Who Owns Your Lesson Plans?

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.