MAC Week 2: Reading Post

Image by scottchan
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I am responding to The Art of Possibility.  This is quite possibly the most intriguing book that I've read in a while.  Usually, when I am told I HAVE to read a book, I dread the task.  I'll act like my daughter and put it off until the very last minute!  I dove into this book and read the first 4 chapters like I would one of my fictional "fun" reads.  I didn't want to put it down.
First of all, just turning your attitude around to give a completely new outlook, which is invented!  Trying to think about everything being invented is a hard concept.  I liked the practice with the dots.  I never could do that problem.  I pride myself on being a rule-follower.  So I know that I impose "rules" on myself that aren't really there.  It is a hard thing to change.
The other thing that really opened my eyes were the stories that are presented in the text.  Especially in the Giving an A chapter.  I had tears in my eyes when I read the story about the Taiwanese student and his realization that he was happier with his new thought of being an A instead of number 68.  I immediately thought about what possibilities my students would have if they were given an A at the beginning of the year.  What inhibitions would they let go of and participate in the activities that we do in class.  What possibilities would a school district accomplish if students were so concerned about the expectations but instead the possibilities that could arise!
Today, I was sitting in a grade level meeting and our reading coach was discussing adding yet another reading passage that would add more rigor to our curriculum and give us a better idea of our students skills.  I thought about how my students have done so far with these passages and saw them be squashed again by another poor grade.  Another measure of how horrible they are at this reading strategy, as many of my students are struggling with their reading strategies.  I could actually see their little sad faces in my head.  It made me ache.

How can I apply this book to my classroom without going against school district policies?

MAC Week 1: Leadership Post

I had to think long and hard about who I looked to for their leadership qualities.  Before I could make a decision, I did a little bit of research and I liked the information that I found on http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.html

I knew what I thought made a good leader; listening skills, delegation, and organization to name a few.  But I really liked how this site talked about the differences between a "boss" and a "leader."

I choose to look at my former principal, Stewart Maxcy.  Putting aside that he was the principal that hired me for my first teaching position, he was an excellent leader for our school.  While his demeanor was calm and laid-back, he still commanded attention with his presence.  He rarely got push-back from other staff members when he asked for a task to be done.  Even now, while he works in the county office on a project that most teachers despise (Race-to-the-Top), Mr. Maxcy can still get teachers to help out.
He always had his door open and welcomed teachers who needed to discuss school issues.  When you did have an issue, he didn't have a plan of action for you, but rather a question: What do you think we can do about that?  He included you in the decision, he didn't make it for you.  All of these things made Stewart Maxcy a leader.

MAC Week 1: Classmate Response #2

Below is my response to Berengaria Navarre's blog:

http://berengarianavarre.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/copyright/#comment-3

Berengaria's post:

In viewing the video and articles, I appreciated the broad range of materials provided on the copyright issue. One thing I noticed right away was the Stanford video on The Fair(y) Tale of Fair Use. This was created entirely from short clips from Disney movies. So this would be an example of fair use for teaching purposes? Obviously, this subject matter could be taught without using any Disney clips. We are being told that the narrow range of fair use for teaching purposes is: can the subject matter be taught without using any of the copyright material; well, mostly the answer will be yes. So how is the Fair(y) Tale of Fair Use complying with fair use? Are we being warned off for our own good from using copyright material or is Stanford violating copyright or is it a different application of fair use?

I work at a very conservative institution and all my courses have warned me away from any use of copyrighted content so I am overly careful. Personally, my views are quite different. Much of our culture has been created and sold to us by media giants. And yet, we are still humans and as the cave art shows us, stories are an essential part of who we are and how we make sense of ourselves, each other, and the world at large. We sat round campfires and told tales. Our stories come from archetypes and basic story types. How can we not remix our media to tell new stories as we sit in front of computers and connect up? I want to see the stories that others want to tell. I think the present copyright laws violate the intended purpose of the law and that if we don’t complain, the situation will only get worse as the media conglomerates pressure the government into giving longer periods of copyright.

