Wk 2 - response to Cherie Hellenbrand

MAC Week 2 Reading-Art of Possibilities Chapters 1-4

When I first watched the Ted video of Zander playing the classical music and attaching the music to meaningful memories of a person’s life, I knew this was going to be an awesome book.  After reading the first chapter I needed to ponder for quite some time on the question “What assumption am I making, that I’m not aware I’m making, that gives me what I see?”  And I definitely wasn’t ready to move onto the second question about what I could invent.  As I continued reading the answers started to become clear.

In the second chapter I had a better understanding of Zander’s writings and what he meant by possibilities.  My need for procedure and control accomplishing daily tasks and goals was hindering me from understanding what can be achieved. Zander states, “When you are oriented to abundance, you care less about being in control, and you take more risks.”  He continues to say, “In the measurement world, you set a goal and strive for it.  In the universe of possibility, you set the context and let life unfold.” 

Giving an A is the chapter that truly touched me emotionally.  Reminding me that my students by nature really want to learn and achieve.  I agree with the  analogy of chipping away the outside barriers so the student can reach their true potential. Stopping to really listen to the thoughts and trouble of students is so important.  The second to last letter written by John Imhof made me realize how I measure people and I need to step back and look at people’s actions and comments differently. Imhof wrote in his letter “We just have to stop demanding that it be on OUR terms or conditions, and instead open our selves to the possibility that what we seek may be in front of us all the time.”

Changes in perception to realize the contributions a person can make are twofold. Not only does a person feel good about himself or herself when they contribute, but they also radiate energy that carries over to other people.  I notice my attitude in my classes will directly relate to how my students perceive my lesson.  Reading this book has awakened my awareness of myself and others.

My Response:
The beginning question is such a good guide to help me think about the parameters I am putting on both my learning and my students, "what assumption am I making..."  I make aprox. a million a minute.  Assuming students are even hearing what I am meaning to say.  "...that I'm not aware I'm making..."I just think of how I already said something, so my students must remember it, right? not necessarily. "...that gives me what I see?" We all see what our experience and parameters allow us to.  I hope to use this guide as I go through my lessons.  
Lastly, I also agree with the importance of visualizing abundance.  Focusing on the big picture opens me up to many ways to get there. 

Wk 2 - response to Anna Dooley

MAC - Week 2 - Reading

The reading this week was very interesting and a great conversation starter with my family and friends. As teachers, we always talk to our students about reaching their full potential, the possibilities are endless if you put your mind to it, etc. After reading the first few chapters that we walk the walk but are not talking the talk. Until we, the society, can open our minds further and realize that the norm of rewards and penalties in education is not a natural law but a changeable philosophy, these “you can be great” seem a bit empty.

“Giving an A” was a wonderful chapter to read. I remember very clearly the feelings and thoughts I experienced while performing a recital for a grade in college or performing in rep class where immediately my teachers and peers would evaluate me and give feedback on my interpretations and techniques. It was so hard to focus on solely performing the music for arts sake and not striving for the best performance in rep or working to get the best comments of the day. It wasn’t until my senior year preparing my 4^th and final full recital I focused on the music, and that alone…and I must say, that recital was the best recital of my life. Grades and ratings are taught to people at a very young age, even in daycare with student of the week or top reader. How wonderful for everyone if we could focus on the achievements met along the path to success compared to no one else but yourself. As long as we continue to reward society norms, and penalize other ideas and ways of doing things, our society will slowly dwindle down, like it is currently.

Anna-

What a powerful blog. I have such similar beliefs about grades and loved the Giving an A chapter. I had the opportunity to be a part of a team that stopped using grades on the report card and had to come up with language to use for standards based assessments. It was challenging and certainly time consuming, but I would have to say years later, so worth it! Students have specific items that they know they either need to improve, or excelled in. Letters are powerful inhibitors, it is so important to be aware of that when working with students. Sharing your personal experience was very meaningful. Thank you for your honesty and powerful message. You are an amazing woman who will inspire many musicians to become great!

