5/26/2016 7 Comments Teachers and Sharing InformationThere is no contest that we are living in the golden age of teaching. We have so much at our disposal to enrich and engage our students; from current videos posted on Youtube, to free programs that allow students to create content, to lesson plan and idea banks for teachers, it's never been easier to be creative and look like a champ in the classroom. But this new age of information accessibility raises a series of important questions.
First, who should own the material created by a teacher to use in their classroom? Unfortunately, big corporations have set a precedent years ago that make it legal to take ownership of any ideas that were developed during the years a person worked at a certain company. Following suit, many school districts claim ownership to any material a teacher created during their work for the district. While this may seem legit, since other companies have been doing it for a long time, the reality is, this is not logical or right. Being involved with the high tech world in one of my past lives, I have heard of stories of engineers who had amazing ideas while working on a certain company, but had to bide their time and wait one or two years after leaving a company before following a certain idea they had, as their contract covered not only the ideas they had during the time they were in the company, but anything after a year or two after that time, as long as the idea was somehow related to the work they were doing -- which, being engineers working on technology, it most likely was. The inhumanity of these practices always baffles me. When companies (or school districts) hire us, they are hiring us because they see a set of traits and qualities which will benefit their company somehow. These are inner traits, ideas and point of view that were developed over a lifetime, and should belong to the worker and the worker alone; the money that is paid as a salary to this worker could never be enough to pay for the incredible wealth of gathered and collected data, insight and experiences this worker gathered throughout their lives. It should be impossible for someone to own my ideas while I work for them, during any particular time. It would be like owning a piece of my soul. The ideas I have right now while performing my function as a teacher are unique and sparked not only from my direct work, but from everything I have lived and seen and experienced throughout my lifetime, and no company should be able to own this ethereal part of me. But somehow, a long time ago, when people were seen only as bodies to be owned, this was acceptable, and we have yet to catch up and force the rules to change; we have yet to wake up and state, enough. Don't get me wrong. I am all for sharing my ideas, my lesson plans, the way I do things, with other teachers; I have several sites with how-to information and examples of work, going into detailed minutia and making it easier for anyone to do what I do. On the bottom of my sites, I state, "Take it, it's free" or something to that effect. I want kids to have great experiences everywhere, and if something works for me, I really want to share it free of charge. But it is my choice to share; it is my choice to make this material available for free. It should always be my choice. As an artist as well as a teacher, there are some things that I would rather share for a profit. Again, my ideas, my choice. For instance, I have made some posters for the Elements of Art which are really good; I intend on eventually making another set, with the Principles of Art. I also have developed cool posters for science, neat designs and games for education and other things that took me several full days to develop. Did I have to do this amount of work for my students? No; I do these things because it is my passion as an artist. In the end, if it turns out looking excellent, and if I want to sell these items, as an artist, I should be able to sell this in sites such as Teacher Pay Teachers. I had heard about this site before, and even have purchased a couple of fun things from it (couldn't help it!). The idea that my money was going towards another teacher made me happy. After reading through this blog post, and checking out the comments, I had to reevaluate my thinking regarding what a teacher is and does. Every person who loves his or her craft, and works hard to come up with unique ways of seeing a certain subject, is an artist. This includes teachers. As an artist, every teacher should have the choice to either give their art for free, or be paid for their art, and they should not be shamed for trying to be paid for their work simply because they should "do it for free if they love it". Musicians like playing music; would you ask a musician to come and play for free, simply because they love it so much? Even if they have a solid gig on a bar that pays for all their bills, would you resent him or her for charging for their CDs and having pride on the creative aspect of their work, and for wanting to be compensated? Would you ask an artist to give away paintings for free, because they have so many anyways? Would you call them greedy if they didn't? If we expand on this, every person who loves and enjoys her or his profession -- be it a doctor, a dentist or an engineer, or a teacher -- could be shamed into working for free. Many of these professions do work for free sometimes, but it's on their own terms -- by the same token, teachers should be able to distinguish what they want to share and what they want to profit from; what they want to copyleft and what they want to copyright. Their ideas and plans should belong to them, and not to the company that hired them. I currently copyleft, and share often, things that work for me; but one day, when I get my act together, I would love making some copyrighted things available for a profit. I would have fun selling my intellectual property to other people who may not have 22 years of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator experience in order to make things look a certain way; I would feel good about making money for it, and they would feel good about having these visual aides. What could be wrong about that?
