Copyright and Fair Use for Teachers

Before you read my blog entry, check out this link:

http://http://www.nccei.org/blackboard/copyright.html

It explains what teachers can and cannot use due to copyright. It is extremely interesting and informative and deserves to either be printed out or bookmarked.

Copyright is a huge issue in today's society, be it the kid at home downloading music, someone borrowing a quote without crediting it correctly, or a teacher running off copies.

Teachers need to be informed of their copyright guidelines from the beginning. While there is almost no chance anything will come of it, it is a good example to set for their students.

However, I can see that the copyright parameters set by the above link puts some teachers at a disadvantage, especially with copying multiple copies of a poem or short story. I don't know how some teachers get around this, but they do. How many teachers actually know the things listed in The Fine Print?

Yes, it's stealing, but if it serves as a valuable tool for students to learn, why set that parameter. I still have stories my teachers ran off for me in high school and plan on using for my students. How do teachers get around this?