Are you READy? Art of Possibility, Chp 1-4

This weeks reading was AMAZING.  Beginning with the story of how Ben tells a little girl, He is doing, "perfectly"....we are given new ways to think, new possibilities for living a full life.  The first parts of books are usually something I skim, or it may take me a little bit to get "into" the book.  That was not the case with Art of Possiblity by Rosamand and Benjamin Zander. The conversational, easy going style of the prose is engaging and provides a great flow as the chapters reveal a new attitude and vantage point to life.  The authors' passion and enthusiasm for their work really comes through. One of my favorite ideas was the constraints that we put on ourselves.  The unspoken, unwritten parameters that we perceive to be there that truly are not.  This was depicted with the discussion of the nine-dot puzzle, there is a square of nine-dots and the directions say to use four connected, straight lines to connect all the dots.  Most people will think they need to stay within the "box" created by the dots.  The solution is that you must make two of the lines extend outside those parameters in order to solve the puzzle.  Therefore, the image is there to remind me to always think outside the box!

I am inspired to open up my mind to new possibilities.  Just like this amazing course at Full Sail.  I can't stop telling people how awesome this program is and I always begin by saying, "I was really just an emailer" when I started and now I have been introduced to a whole new world.  I have not only been introduced but I have been taught how to be an active participant in an entirely new way of thinking that I had truly never dreamed I would be a part of.  The EMDT program has been such an inspiration, I don't want it to end... the desire is instilled within me to continue this technological journey.  Where it will lead me.... who knows? It is like learning to ride a bike, climbing a mountain, and riding a roller coaster all at the same time. I can only say that the Possibilities are endless!!

Wrapping up with Copyright

What a week.  I began the week without much knowledge of what "fair use" actually looked like and how I was going to work around Copyright Laws to use this new found technology and movie making skills in my  classroom.  I have now discovered how "fair use" works especially in education, that it is about amount of a clip that you use and whether it is essential to your lesson.  This was really news to me... I have shown full videos in my class and I have used my personal video account to show a movie to my students.  Now I understand that both of these actions are against copyright laws.  I feel bad and I look forward to educating my coworkers and my students so that these incidents occur less.

I also have discovered the Creative Commons solution.  I am so grateful that this site exists to both protect independent artists and allows us to share materials as we choose.  This site has images, videos, music and graphics that can be used according to individual desires.  This has been put in the front of my Bookmark list, and I look forward to using the works to enhance my future lessons.

Wk 1 comment 2 Jana Claybrook

Wk1 Reading Copyright -Jana Claybrook

The copyright videos were interesting and a little overwhelming. I was totally oblivious to the depth of the piracy on media. The film “Good Copy/Bad Copy” opened my eyes to the extent of the piracy not only on music but on the motion picture industry as well. I have always wondered about those advertisements at the beginning of DVD’s about piracy being against the law. I guess I thought it was geared more towards big time offenders than just everyday people.

This program at Full Sail has certainly heightened my awareness of copyright issues. I have on numerous occasions searched for copyright free images and have been disappointed when I open the image.  Most images appear with the statement “This image may be subject to copyright”. 
 What does that really mean?  Where can I find material?
As I am immersed into the legal and illegal aspects of copyrighting this month, I hope to gain the necessary information to better educate my students.
We must prepare our students for success in the future by urging them to create original work and educating them on the laws of copyrighting.

My comment:

I related to you "ignoring" those opening warnings in the beginning thinking these were for big time offenders. I never thought that using movies in class was piracy. It turns out, as I understand it, I can't use my Netflix account to get a movie for my students to watch, I can show clips from the movie. But showing the whole movie is against the agreement. I too have felt overwhelmed in trying to find images, or other copyright free material. Thank you Leah for the list of sites, I have noted them and will most certainly check those out. Finally, I love your solution Jana, to have more students create their own work and share that original work, free of fear of copyright. I also love Creative Commons as a solution. I don't want to feel restricted as an educator on what I can do, and getting a handle on this copyright code will allow me to educate my students as well.

Wk 1 Comment 1- Jeri Kennedy

Week 1 - Copyright Issues Parts 1 - 3

Copyright Part 1 (Intro)
The documentary was riveting.  I was intrigued with the different cultures and how they were represented.  Nigeria being the number one producer of movies was quite a surprise and I liked their approach to the copyright issues.  Piracy is not a problem if the product goes directly to the public and pirated copies cost the same as the original copies.  The idea of having a blanket copyright fee or adding fees to phone or ISP billing is interesting but I am not sure it would be fair to all.  I considered some of our citizens that are on a fixed income that do not participate in file sharing and that would penalize them if they had to absorb the fees.  There is certainly not a simple solution and the problem just continues to get more complex as technology makes advances.

