Copyright on Digital Documentary: A social studies lesson

This digital documentary that was made on YouTube both follows and violates copyright issues. It is a documentary explaining the definition of government, and how the government works in America. The documentary begins by relating the idea of government to Disney's movie "The Lion King". The documentary shows an image of the cover of the movie of the Lion King and shows about 4 or 5 photos that are from the film. This might be acceptable because it is used for educational purposes to explain how each character in the film has a role in their socieity's "government"; however, there are no citations or works cited page that shows where the images were retreived from. Also, the whole song from the Lion King is playing in the background which is probably ok because it's only one song from the CD which is less than 10% of the CD. There are also images of President Obama and other governmental images which are fine to use because they are educational; however, once again there are no citations so a person could not find them if they wanted to.

This video made me think a lot about how I will create videos when I am a teacher. Media such as movies, songs and images are a great way to make the material more interactive; however, it shows how important it is to give credit to where you get your material from.

IPT286- Copyright

From the videos off of the assignment page, I was able to learn more about the Fair Use policy than I knew previously. First of all, I never knew that education is valued above the commercial interests of companies such as Disney or Warner Bros., and this is revealed with the copyright laws for teachers. I think that as a teacher, that could even be important to mention to students so they can see the value that this country places on education and how important it is. I also did not know that the primary purpose of copyright is not to protect authors from theft of their work; but in fact, according to Sandra Day O'Connor, it is to promote the progress of science and art. What this means for me as a teacher is that I must be using the material for education purposes in a face-to-face classroom, and not showing a Disney movie as a reward before summer vacation.

I also did not know that if you have specific questions on your limitations as a teacher you can go to CopyrightEducation.Org which gives specific guidelines on what you can do under Fair Use. I think as a teacher this would be a good thing to download and have on hand in case you have specific questions as a teacher for a specific lesson plan.

I also did not know the specific CONFU limitations such as when showing motion media you can show 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less and with text its 10% or 1,000 words, whichever is less. Also with music, you can use 10% or 30 sec. max. As a teacher, this is helpful to know when you are unsure about creative commons rights (which is also something that is really cool and I didn't know about before this lesson! ) I also didn't know about the Pics4Learning website- this would be a really useful site for getting photos to put in lesson plans.

Cool Video for Social Studies Teachers!!

Hey- all of you social studies soon-to-be teachers!! I found this really cool video when I was creating my website that I thought you guys might be interested in. I think it would be a really cool way to introduce a unit on the Declaration of Independence to your class. Just thought I would share! TeacherTube also has a lot of other really cool stuff. Check it out!

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=198463&title=Too_Late_to_Apologize__A_Declaration&ref=Fair427

Class Website

Ms. Fairbanks Class Website! Click Me!

The assignment for this week was to create a class website and I decided to use Google Sites since that was recommended and I am not too familiar with creating websites. I really enjoyed this assignment and I felt like I learned SO much that will be helpful when I am a future teacher.

For my theme and colors I decided to choose something I thought was classy, with a little color, but not too busy.For my welcome page I posted a picture of myself and used Picnik to edit it to a "focused-black and white setting" with a polaroid picture frame. Picnik was really useful and I think I will really enjoy using it not only in teaching but for my personal life as well. I also have a map of the school I will be teaching at and contact information and a link to my teaching blog on my welcome page as well.

For each of my courses, World Geography and World History I included a Student of the Month page which I made on glogster.com and embedded. I thought Glogster would be a really useful tool for having students make posters or for other presentations as well. I also added a TeacherTube page for each course which has a short video and instructions to an extra credit assigment as well.

I also added GoodReads as one of my gadgets so students can see which books we will be reading for each course and also other books that I recommend if they want some extra reading.

Another feature I added was a countdown for Thanksgiving Break. I thought this countdown could be a good idea for big tests, presentations, field trips or guest speakers as well as holidays.

Rhetorical Analysis for Film Trailer

The Company Men

1. The argument of this film trailer is that working men in America do not need to be ashamed of losing their jobs or having financial problems because the economy has been hard on several men who work hard to support their families.

2. The audience includes working men in America who have lost their job or had economic hardships because of the economy, have a family to support, and are frustrated with the poor economy.

3. The goal of this film trailer is not only to get the audience to see the film, but to instill hope within the working men of America that they can find ways to support their families and be proud of themselves.

4. The film trailer tries to accomplish the goal of instilling hope within working American men through several elements of rhetoric.

Pathos- The trailer uses probably its strongest persuasive tool with the element of pathos to instill certain emotions such as sympathy, heartache and hope. The trailer depicts scenes of the main character, Ben Affleck, being with his family and wife to gain sympathy with the audience when he loses his job. The trailer also shows the wife and main character crying and trying to care for their family which evokes the emotions of heartache and once again sympathy. The trailer also plays inspirational music at the end along with scenes of Ben Affleck finding several ways to get work, which evokes hope within the audience.

