven, or force-fed, learning can not enrich and promote the traits necessary for life success. Indeed, it is dangerous to focus on raising test scores without reducing school drop out, crime and dependency rates, or improving the quality of the workforce and community life.
  • Students, families and groups that have been marginalized in the past are hurt most when the true purposes of education are not addressed.
  • lein. Mayor Bloomberg claims that more than two-thirds of the city’s students are now proficient readers. But, according to federal education officials, only 25 percent cleared the proficient-achievement hurdle after taking the National Assessment of Education Progress, a more reliable and secure test in 2007.
  • The major lesson is that officials in all states — from New York to Mississippi — have succumbed to heavy political pressure to somehow show progress. They lower the proficiency bar, dumb down tests and distribute curricular guides to teachers filled with study questions that mirror state exams.
  • This is why the Obama administration has nudged 47 states to come around the table to define what a proficient student truly knows.
  • Test score gains among New York City students are important because research finds that how well one performs on cognitive tests matters more to one’s life chances than ever before. Mastery of reading and math, in particular, are significant because they provide the gateway to higher learning and critical thinking.
  • First, just because students are trained to do well on a particular test doesn’t mean they’ve mastered certain skills.
  • Second, whatever the test score results, children in high poverty schools like the Promise Academy are still cut off from networks of students, and students’ parents, who can ease access to employment.
  • Reliable and valid standardized tests can be one way to measure what some students have learned. Although they may be indicators of future academic success, they don’t “prepare” students for future success.
  • Since standardized testing can accurately assess the “whole” student, low test scores can be a real indicator of student knowledge and deficiencies.
  • Many teachers at high-performing, high-poverty schools have said they use student test scores as diagnostic tools to address student weaknesses and raise achievement.
  • The bigger problem with standardized tests is their emphasis on the achievement of only minimal proficiency.
  • While it is imperative that even the least accomplished students have sufficient reading and calculating skills to become self-supporting, these are nonetheless the students with, overall, the fewest opportunities in the working world.
  • Regardless of how high or low we choose to set the proficiency bar, standardized test scores are the most objective and best way of measuring it.
  • The gap between proficiency and true comprehension would be especially wide in the case of the brightest students. These would be the ones least well-served by high-stakes testing.
David Warlick

Reggio Emilia approach - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 4 views

  • Children must have some control over the direction of their learning; Children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing, and hearing; Children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world that children must be allowed to explore and Children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.
    • David Warlick
       
      This is all very familiar yet rarely expressed so succinctly.
  • In the Reggio approach, the teacher is considered a co-learner and collaborator with the child and not just an instructor.
  • Teacher autonomy is evident in the absence of teacher manuals, curriculum guides, or achievement tests
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  • integration of each classroom with the rest of the school, and the school with the surrounding community
  • children can best create meaning and make sense of their world through environments which support "complex, varied, sustained, and changing relationships between people, the world of experience, ideas and the many ways of expressing ideas."
  • In each classroom there are studio spaces in the form of a large, centrally located atelier and a smaller mini-atelier, and clearly designated spaces for large- and small-group activities.
    • David Warlick
       
      A workshop or studio especially for an artist, designer or fashion house.
  • Reggio teachers place a high value on their ability to improvise and respond to children's predisposition to enjoy the unexpected.
  • Regardless of their origins, successful projects are those that generate a sufficient amount of interest and uncertainty to provoke children's creative thinking and problem-solving and are open to different avenues of exploration
  • teachers in Reggio Emilia assert the importance of being confused as a contributor to learning; thus a major teaching strategy is purposely to allow mistakes to happen, or to begin a project with no clear sense of where it might end.
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    The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy focused on preschool and primary education. It was started by Loris Malaguzzi and the parents of the villages around Reggio Emilia in Italy after World War II. The destruction from the war, parents believed, necessitated a new, quick approach to teaching their children. They felt that it is in the early years of development that children are forming who they are as an individual. This led to creation of a program based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum.
Adrienne Michetti