In the meantime, places like Internet Archive are helping to keep Public Domain alive. I love the Archive and we have been using this site for years. In a recent blog post, they are trying to look into some type of peer to peer networking to speed up downloads and reduce their costs. Creative Commons is another site that is a godsend when you are looking for resources, particularly images. Their system is easy to understand and easy to comply with.

My response: 

Berengaria,
I completely understand your view on current copyright laws.  By nature, we share.  We share our ideas, thoughts, experiences.  I believe that it is important for the public to have access to these.  You talked about Internet Archive.  Did you post this on our assignment this week?  I would like to visit the site and poke around a bit.

MAC Week 1: Classmate Response

Below is my response to Hunter Menning's blog: Blogged on Phonics

http://www.bloggedonphonics.blogspot.com/2012/03/trademark-trifecta.html

Hunter's post:
Ok, how do we measure up in the copyright world? When I think of copyrights, I think of honor and trust. I respect people and their creations, because I hope that others respect my original works. I have submitted hundreds of items to be copyrighted and have studied these laws for several years. Copyrights give a creator the ability to enforce or restrict others from using something that the creator has previously invented. I love when someone creates something novel – wow, that alone, is what life is about. Original thought instead of others’ thoughts intrigues me. I have sat in meetings and heard people who only spout lots and lots of other people’s ideas from books that they have read. They are impressive and quite amazing sometimes; however, they are not original ideas. I am thankful for those who have unique and solid opinions. I appreciate those who birth new concepts – patentable, trademarkable, and copyrightable! Wow, I crave a conversation with them. Talks like that cause an hour or two to go by and it only seems like ten minutes. I believe that we should help protect each other’s work. We should report infringement to help the authors of the world. Originally inspired authors are very rare and valuable. It bothers me to find out that hit, star writers sometimes only get about 1% of the income from their works. That is because entrepreneurs get involved and take the lion’s share of the income. I guess 1% is better than 0% if the project would not have been published for anyone to see, hear, or experience it. The truth is that I tend to hang out with the creators more than the business types. What would I be like if I reversed that? Wow, which one do you hang out with more?


My Response:
Hunter, out of the hundreds of things you have submitted, have all of them received copyright? I don't mind saying that I feel completely at a loss in this subject. After starting Full Sail was the first time that I every truly looked into copyright. I was always aware of copyright, but never fully understood all of it.
I, too, appreciate original thoughts and works. I can also see the use that the typical public can get from those original works.

MAC Week 1: Reading Entry-Copyright Issues

After watching all the videos, I'm not sure if I feel more reassured or more frightened about copyright.  "Fair Use" seems like a very slippery slope.  Watching the Fair(y) Use Tale was a little headache provoking at the beginning, but once I focused on the words and not the images, I got the gist of the video.  The short clips used as a teachable movie…very neat way to show what falls under fair use. Being from Florida, near Disney World, I have heard many stories on the news about Disney copyright.  

The Creative Commons licensing is pretty awesome.  We did have to use them earlier in the program, but I've not really used them since.  I know from watching a few of my classmates’ projects/assignments, which they have continued to use the Creative Commons.  

The other video that really stood out for me was the one about the history that won’t be shown because of copyright law.  I believe the saying is, Those whom do not understand history are doomed to repeat it.  How sad is it that something as silly as money would keep such important events in our history from public view?

Month 7-Musical Theory

Music has always been a huge part of my life.  I associate so much with what song I heard...my husband would tell me that I do that to much.  However, I know that the soundtrack to my life is a great one filled with many different genres.
Musical Theory made me leave my comfort zone.  I have no problem singing in the background while I clean or even when I was a kid in my church choir.  But never, did I ever sing in front of people by myself.  Completely unheard of!  This class had be creating my own music, writing my own lyrics, and rapping (yes, I said rapping) those lyrics into a microphone.  My class helped to produce our first ever music video and they had a blast coming up with the moves to go with the song.

Month 6-DEA

This month by far has been my favorite.  I loved getting an introduction to Flash and I crave more.  This will definitely be an application that I come back to!  Below is a link to my project.  I took a couple of vocabulary words from my district's reading series and used them in an educational tool that I would like to finish.

 Jamaica Louise James Vocabulary Activity