Copyright

            I choose to read the article “Copyright 101 for Educators: Winter 2003,”by Wesley A. Fryer. Basically the article was written to educate educators about the copy write laws. Copyright means any work that is published or unpublished that is original is protected by the United States for a period of time. It was enlightening for me to read that unpublished work was also protected under the Copyright laws. I always thought it all works need to be published in order to receive copyright protection. I felt more at rest knowing that my own work would be protected even if I did not get it published.

            Some of the issues surrounding copyright laws for teachers are that they need to model proper copyright laws and educate their students about copyright laws. Teachers should refer to the Fair Use guidelines to help them distinguish if they are using someone’s work fairly. The Fair Use Statement says that:

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

What I found interesting was the Teach Act. I thought this was especially useful and beneficial for educators as the Teach Act provides copyright exemptions for some educational purposely. This act saves a lot of time on the educator’s behalf to be able to use other people’s works without having to go through the whole process of getting permission. The only issue I have against this act is that it sort of goes against modeling proper and fair use of other people’s work. I think all teachers, regardless of the Teach Act should follow the copyright laws.

            It was a lot of information. I sort of knew that to use someone else’s work, I need permission from that person, but growing up I did not consistently followed the copyright laws. I always cited my sources but I never consulted the authors that I was using their works. I will definitely be more aware of the copyright laws after this article. I would also like to model the fair use of copyrighted works in my career.