Building an Ecology of Freedom—The Importance of Fair Use

It has been ages since I've published a new post. Suffice it to say, other, more important life events have required me to revert back into some old, instinctual teaching habits the last couple months. And I have felt terribly absent as a contributing member of my PLN. But, I have continued to devour the ideas being shared and thought now was as good a time as any to get back into the groove!

I just watched Lawrence Lessig's TedxNYED talk entitled Re-examining the Remix. I thought it was quite compelling. I believe I was particularly drawn to this talk for two reasons.

1) I am intrigued by the notion of "Building an Ecology of Freedom." Developing a constructive community is the foundation of my classroom, and in doing so, my students and I practice and investigate dozens of methods of social interactions. This includes "remixing" as a form of personal expression. Lessig showed a video of Julian Sanchez stating, "Copyright policy isn't just about how to incentivize the production of a certain kind of artistic commodity; it's about what level of control we're going to permit to be exercised over our social realities." This got me thinking about how important and relevant "fair use," the freedom to create and remix, is to my teaching practice. And my head is still spinning.

2) I believe I'm also drawn to this topic for personal reasons. My husband, Spiro Bolos, works quite extensively on copyright and fair use, presenting at regional and national conferences, including CUE this past spring. I happen to find his explanations and stories exceptionally relevant to the teaching community as a whole. He not only quotes Lessig (I believe), but is working with Renee Hobbes this summer, as well. (Here is a version of his presentation.) Having heard Spiro's talks, I was quite surprised at Lessig's angle of describing the conservative politicians to be the Fair Use Crusaders. I don't know why; I guess I assumed that since I agreed with my husband's thoughts, and Lessig's, that liberals would be crowned with that title. Live and learn! (But I'm certainly interested in hearing other experts' opinions. Do most agree with Lessig's perspective?)

I found the following statements from Lessig's talk to be incredibly important as the fight to "Build an Ecology of Freedom" continues, regardless of who is leading the charge.

"Freedom needs this opportunity to have BOTH the commercial success of the great creative works AND the opportunity to build this (ecology of freedom) type of culture. And for that to happen you need ideas like fair use to be central and protected…"

"Walt Disney was a remixer extrataordinaire."

"Our lives are sharing activites. And for sharing to exist, we need well-protected spaces of fair use."

"The ecology of sharing needs freedom from within to create. And we need to respect the creator."

I would have to work exceptionally hard to even be considered a novice in understanding Fair Use. But I am developing a greater appreciation for the social and professional necessity of learning about it, and fighting for it. So, do I vote Republican in November? ;-)

"Childish" Dreams...We Adults Should Be So Smart!

Adora Svitak shares her "childish" dreams...and they have inspired me today. She's twelve and definitely worth a listen. Not only should educators think differently about the expectations we have for our students ("standards" are NOT the answer...), but we should rethink our expectations for ourselves. If we continue to talk about why we CAN'T do something, or have conversations about check-list items like NCLB or RTI, we're destined to harm our students' growth, and our own. We need to feel free to be new and creative with our ideas...We need to talk and brainstorm together. Unstructured, creative time. The ideas are spinning...! Thanks, Adora!

The Need for Creativity in Education

Just saw this TedTalk. Yes, it's a bit old, but it is funny, thought-provoking and still very much relevant. Take a look. How creative do you feel as an educator? Do you take risks? And most importantly, what do you do in your classroom to nurture the creativity in students?

Some interesting thoughts/quotes from the video:
(1) Creativity is as important as literacy in education.
(2) If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.
(3) We're educating our children out of their creative capacities.
(4) Shakespeare was in somebody's English class, wasn't he?
(5) There isn't an education system on earth that has a unique hierarchy. Math and science on top; Humanities in the middle; then the arts at the bottom.
(6) If you were to explain the purpose of public education to an alien, you'd have to conclude that it is to produce university professors...Professors live in their heads...This is not the way most of the world lives.
(7) We need to radically rethink our view of intelligence.
(8) We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children.
(9) If Gillian Lynne had been assessed in our time, she would've been diagnosed with ADHD, put on medication and told to calm down. Back in the 1930s, when she was 8, her doctor instead told her to go to a dance school. She did. And she became a choreographer and dancer and multimillionaire. She did Cats, Phantom, etc. Dozens! She's brought happiness to millions of people.
(10) The last clip is incredible.