How often have you "borrowed" a lesson, part of a lesson, or a rubric from the internet? have you ever breathed a sigh of relief when time was tight and the math teacher down the hall was willing to slip you a copy of an enrichment activity? Do you give credit where credit is due? do you include a foot note recognizing that you are using someone else's hard work? You should. Teachers work long hours to develop interesting lesson plans, take notes and ,modify those plans until the lesson achieves the goal of student learning. Now school districts are looking into who owns those lesson plans.
Teachers who have the ability and expertise to develop creative and effective lessons have found the plans are marketable. Sites such as Teachers Pay Teachers provide supplemental income to overworked and underpaid teachers. The recent trend to sell lesson plans online has however caught the attention of the financial office and they want a piece of the pie. Robert N. Lowry, deputy director of the New York State council of School superintendents states in the article, "To the extent that school district resources are used, then I think it's fair to ask whether the district should share in the proceeds." I don't agree.
Defending the teacher's side of the arguement I'd have to say I use very few of the district's resources to develop lesson plans. I do use my home computer, printer, ink and yes-paper. I wouldn't dream of bringing home even 1 slice of the school's paper to print my lesson plans. From the district's view; yes, they pay for a portion of my continuing education. If you're lucky, your school maintains a professional library of current resources and journals. Yes, I could stay at school and use the facilities they provide. I can't cook dinner at the same time though, or take a break to help one of my kids with their homework.
I have sat and listened to my administrators give accolades to a colleague for a lesson I wrote. I still am hurt and feel my work meant nothing to this colleague. Joseph McDonald was quoted in the article saying , "the online selling cheapens what teachers do and undermines efforts to build sites where educators freely exchange ideas and lesson plans." I think paying a small price for a lesson shows how much we value each others work, how much we appreciate finding a great lesson for 3 or 4 dollars and freeing up a Sunday afternoon. If you have a completely original and effective lesson plan that might pay for a dinner out- go ahead, you deserve it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much I agree with having to pay for lesson plans or that the school 'owns' them just because you created them at school. I quite often turn to the internet to find a new or interesting lesson, but have to admit I get ticked off when I am directed to a pay site. I always wonder what if I pay fot this and I don't like it or use it. That is so too bad that your administrator gave accolades to the wrong person. That would not have sat well with me. I quess as a teacher I would like some compensation for a lesson I contributed. So I guess I am a hypocrite because I want free stuff to use, but I want to get paid for the stuff I would contribute or create. Hmmmm. Tough one. I guess I just think there are so many sites to 'belong' to with a membership fee. That gets really expensive. If all of these sites could condense or have access to all with one membership then it wouldn't be so expensive and yet you could get your hands on all kinds of great material.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Haraseth
Something else teachers need to worry about when they try to sell their lessons is when they created those lessons. I know some teachers plan at home but those who plan at school need to watch out. I currently put together curriculum units in the morning. If I have an idea of my own and write it into a lesson plan, the lesson now belongs the Department of Education (they pay my salary). If I ever leave my job, I cannot take any of the lessons I created with me. It is frustrating at times but I knew it would be like this when I agreed to take the job.
ReplyDeleteIs everyone serious? If we create plans, they are not our property? Is this some law?
ReplyDeleteI would fight tooth and nail to disagree. As long as credit is given where due, a teachers lesson plans are theirs. They created it. The resources they used may have been the districts but the brain power is theirs.
I think that sharing lesson plans is ideal and that credit should be given. I also think that if people want to buy and sell them, that is fine. I would just ask to borrow or get free ones, but that is me. Also, I think teachers can use their budget to purchase lesson plans. It is just like purchasing a text book. Unless their is enough hours to produce these lessons from scratch, we have to get creative about getting stuff done within the allotted time frame we are give.
Wow! That was a lot of ground to cover within a blog response!
Philip
Unfortunately the reality is that anything you create for your place of employment during working hours is their property. A friend of mine just got into a major tug-of-war about an impressive slide show he made for the hospital he works at that was based off of his masters thesis; the hospital wanted a copy of the slide show and he said no because it was based off of his own thesis. They went to court and he lost even though the slide show was his intellectual property. This is a sticky area - he was paid to produce something for a company but does a company really own everything you do? I don't like the idea of my school being able to force me to give up my lessons, and as for people taking them off of the internet - if you don't want your lessons stolen, for God sakes don't put them on the internet!
ReplyDeletect
I must say that there is some appalling information in this article. Having seen the way education has gone in the last 10 years or so, I would say that we are not reinventing the wheel here. I think if you come up with an original lesson plan, it probably has been done somewhere else and you just don't know it. I would hate to think of how much I would have to pay for all of the lesson plans I have borrowed from other teachers. However, I think that in this education system, we need to begin sharing ideas without charge! I am eager to share what I have that works with other Technology Teachers. Now I would say that if another academic teacher asked me for one of my projects or something like that in my own school I would not be as likely to share because it deprives the "special" aspect of students being in my class and uniquely getting to do things. Back on point though, if we are saying lesson plans are subject to copyright policy, then we may be losing all humane touch in education. Why keep something to yourself if it could benefit an entire student population? Yes, I want to receive credit where credit is due, but is it more important to do effective things with the students than say, "Oh, oh, that is my lesson plan, give me all the credit and glory"?
ReplyDeleteWow! My eyes were opened really wide after reading your blog and the comments people have already made. I would have to say I would think the lessons I create belong to me and no one else. But after reading your blog I am very confused. I have been putting a lot of time into making power points for my reading lessons and never thought once I made them they no longer belong to me.?? I couldn't imagine struggling with my district to share though. Isn't that part of teaching? I have always been told teachers are the best thieves. I am always taking and giving many ideas. I don't know where I would be if I didn't share with fellow teachers. I couldn't imagine having to pay for their ideas or charging them for mine either. Like I said before, I think it is your job as a teacher to share.
ReplyDelete