Case+28+-+Mr.+Smith's+Hurricane+Katrina+Multimedia+Lesson+Plan

// Mr. Smith’s Hurricane Katrina Multimedia Lesson Plan // Mr. Smith is an 8th grade History teacher who designed a lesson plan about Hurricane Katrina, its effects and aftermath. Students were required to create a multimedia project using Windows Movie Maker. Mr. Smith provided his students magazine cover pictures and other copyrighted images that had to be incorporated into their project. He also supplied video clips including news broadcasts and podcasts and instructed them to write narratives. The finished product was then posted to the class password protected wiki. With the class’s approval, he presented the lesson and their finished work at a media literacy conference. Mr. Smith knows that all the media components were copyrighted, but contends it was fair use because the project was created and shared for educational purposes. // Commentary // Looking at the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy by the National Council of Teachers of English, Mr. Smith is correct that it was fair use and can employ many of its principles. According to the first principle, “Employing Copyrighted Material in Media Literacy Lessons,” educators can use copyrighted illustrative material and make them available in class. Principle two “Employing Copyrighted Materials in Preparing Curriculum Materials,” states “Teachers use copyrighted materials in the creation of lesson plans, materials, tool kits, and curricula in order to apply the principles of media literacy education and use digital technologies effectively in an educational context.” Also, the third principle dictates that educators can share examples including lessons at educational conferences. Finally, the fifth principle which discusses audiences and distribution maintains that educators can encourage students to distribute their work, but if it is “confined to a delimited network, such cases are more likely to receive special consideration under the fair use doctrine.”