Tag Archives: images

Images, Copyright, & StreamlineSC

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Little Green Frog

"Little Green Frog" by Heather Loy

Okay, by now you guys know I’ve gotten a new camera and have been having a blast taking photos.  In fact I’m probably boring all of my faculty, friends, family (and you!) with sharing all the photos I’ve been taking.

With taking and wanting to share my own photographs, I’ve been thinking of ways we are using images in our instruction and with student projects.   Which of course makes me think about copyright and ethical use of other’s works – something many of our teachers and student’s don’t think about.   Most teachers I’ve talked to believe that everything they do for their instruction is covered by “fair use” and so aren’t concerned with where and how they pull images to use.   While I agree, for the most part, what I believe is that we are responsible for MODELING the appropriate behaviors we want to instill in our students.  This means proper citation and, in my opinion, trying to find images using creative commons, free stock photos, and OpenClipart resources.  That said, the problem my teachers (and students) run into is that many of these sites are BLOCKED!  Sigh.

BUT HAVE NO FEAR!
Screen shot 2010-10-03 at 6.55.36 PM

StreamlineSC to the Rescue!   (For you non-South Carolinians out there you call it Discovery Education Streaming)

Did you know that there are over 20,000 images in the StreamlineSC library?   There are images for just about every subject.  (See screen shot)  Not only can you find these excellent images, they GIVE YOU the citation in MLA, APA, and Chicago Manual styles!

Did you know you can create student accounts, create and manage a class, and create class or individual assignments?   This means you can provide a set of images and/or videos for students to use in their projects or to provide supplemental teaching/learning materials.

Did you know that as a STAR Discovery Educator you can upload your own media to the Educator Resource Library?   Click on the DEN menu option and then click on “About the DEN” to find out how to become a DEN member.

If you want to learn more about how to navigate and use the resources in StreamlineSC, click on the Professional Development link and watch the instructional videos or read/print off the instructional materials. (or see you school library media specialist!)

Disclaimer: You cannot post your projects or lessons online – the material in the StreamlineSC library are copyright protected.  You can only share via your school’s internal server.

FYI, all of my photographs on Flickr are posted with a Creative Commons License – specifically an attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.

Looking ahead

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DSC_0136Summer break is almost over (I’ve only got one full week of vacation left!) and I’m in pre-planning mode for the upcoming school year.   I thought I’d share some of my ideas and challenges in preparing for when teachers return on August 10th.

Two weeks ago our school’s leadership team met to plan for next year.  I’ve been tasked with technology staff development.  I’m really excited about this development and have LOTS of ideas brewing.

I’ll also be meeting with the Freshman Academy lead teacher, and others, about some new technology our school will be receiving (can’t be more specific just yet, but stay tuned) and how to incorporate this new tech into their curriculum.  This means I’ll be doing a LOT of research for resources and begging for help from my PLN!

In addition to the new technology, I’d already made plans to work with the FA English teachers on incorporating Information Literacy/21st Century Learner Standards as well as the new SC Internet Safety Standards into their specific curriculum.  I am hoping to develop some team teaching incorporated INTO their curriculum and not just as add ons to the standard research paper or through hit and miss projects with other classes.   We’ve discussed using the TRAILS assessment to determine current knowledge and what areas to build upon this year.

The FA Lead Teacher has also requested my assistance with titles for their new reading initiative.  Each core subject will be requiring their students to read one novel per quarter.  These assignments are in support of our school’s literacy initiative for High School’s That Work – students are supposed to read across the curriculum and at least 25 novels during the school year.

Needless to say, 2010-11 is looks like it will  be another busy year!

In the meantime, I’m currently taking a photography basics class.  The above image is one of mine!  I’m doing pretty well with close ups like plants and objects, but not so much with more distance photos.  It’s a hit or miss.  This stuff is harder than I though (using manual mode and not automatic on the DSLR).  I’m going to post some of my more successful photos to my flickr page.

Anyhoo! Hope you guys enjoy what’s left of your summer vacation!  I know I’m sure gonna!

Odds & Ends (12-05-09)

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Well, almost a month ago now we had our Technical Assistance Visit for High Schools That Work.  It’s hard to believe it’s been that long ago.  I’ve been taking a much needed break after the mad scramble to prepare for TAV and the following weeks SACS visit to decompress.  I’m pleased to report that both visits went well.  Lots of positive feedback and constructive comments for areas of improvement – although nothing of a surprise there.

Anyway, I ready to get back to sharing the many wonderful resources I’ve been collecting.  So here goes:

NYTimes.com: “A Closer Look at Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol“ – The New York Times has photographed and posted online the full manuscript of this Christmas classic.  There is also a contest for readers to select what they think is the most interesting edit.

BBC.com: Wildlife Finder – “Wildlife Finder gives you access to an ever growing catalogue of BBC natural history programmes, with video clips from series such as: Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Life on Earth, Natural World, the Nature of Britain and many more.”

Guardian: “Secret second world ware aerial images go online” - “23 November 2009: The Aerial Reconnaissance Archive (Tara) of historic second world war photographs is available online to the public from today. Tara includes around 10 million declassified aerial reconnaissance photographs from sorties flown by Allied aircraft during and immediately after the war, and images taken by Luftwaffe aircraft, which were seized by the British at Hitler’s mountain retreat, Berchtesgaden”

BBC Audiobook: The Twitter Audiobook – “Hearts, Keys and Puppetry” - Interesting idea.  I’ve downloaded the chapters and am looking forward to listening to them on my drive into work next week.

Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry

By Neil Gaiman and the Twitterverse
Narrated by Katherine Kellgren

“Sam was brushing her hair when the girl in the mirror put down the hairbrush, smiled, and said, “We don’t love you anymore.”

So began the Twitter Audio project, with a dazzling first line penned byNew York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. What followed was an epic tale of imaginary lands, magical objects, haunting melodies, plucky sidekicks, menacing villains and much more. From mystical blue roses to enchanted mirrors to pesky puppets, this classic fable was born from the collective creativity of more than one hundred contributors via the social network Twitter.com in a groundbreaking literary experiment. Together, virtual strangers crafted a rollicking story of a young girl’s journey with love, forgiveness, and acceptance.