Americans, I think, tend to want the less expensive pirated copies when possible.  Additionally, we don’t like the corporate moguls that set the prices of movies and music and ensure they make a hefty profit.  There have been some music stars that have denounced their labels and worked to make sure the money does not prevent fans from accessing the music.  I think Brazil has the right idea - one we may have had long ago in America - that the music made available to the public is meant to advertise the musician in order to get fans for the live shows.

We also have the technology that we could provide CD recordings of the concert available for sale immediately following the concert - I would LOVE that!


Copyright Part 2 (Fair Use)
The Disney clips were amazing!  I think the time they spent on finding the clips must have been extensive!  The movie was informative and entertaining.  I presume it has proven the legal defensive stance of Fair Use since I am sure Disney would have been litigious if possible.

Originally I was fairly pro copyright - protect the creator.  Then after watching the series of videos I began to reconsider.  Fair Use is still quite restrictive and limiting, though is better then having no access at all.

I am concerned with being able to defend the use of copy written material as part of my teaching.  In the example of “To Kill a Mockingbird” used as part of a civil rights unit I would consider the movie or clips from it would not be NECESSARY to teach the unit, though it would be beneficial if it was included.  So in my estimation it would not fall within the Fair Use guidelines.


Copyright Part 3 (Creative Commons)
This is such a simple and useful solution to the copyright battle!  This concept is new to me, having never heard of it before starting this program, is absolutely the answer to this troubling problem.

I think Creative Commons is something that should be integrated into education beginning at the earliest years in schools.  Children need to be taught what is okay to use and encouraged to create their own materials.  It is crucial to build their knowledge base and balance it with embracing their need to create!

Questions.....
So when Dr. Seuss (copyright holders) began heavily marketing his characters a few years back, that was, i presume, to be able to renew the copyright and save it from being used for other purposes by absolutely anyone, correct?  That must have been before the change in the duration of the copyright.

How does it work with songs then?  I caught the end of the premiere of the new show, Voices, and the contestants were definitely singing songs that had to have been protected.  They were major hit songs by major artists.  Did they have to secure a license to perform them then or is there a loophole there?  We all know “Happy Birthday” and many of the songs Girl Scouts used to sing are protected so what is the difference?

At one time writers were told to copyright there material by sending it to themselves through the mail and leaving it in the envelope unopened until they needed it for litigation.  If I understand it correctly, simply having the finished product now automatically copyrights the material, or does it need to be published in some form such as posting to a web site, emailing, capturing on video, etc?



Jeri
It was great to read your blog. I had a similar experience in beginning to be pro-copyright, and now seeing how that could be restrictive to creativity.  I enjoyed reading your comments on Fair Use and the idea of showing a piece of the movie in class is acceptable.  We have just had some major discussions in our school about Netlix.  We as teachers are not allowed to show an entire movie through Netflix to the class.  We are however, through fair use, allowed to show clips of movies to the class.  I am finding this discussion very informative.

Wk 1- Reading Copyright... what is Right??

This first week of Media Asset Creation has really provided some great learning opportunities, examining copyright from both sides.

There's Something Big Looming Overhead!

The movies/clips were so informative, beginning with "Good Copy, Bad Copy"  This was a very clever film that took a look at how music is being remixed and used around the world.  How ultimately, the remixes are being remixed.  After viewing this I was left wondering how I felt and what tack to take with this blog post.  Then I reviewed the rest of the weeks assignments and read the book and discovered more about Creative Commons and what kind of service they provide to the creating world.  Information is changing so quickly and the way multimedia is being used is evolving and becoming more common place, anyone can create something new.  By allowing creators to easily put a copyright on their creations, supports the copyright laws while at the same time stays flexible enough so that materials can be shared.  I believe that this is the way of the future, people are going to find things and put them together with their own spin. As long as creators are being given credit for creations, and people are being sensible with others work, resourcefulness can continue on with pure intentions.  Piracy can be slowed and infringements can be turned around.  The answer to this divide is education, letting students, creators and teachers  know that they have rights and restrictions and what those both are. The more knowledge the more people have, the better the world will be.