Universal Design in Education: Principles and Applications - 11 views

  • to make all aspects of the educational experience more inclusive
  • philosophical framework
  • include
    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      I love that this is not just being restricted to technology, but is including spaces and texts.
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  • Equitable use
  • Ronald Mace,
  • the design of products and environments to be usable to the greatest extent possible by people of all ages and abilities"
  • diversity and inclusiveness
    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      This is very reminiscent of MYP.
  • seven principles for the universal design of products and environments
  • a design foundation for more accessible and usable products and environments
  • Flexibility in use
  • applications in educational settings: physical spaces, information technology (IT), instruction, and student services.
    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      ALL educators should be participating in UD.
  • Perceptible information
  • Tolerance for error
  • Low physical effort
  • Size and space for approach and use.
  • benefits all students
  • Simple and intuitive use
  • UD can be applied to physical spaces to ensure that they are welcoming, comfortable, accessible, attractive, and functional.
  • Output and Displays.
  • Input and Controls.
  • Manipulations.
  • Documentation.
  • Safety.
  • it is possible to create products that are simultaneously accessible to people with a wide range of abilities, disabilities, and other characteristics.
  • institutions can express the desire to purchase accessible IT and inquire about the accessibility features of specific products.
  • UDL as "a research-based set of principles that together form a practical framework for using technology to maximize learning opportunities for every student"
  • curriculum designers create products to meet the needs of students with a wide range of abilities, learning styles, and preferences.
  • Multiple means of representation
  • Multiple means of action and expression
  • Multiple means of engagement
  • the following first steps for curriculum developers and teachers:
  • Unfortunately, most educational software programs available today do not apply these recommendations. Instead of including flexible features that provide access to students with disabilities, they continue to unintentionally erect barriers to the curriculum.
  • Universal design can be applied to all aspects of instruction—teaching techniques, curricula, assessment
  • Class Climate.
  • Interaction.
  • Physical Environments and Products.
  • Delivery Methods.
  • Information Resources and Technology.
  • Feedback
  • Assessment.
  • Accommodation.
  • When universal design is applied, everyone feels welcome,
Carl Bogardu

The Clever Sheep: 14 Tools to Teach about Creative Commons - 31 views

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    One of the most powerful, misunderstood and under-utilized tools for teaching 21st century skills, is the Creative Commons. Besides providing access to hundreds of thousands of media works that can be used to augment the creative process, the Creative Commons offers a legitimate way for students to license their own creative works, be they audio, video, text or hybrid products.
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    Blog about 14 tools to teach about Creative Commons
edutopia .org

Team Teaching: How to Work with a Partner | Edutopia - 8 views

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    Exploration of team teaching and it's challenges.
yc c

uLearn by Infomapper - online maps for schools - 11 views

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    Teaching with maps (whether on the whiteboard or using a set of personal computers) makes learning much more visual, exciting and personally relevant. uLearn is the easiest way to access a range of Ordnance Survey mapping in the UK, plus stunning aerial imagery and historic maps, all in a safe educational environment. Much more than just Geography Use maps as an index, not only to study geographical locations but also alongside uLearn's enormous library of geo-referenced resources. Explore the historic, cultural and factual aspects of your chosen locations across the planet. Just select a topic, zoom in to a place of interest and the resources available will automatically light up. And uLearn's mapping tools are interactive - stitch maps together, add your own photos and videos or annotate them to highlight your teaching focus. uLearn's maps and resources can be manipulated to meet your classroom needs, whatever the curriculum area. Really simple tools for creating lessons Whether using the resources already in uLearn or uploading your own resources, uLearn allows you at the click of a button, to capture the maps and resources for your lesson, ready to use in the classroom. It's as simple as clicking the 'Save current view to playlist' button!
Vicki Davis

Why We Teach Scratch » bit by bit - 6 views

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    Great information shared by Bob  Sprankle on why you should use Scratch with kids. If you work with elementary curriculum or teach in an elementary STEM or computer lab read this. "THIS is the true intent of Scratch. Mitch Resnick made Scratch with his team at MIT. The team is (purposefully) called "The Lifelong Kindergarten Group" because in kindergarten we are allowed (or used to be allowed) to try things out, build things and knock them down, make a mess, experiment, fool around with tools, CREATE! Resnick says that we should be allowed to be working like that ALL the time -for our entire lives-because that is HOW WE LEARN BEST. It is the natural way the brain operates."
Martin Burrett

