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Lipstick and Kettlebells

A Journey of Fitness, Motherhood and Empowering Women

Where does the line between teacher intellectual property and school district property exist?

The Scenario:

Imagine the career of a teacher prior to digital technology.  The teacher would spend time developing lessons and activities that would be on paper or perhaps transparencies.  In either case, if the teacher left their school, district, or even the profession of teaching itself, all that had to be done to protect the teacher’s intellectual property was to load up a car with boxes of teacher created materials. Very simple…. nothing to argue about….

Now imagine today…. The teacher creates lessons and materials digitally;  storing them to the school district’s cloud based or network storage.  Perhaps the teacher is uploading these teacher created resources on learning management systems for students to access that is owned and supported by the school district.  The teacher choses to leave, but who owns the digital content?  The teacher? The school? The school district?

The Copyright Act of 1976:

The Copyright Act of 1976 stipulates “that materials created by teachers in the scope of their employment are deemed ‘works for hire’ and therefore the school owns them”.  Is this law is still applicable even though it was written before digital forms of intellectual property exists?  The answer is technically, yes. 

What about Teachers Pay Teachers?

So this piece of information leads me to immediately think about my favorite website to buy, sell, and share educational materials….Teachers Pay Teachers.

What about Teachers-Pay-Teachers? The guidelines of what can be used and shared and how it is to be used and shared is clear with any purchase on Teachers-Pay-Teachers. However, if a teacher is creating a lesson while employed and then selling those lessons for profit, then according to the Copyright Act of 1976 the teacher is selling property that belongs to the school district. There are so many grey areas to consider…What if a teacher is creating materials that they have not taught for a school district, but is still employed as a teacher.  What about materials created at home during the summer when the teacher is not contracted to be at work?  What about purchasing materials and saving them to a school network?  Who would own them…the creator?…the school district employing the creator?…. the teacher purchasing use?… the school district of the teacher purchasing use?

So far this is just a debate and no legal action has been brought to Teachers Pay Teachers to my knowledge, but it still deserves discussion so that the Copyright Act of 1976 can be amended or a subsequent law can be created to protect the intellectual property rights of teachers. 

What do you think?  Please join the conversation by dropping a comment below.

Focus of the Month: Social, Legal, and Ethical Technology Issues in Education

My county school district has been receiving a lot of press lately…from proposed budget cuts, critical reviews of district leadership, to the upcoming 2019-2020 school calendar. No matter the issue, many educators have found the voice to speak out on issues that impact them.

The “From the Teacher’s Desk” section of Lipstick and Kettlebells has been silent for awhile and has traditionally been focused on classroom tips or ideas, rather than debatable topics. However, I would like to switch things up for the month of February and March and focus on analyzing the social, legal, and ethical technology issues in education.

I have recently been enrolled in a Technology for Leaders of Learning course as part of my graduate course work as I seek my Masters of Educational Leadership degree. As a result, I have been spending more time looking at educational issues through the lens of a leader, as well as a teacher. This month I seek to be honest in my views of ethical, social, and legal issues surrounding technology in schools. I invite my readers to interact with my posts, ask questions, push back on topics that you respectfully disagree with and join me in real conversations about technology and the impact that is has on children, teachers, administrators, parents, and the community.

Burlap and Bows Student Work Wall

Pinterest for the win!!!

Pinterest is a teachers best friend when it comes to classroom ideas. PS-LipstickandKettlebells has a Pinterest page too that you can follow!!

Anyway, when I first saw my classroom in my new school, I knew that it could look fantastic. However, I was lacking motivation to figure out how to do that.  My last few weeks of summer was spent trying to order posters that would match my new prep (subject taught) and coming up with a new room theme.

Yes…classrooms need a theme people.  You don’t just slap stuff up because that will result in your classroom looking like the teacher store threw up all over your walls.

Anyway, I settled on a burlap and chalkboard theme with a shabby sheek type vibe.  Why?  Well, I found cute editable printouts on Teachers Pay Teachers and I had access to a large roll of burlap for free.

So armed with a dream, I searched Pinterest for ideas.  I had a problem.  My classroom had a very prominent white board on one wall that was ruined.  It had large black patches on it that rendered it unusable.  I needed to cover it without causing any further damage to the board. That is when I had the idea to make it my student work wall.

For those non-teachers out there, a student work wall is an area dedicated to displaying high quality student work.  This can easily be done in a house to showcase children’s accomplishments too.

I finally “pinned” and decided on this lovely design by Learning in Wonderland.