7 Comments
5/26/2016 02:12:41 pm
Thanks for the post.
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Lindsey
5/28/2016 10:31:20 am
Angela, I have also grappled with the issue of the school district owning my work. I think you summed up the main point - how can a district own an individual's thoughts and previous experiences? Maybe it has and I'm just unaware, but I can't believe this has not been fought against before. In terms of making money from your 22 years of experience, to me this is your job, not just an article or reference. If you don't make money for your work, how are you supposed to make a living? Lots to consider with how much time, energy and expertise we are able and willing to give for free.
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Angela Jurgensen
6/19/2016 08:10:07 pm
Hi Lindsey!! Oh crap. I just realized that I used my other email to do this website -- so I haven't gotten any notification for any comments!!! I missed you guys. I have the sense that there is a line somewhere that is a little blurry, in my opinion. I left school in 2001 with a mindset that I should not give my art away never ever, as it makes it difficult for all the other artists out there -- united we stand, divided we fall, that kind of thing. Seeing what has happened with musicians nowadays, who get their art so easily pirated and who historically already got so little from the music producers, I can't help but think of the injustice that it is for an artist of any kind, not having their work recognized and remunerated. I just joined the education community a couple of years ago, and really just graduated in 2015... but in my mind, I really see the difference between sharing ideas and lesson plans, and sharing the product of artistic creation. It's just what my profession was for a long time, and it's hard for me to shake it off... maybe as long as the school doesn't claim ownership, I can have my cake and eat it too. So much to learn about everything!!!
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Irwin
5/31/2016 05:54:05 pm
Angela, I have found it difficult as well, to discover that the materials that I have created as a teacher don't really belong to me. I am wondering if I place the CC copyright information somewhere on all my material, will I get into some sort of trouble? As a musician, you would not believe the number of times I have been asked to play somewhere "for free, just because I love to play" and hate it when I have to explain the investment that I have made into that craft. Rarely do people understand, they usually get offended and I have lost friends because of it.
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Angela Jurgensen
6/19/2016 08:13:32 pm
Hi Irwin! Sorry, this weebly is under a different email and I only gfot the messages now because I logged into it by mistake. I totally can believe when you say people want you to play for free. I have been asked about getting designs done for free, websites, you name it... and in reality, I did do a lot of work for free! And you know what? The people who asked me to do it for free just turned around and asked for something else, without considering the hours that went into making whatever it was, plus the time it took me to learn to be efficient and use the tools. It's silly to give in, and it gives people the wrong idea. We may love doing it, but it doesn't fall out of our ears with no effort.
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Helene Berube
6/4/2016 09:17:47 am
I also have issues with the fact that the material that I created as a teacher should belong to the school district. After doing some research on this topic, I thought that I had come up with a way to defend my intellectual property. As a teacher, I am directed to teach the student; therefore, I am employed to provide a service. The school district is not directing me on how to do it. Every teacher has an autonomy to teach his class. However, when I contacted the BCTF, I was told that my interpretation of the laws on intellectual property was not accurate. It seems that the district has all the rights on what I create to teach my classes. After reading the BCTF's response, I was disappointed to realize that the body who should be representing our rights did not think that the intellectual property of a teacher is an important issue to defend. At this point, the best I can do to protect my intellectual property as a teacher is to host my created material on my own devices and Google drive. This will allow me to take what I have created with me when I leave.
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Angela Jurgensen
6/19/2016 08:17:56 pm
Hi Helene, yes, I like your idea -- host it under your own devices, and then you own it at least. I am also surprised with the BCTF response... my school is private, and they seem to be a little more lenient with our creations. I have not asked point-blank but have seen other teachers creating things and working on their projects and making money from them (Photographs and design). I should ask, though. I love the idea of sharing, as we all do, but I do want to be able to sometimes sell things too. I get the idea that the "moral imperative" of a teacher is to share and educate, but I think both can coexist.
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