Of Course Teachers Deserve Respect, Duh!

[portrait of Jamee Miller in her classroom]

[portrait of Jamee Miller in her classroom]
Jamee Miller
Or: “What Don’t Teachers Do?”

Florida Teacher’s Essay Becomes Rallying Cry for Respect | NEA Today

When people were attacking her and her fellow dedicated public school teachers, Florida fourth-grade teacher Jamee Miller got mad. And then she got to typing.

The result? An essay called “I Am a Teacher” which caught fire in recent weeks on Facebook and blogs as supporters of teachers attacked by budget-slashing lawmakers and critics trying to score political points took it to heart and then took it online.

Glad to see this gets some attention. Teachers deserve as much (if mot more) respect as other professionals. We really are learning experts. Too bad everyone thinks they know best when it comes to kids. What would medicine look like if it were perceived like teaching is?

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Scholarly Research in Communication

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Scholarly Research in Communication from the Center for Social Media.

This guide identifies four situations that represent the current consensus within the community of communication scholars about acceptable practices for the fair use of copyrighted materials … it describes how those rights should apply in certain recurrent situations.

I have spent a long time reading up on copyright and fair use because they have serious implications for an information junkie, like me. As a teacher, I have often heard strange ideas from administrators, teachers, students, and parents about how copyright, fair use, and attribution work. This isn’t exactly surprising considering The Associated Press wants to charge you for quotations (even though you don’t pay to quote someone).

The common situations in this code are described so that it’s easy to understand what to do when the situation happens in a teacher’s professional life. I hope teachers read it, and it helps to facilitate better lessons and products.