Teaching Creative Thinking - 5 views

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    Too often, our students don't get the chance to think beyond the narrow constraints of a curriculum. The focus can be purely on developing the pupils to pass their exams, and not to creatively think how they can overcome challenges that they may soon be faced with. Teaching creative thinking is now, more than ever, crucial to prepare young people for future jobs, societal changes, and life situations which we cannot predict accurately. One thing is for sure, being able to creatively think is a life skill that will support them through the uncertain future ahead, and allowing space and time to develop this capability is essential, with schools well-placed to encourage growth.
Vicki Davis

Secondary: English: KS3 Drama: Plays by Title teaching resources - TES - 10 views

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    Here's the page that high school literature teachers will want to go to. On the left hand side you'll see "Sub Sub topic" and you can click  on the play. Click More and you can see even more plays. This way you can find information by play. One of the things I found is a popular resource that uses Simpsons Images linking to Macbeth. (Not sure about copyright but  it is there and is very popular.) Curriculum directors will want to share this with their English departments.
Caroline Bucky-Beaver

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education - 1 views

  • Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances -- especially when the cultural or social benefits of the use are predominant. It is a general right that applies even in situations where the law provides no specific authorization for the use in question -- as it does for certain narrowly defined classroom activities.
  • guide identifies five principles that represent the media literacy education community’s current consensus about acceptable practices for the fair use of copyrighted materials
  • code of best practices does not tell you the limits of fair use rights. Instead, it describes how those rights should apply in certain recurrent situations.
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  • Media literacy education distinctively features the analytical attitude that teachers and learners, working together, adopt toward the media objects they study. The foundation of effective media analysis is the recognition that: All media messages are constructed.Each medium has different characteristics and strengths and a unique language of construction.Media messages are produced for particular purposes.All media messages contain embedded values and points of view.People use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings from media messages.Media and media messages can influence beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, and the democratic process. Making media and sharing it with listeners, readers, and viewers is essential to the development of critical thinking and communication skills. Feedback deepens reflection on one’s own editorial and creative choices and helps students grasp the power of communication.
  • Lack of clarity reduces learning and limits the ability to use digital tools. Some educators close their classroom doors and hide what they fear is infringement; others hyper-comply with imagined rules that are far stricter than the law requires, limiting the effectiveness of their teaching and their students’ learning.
  • Educators and learners in media literacy often make uses of copyrighted materials that stand far outside the marketplace, for instance, in the classroom, at a conference, or within a school-wide or district-wide festival. Such uses, especially when they occur within a restricted-access network, do enjoy certain copyright advantages.
  • Law provides copyright protection to creative works in order to foster the creation of culture. Its best known feature is protection of owners’ rights. But copying, quoting, and generally re-using existing cultural material can be, under some circumstances, a critically important part of generating new culture.
  • In reviewing the history of fair use litigation, we find that judges return again and again to two key questions: Did the unlicensed use "transform" the material taken from the copyrighted work by using it for a different purpose than that of the original, or did it just repeat the work for the same intent and value as the original? Was the material taken appropriate in kind and amount, considering the nature of the copyrighted work and of the use? If the answers to these two questions are "yes," a court is likely to find a use fair. Because that is true, such a use is unlikely to be challenged in the first place.
  • Both key questions touch on, among other things, the question of whether the use will cause excessive economic harm to the copyright owner. Courts have told us that copyright owners aren’t entitled to an absolute monopoly over transformative uses of their works.
  • Another consideration underlies and influences the way in which these questions are analyzed: whether the user acted reasonably and in good faith, in light of general practice in his or her particular field.
  • Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education
