This page is dedicated to asking/answering the questions related to copyright issues in the classroom.

English question:  A book was ordered for all students.  It is printed in a style and font that is very difficult to read.  The teacher has the text of the book in an anthology.  Can he copy those pages and provide it to each student?

Math question:  A teacher found a TV show that contains information that would be beneficial to a concept the students are studying.  Can he tape the show and show it (or clips of it) in class?

Lower School Reading question: The Lower School Reading Teacher, Rogers Speer, asked a question regarding making copies from some consumable books that Principia purchased for his students to use. He had purchased multiple copies of several levels of consumable books called Reading for Concepts. He had intended for his students to work through each consumable book and go up to the next level. However, he found that most of his students didn't need to work through an entire book before being ready for the next level. At this point he stopped using them as consumables, but he still owned multiple copies of each book at the various levels. He began asking students to copy their answers on a sheet of paper, but he found this wasn't effective for the children's reading comprehension. They were disconnected from the work, and it wasn't helping as well as it could have. Now he has a system that's working very well for the students' comprehension, but he's wondering if it's violating copyright law. He makes copies of a few stories and questions out of one level for a particular student. The student then reads the story and answers the questions. In addition, the student then highlights their answer (a different color for each question). They also have to use the highlight color for each answer to go back to the story and highlight what in the story made them think the answer they chose was the correct answer. (For example: If the student used hot pink to highlight their answer to question #1, then in the text of the story, they would highlight in hot pink the idea that made them choose their answer for question #1.) Rogers wanted to know if copying these pages is within copyright law since he owns multiple copies of these books anyway, but technically his students aren't consuming them. Anne Hedgepeth and Cindy Marston met to discuss this issue, and Cindy noted that in the front cover of the consumable book the copyright statement reads: "All Righst Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher." So based on that statement, it is NOT within copyright law for Rogers to photocopy these pages. Cindy and Anne decided that Anne will show Rogers this statement and have him let the students continue their highlighting system right in the workbooks themselves. Each student can do just the few stories/answers that he/she needs to do, and when all of Rogers copies are used up, Rogers can buy more. In this way, Rogers can continue using just a few stories from each level with a particular student, he can continue his highlighting procedures that seem to work well with his students, but he will also be using the books as consumables, reordering new books as needed, and maintaining copyright law.    

It is important that teachers know that student-created work is copyrighted.  This means that if you wish to share student work with others, you must receive permission.  This is also good modeling!  There is a form to make it easier to request permission.    Student Permission Request Form   This form is also stored on the Principia network: K:depts\STL\FAC\Form - Authorization for Use of Student Work.doc     It is recommended that you create folder in your MyDocuments called StudentPermission and store the signed forms in that folder.  (The student could sign the form on your tablet so that you can simply keep a digital copy and not a paper copy of the form.)