I decided to use this idea to do a similar board.  I wanted the individual panels to be divided by strips of burlap that was scrunched similar to my bulletin board borders.

The end result was this beauty.

Materials Needed for a similar look:

    1. Scrapbook paper pack in a design that matches your theme.

    1. Burlap Fabric

    1. Scissors
    2. Clothes Pins or clips to hold the student work.  I used clips that I found at IKEA that was originally designed to hold dish cloths, but amazon has little clothes pins in every color as shown below.

    1. Large size Glue gun or staple gun if you are using a cork board.

    1. Ribbon in an accent color that you prefer.

Steps to create the look:

  1. Measure and mark out a grid of where you want to place your paper and how large of a border you would like between the paper.
  2. Lay out and glue or staple the paper in the planned grid pattern.  **Note: I did not laminate my paper because it was nice heavy weight and I did not want the shiny laminating film to take away from the matte and metallic properties of my paper choices.
  3. Create the burlap border by creating a wavy look by starting at the top and sides of the board.  Secure the burlap strip with either glue or staples and continue to secure after each loop of the wave.
  4. Last step is to finish the look with ribbon and clips.  Make little bows with the ribbon that you have chosen.  The size of the bow is up to you and how you want your board to look. Secure the ribbon bows to the clips with glue and then adhere the clips to the top/center of each paper block.  Note: If making bows is not in your wheelhouse of skills, you can buy them already pre-made.

There you have it…if you try this idea, feel free to post a picture of your creation.

Welcome to “From the Teacher’s Desk”

I have been pondering this move on Lipstick and Kettlebells for awhile now.

Lipstick and Kettlebells was designed to follow my fitness/nutrition journey with a side of makeup and self-esteem anecdotes.  However, I have quickly found that this little blog is evolving to encompass more than just those things.

Why??? Well, in order to be an honest and truthful writer, I need to share with you a little about me.  Who I am, what I do, what is important to me.  Thinking back, all of the bloggers that I follow are real.  Checking in and reading an update on their blog is like catching up with an old friend.  Hence, the “Mom Life” category came to life to represent the big part of my life that motherhood plays in everything…including fitness and healthy eating.  My family is one of my “whys”.  In other words, they are one reason why I say “no” to the chocolate bar and pizza and “yes” to my gym family and macros counting.

However, Lipstick and Kettlebells was missing a piece….my career.  I am a teacher and proud to serve the community in which I teach.  Understanding how my day..my profession is structured will help you to know me better.

Without further ado….I present the “From the Teachers Desk” section of Lipstick and Kettlebells.  In it, you will find some creative ideas and tips to help any teacher, homeschooler, or parent.

I am very excited about this section of the blog and it will be filling up with ideas for you to share soon!!

Thank you for your support,

Amber

IIFYM Healthy Chocolate Back to School Treat

Hey Everyone,

I have not forgotten about my readers, but “Back to School” season for a teacher is INSANE!

A quick update.  I did not lift last week for two reasons.  The first was that I had more to do in my classroom to prepare for the school year than time available.  The second was that my strained back was taking longer to heal than I would like.  Lifting heavy bins of school supplies/decorations and standing on chairs to hang bulletin boards did not help my back any either.

This week, I spent Labor Day with the family and school started Tuesday.  Tuesday I worked all day and drove directly to my graduate class so I did not get to lift or even get home until 9 p.m.  Today is Back to School Night to meet the parents of my students, so again….no lifting.  Tomorrow is the day! I am finally seeing my trainer to get a good session in on Thursday.  Having so much time off has me feeling sluggish and tired 🙁

So for my healthy treat….I don’t know why, but I have been ignoring everyone who has been recommending the Premier Protein shakes. My Mom drinks them and all the girls in my macro Facebook group have been raving about the awesome chocolaty taste, especially added to coffee in the place of a creamer.

So here it is, back to school, which means back to a busy, busy day for a teacher.  I was craving a chocolate fix today so I packed a chocolate Premier Nutrition High Protein Shake and Kind Minis.  Yes!! They make Kind Minis.  I explained my love for Kind bars in my Back to College post, but I will say that the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Mini bar was hitting the spot today.  I drank and ate that chocolaty goodness during my planning period and it was satisfying and fit will within my macros.  Check it out! 33 grams of protein, 13 grams of carbs, and 10 grams of healthy fat from all the nuts in the Kind bar.

I might make this a regular treat!!! What quick grab healthy snacks are your favorites?