  • Through its five principles, this code of best practices identifies five sets of current practices in the use of copyrighted materials in media literacy education to which the doctrine of fair use clearly applies. These practices are associated with K–12 education, higher education, and in classes given by nonprofit organizations. When students or educators use copyrighted materials in their own creative work outside of an educational context, they can rely on fair use guidelines created by other creator groups, including documentary filmmakers and online video producers.
  • These principles apply to all forms of media.
  • The principles apply in institutional settings and to non-school-based programs. 
  • The principles concern the unlicensed fair use of copyrighted materials for education, not the way those materials were acquired. 
  • where a use is fair, it is irrelevant whether the source of the content in question was a recorded over-the-air broadcast, a teacher’s personal copy of a newspaper or a DVD, or a rented or borrowed piece of media. Labels on commercial media products proclaiming that they are “licensed for home [or private or educational or noncommercial] use only” do not affect in any way the educator’s ability to make fair use of the contents—in fact, such legends have no legal effect whatsoever. (If a teacher is using materials subject to a license agreement negotiated by the school or school system, however, she may bebound by the terms of that license.)
  • TWO:  Employing Copyrighted Materials in Preparing Curriculum Materials
  • fairness of a use depends, in part, on whether the user tookmore than was needed to accomplish his or her legitimate purpose.
  • PRINCIPLES
  • ONE:  Employing Copyrighted Material in Media Literacy Lessons
  • The principles are all subject to a “rule of proportionality.” 
  • THREE:  Sharing Media Literacy Curriculum Materials
  • In materials they wish to share, curriculum developers should beespecially careful to choose illustrations from copyrighted media that are necessaryto meet the educational objectives of the lesson, using only what furthers theeducational goal or purpose for which it is being made.
  • FOUR:  Student Use of Copyrighted Materials in Their Own Academic and Creative Work
  • Students should be able to understand and demonstrate, in a mannerappropriate to their developmental level, how their use of a copyrighted workrepurposes or transforms the original. For example, students may use copyrightedmusic for a variety of purposes, but cannot rely on fair use when their goal is simplyto establish a mood or convey an emotional tone, or when they employ popular songssimply to exploit their appeal and popularity.
  • FIVE:  Developing Audiences for Student Work
  • If student work that incorporates, modifies, and re-presents existingmedia content meets the transformativeness standard, it can be distributed to wideaudiences under the doctrine of fair use.
  • Educators and learners in media literacy often make uses of copyrighted works outside the marketplace, for instance in the classroom, a conference, or within a school-wide or district-wide festival. When sharing is confined to a delimited network, such uses are more likely to receive special consideration under the fair use doctrine.
  • Especially in situations where students wish to share their work more broadly (by distributing it to the public, for example, or including it as part of a personal portfolio), educators should take the opportunity to model the real-world permissions process, with explicit emphasis not only on how that process works, but also on how it affects media making.
  • The ethical obligation to provide proper attribution also should be examined.
  • This code of best practices, by contrast, is shaped by educators for educators and the learners they serve, with the help of legal advisors. As an important first step in reclaiming their fair use rights, educators should employ this document to inform their own practices in the classroom and beyond
  • MYTH:  Fair Use Is Just for Critiques, Commentaries, or Parodies. Truth:  Transformativeness, a key value in fair use law, can involve modifying material or putting material in a new context, or both. Fair use applies to a wide variety of purposes, not just critical ones. Using an appropriate excerpt from copyrighted material to illustrate a key idea in the course of teaching is likely to be a fair use, for example. Indeed, the Copyright Act itself makes it clear that educational uses will often be considered fair because they add important pedagogical value to referenced media objects.
  • So if work is going to be shared widely, it is good to be able to rely on transformativeness. As the cases show, a transformative new work can be highly commercial in intent and effect and qualify under the fair use doctrine.
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    Great article outlining copyright, fair use and explaning the 5 principles of fair use in education.
Martin Burrett

Ofsted's new inspection arrangements to focus on curriculum, behaviour and development - 0 views

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    "From September 2019, Ofsted will refocus inspections of schools in England, early years settings and further education and skills providers, to make sure that learners are receiving a high-quality education that puts them on a path to future success. Ofsted inspectors will spend less time looking at exam results and test data, and more time considering how a nursery, school, college or other education provider has achieved their results. That is, whether they are the outcome of a broad, rich curriculum and real learning, or of teaching to the test and exam cramming."
Patti Porto