Ethos- The film trailer uses the element of ethos to persuade the audience towards the goal of seeing the move and instilling hope within the audience. This is done through the use of “name-dropping” or displaying the faces and names of prominent actors such as Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner and Chris Cooper. By showing actors that have had successful movies in the past and have credibility, the trailer brings authority to its film and its message.

Typical- Another element of rhetoric the film trailer utilizes is presenting an argument that is acceptable to its audience. This issue is an extremely relevant issue to its audience, since the economy is a hot topic for almost all working men in America and several men with families have been affected by it. It is very representative of its audience, and real concerns and issues that the audience is dealing with. The trailer also does not fall too much under “Ad Populum” or jumping on the bandwagon of complaining of economic issues because it presents a positive argument.

Relevant- The relevance of the trailer is a weak point for the argument. There are several love scenes between the husband and wife, while although they might evoke the emotions of love and passion and apply to pathos, seem to have little if any relevance to the main goal of the trailer. However, this type of relationship would be relevant to the audience of working men who have a healthy relationship with their own wife.

5. Due to its extremely persuasive use of pathos and its relevance to its audience, this film trailer is very successful in both its argument and goal of not only getting people to see the film, but sympathizing with the hardships of this economy and instilling hope into the hearts of frustrated working middle-aged men in America.

Rhetorical Analysis- Source for Paper A

“Terror Mosque at Ground Zero: 3 Things Sarah Palin Doesn’t Want You to Know” BYU Political Review, September 2010- Vol. 6, Issue 1

Summary: This article talks about the “terror mosque” that Sarah Palin, Fox News and Newt Gingrich speculate would be a headquarters for radical Islam. The article lists out three facts that are not mentioned, however, with either of these other sources. It states how 1) the “terror mosque” is not strictly a mosque, but part of a complex called Park51. The second fact it states is that 2) the mosque is not at ground zero, but on the ashes of a former Burlington Coat Factory around the corner from ground zero. The last point made is that 3) the mosque is not sponsored by terrorists but by Mr. Gamal, a real estate broker who also leases trendy lofts in NYC’s TriBeCa neighborhood.

1. The argument of this article is that the mosque being built in NYC is not a “terror mosque”, contrary to what has been said by previous sources such as Sarah Palin and Fox News.

2. The audience includes conservative BYU students who have listened to Sarah Palin, Fox News and Newt Gingrich speculate about the building of the mosque in NYC, and have not heard information from any other sources.

3. The goal of this article is to enable students with the facts and make students aware of their responsibility as citizens to respect and uphold not only their own rights, but the rights of others.

4. The speaker tries to make the argument that the mosque is not a “terror mosque” through the use of several elements of rhetoric.

Logos- Logos is one of the most prevalent uses of rhetoric in this article. The whole article is based on the premise of “3 facts”, thus taking every argument opposing sources have said and countering it with a fact. For example, the mosque has been called “terror mosque” but the article states how it is not strictly a mosque but part of a community complex. The article also states how the article is not right on top of ground zero, but several blocks away on the remains of a dilapidated building. By countering these arguments with facts, the speaker uses logic to persuade the audience to understand the argument that the mosque is not a terrorist building.

Pathos- The article also uses pathos to persuade the audience that the mosque is not just a terror mosque. The article talks about the only other mosque in the area of Manhattan is overcrowded to the point that worshippers are forced to say their prayers in the streets and they have nowhere to go. This imagery conjures up the emotion of sympathy for the Muslim people, because they are limited in their ability to worship. The speaker is utilizing the emotion of sympathy to motivate the audience to have compassion on these people and realize that there are not terrorist connections with them or a mosque being built.

Sufficient- The speaker does use sufficient evidence to support the claim that the mosque does not have terrorist motivations or connections. The speaker does give detailed evidence on the type of building the mosque will be a part of including a pool, gym, theater, multi-faith worship center and an area with public rooms open for reservation. The article talks about how it would be similar to a YMCA. The article also talks in detail about the location of the mosque and the person in charge of its building, thus giving plenty of evidence to achieve the article’s goal of informing BYU students with the facts.

Typical- The speaker is reasonable and knowledgeable and presents evidence that would be acceptable to BYU students. Rather than using Ad Populum, or jumping on the band wagon, the author uses a different point of view that would still be representative of the concerns of BYU students such as the religious freedom of others in the United States. The speaker uses facts, such as the building of the Park51 complex that would be something BYU students would be familiar with, such as a stake center with basketball courts and areas for receptions.

5. Due to its sufficient evidence, and relevance to BYU students, this article was very effective in accomplishing its goal of informing BYU students with the facts that the mosque in NYC is not a “terror mosque”. The use of logic and emotions such as sympathy and compassion is a persuasive combination in order to accomplish the goal of students realizing the rights of the Muslim people in having their own worship center.

Ning!!!!

I LOVE the idea of Ning. When I heard about this I realized this is something I will definitely use in my Classroom. Students will be so familiar with social networking sites, especially Facebook, and this works essentially in the same way. It will be nice to use the idea of a social networking site, but in a more academic way. I feel that it will really motivate students to want to communicate with each other and feel like they can communicate with me as a teacher easier. I think kids will also think it's more fun to do their homework.