Teaching Channel - 6 views

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    Videos, Common Core Resources And Lesson Plans For Teachers:  "Teaching Channel is a video showcase -- on the Internet and TV -- of innovative and effective teaching practices in America's schools."
Jackie Gerstein

Looking Back at 2010: Teaching Ideas - NYTimes.com - 33 views

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    "Looking Back at 2010: Teaching Ideas"
Danielle Klaus

Curriculum Collaboration Toolkit - 0 views

  • Effective teaching with technology matches the teacher's goals and the learner's characteristics and needs, with tools that enhance understanding.
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    Effective teaching with technology matches the teacher's goals and the learner's characteristics and needs, with tools that enhance understanding.
Suzie Nestico

Father: Why I didn't let my son take standardized tests - The Answer Sheet - The Washin... - 0 views

  • My wife and I had Luke “opt out” of No Child Left Behind standardized testing (here in Pennsylvania known as the Pennsylvania System of School Achievement, or PSSAs).
  • Last week I did just that. I looked at the test and determined that it violated my religion. How, you might ask? That’s an entirely different blog, but I can quickly say that my religion does not allow for or tolerate the act of torture and I determined that making Luke sit for over 10 hours filling in bubble sheets would have been a form of mental and physical torture, given that we could give him no good reason as to why he needs to take this test.
  • ch a reason for opting out of the PSSA testing will negatively affect the school’s participation rate and could POTENTIALLY have a negative impact on the school’s Adequate Yearly Progress under the rules of No Child Left Behind.
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  • I asked Luke what he thought about it all. He just smiled. I also asked him what some of his friends were saying. According to Luke, they did not believe that NCLB and PSSAs were going to be used to evaluate the school. They didn’t know about AYP and the sanctions that came with it. Luke’s friends just thought the tests, “were used to make sure our teachers are teaching us the right stuff.” My guess is that is what most parents believe. Why wouldn’t they believe it? They’ve been told for nine years that we are raising standards, holding teachers accountable, and leaving no children behind. Who wouldn’t support that?
  • This time, instead of having Luke sit through another meeting, he researched the Japanese earthquake and tsunami as a current events project.
  • The point was to give Luke some experience in how to conduct planned civil disobedience in a lawful manner.
  • That, of course, is the real problem. NCLB and the standards movement is a political bait and switch. Sold as one thing (positive) to the public and then in practice, something radically different (punitive). This is probably one of the biggest reasons I decided to do the boycott—to make my community aware and to try and enlighten them of the real issues.
  • My answer is that the government is not listening. Teachers, principals, teacher educators, child development specialists, and educational researchers have been trying to get this message out for years. No one will listen.
  • Civil disobedience is the only option left. It’s my scream in a dark cave for light. I want teachers to teach again. I want principals to lead again. I want my school to be a place of deep learning and a deeper love of teaching. I want children exposed to history, science, art, music, physical education, and current events—the same experience President Obama is providing his own children.
  • Maybe civil disobedience will be contagious. Maybe parents will join us in reclaiming our schools and demand that teachers and administrators hands be untied and allow them to do their jobs—engage students in a rich curriculum designed to promote deep learning and critical thinking.
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    Another PA parent opts his child out of PSSA standardized testing as a measure of civil disobedience.  Word of caution:  This can very much hurt a school's Adequate Yearly Progress and ultimately the school may suffer.  But, what if this movement spread amongst parents?  What then?  Would the government take over the school?  
Patrick Green

Welcome | Teaching Copyright - 0 views

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    There's a lot of misinformation out there about legal rights and responsibilities in the digital era. This is especially disconcerting when it comes to information being shared with youth. Kids and teens are bombarded with messages from a myriad of sources that using new technology is high-risk behavior. Downloading music is compared to stealing a bicycle - even though many downloads are lawful. Making videos using short clips from other sources is treated as probably illegal - even though many such videos are also lawful.
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    EFF's curriculum on teaching copyright.
Vicki Davis

Curriculum Exemplars | EngageNY - 7 views

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    Engage NH has some examples of lessons that they consider exemplars for English Language arts grades 6-12 and math grades 1,2,7, and high school. IF you're looking to see what this looks like in practice, here are some that you'll want to review.
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