Did you know that whenever you write a poem or story or draw a picture you automatically own the copyright to it. Copyright is a form of protection given to the authors or creators of “original works” and other intellectual works. What that means is that, as the author of the work, you alone have the right to do any of the following or to let others do any of the following:
- make copies of your work
- hand-out copies of your work
- perform your work publicly
- display your work publicly
- make “derivative works”
This week in library, 2nd grade students will be taught about copyright and images. Students are taught not take things that do not belong to them. Taking a pencil or a Pokemon card that does not belong to them is wrong. Taking a picture home that another child drew and claiming they drew it is also wrong. When students are on the computer and they see a picture they want to use for a project, they must be reminded the picture belongs to someone else…they cannot take it without permission.
In order to fully understand the idea of copyright, each child will be asked to draw a picture with their name on the page so it can be identified. The pictures will be collected and randomly redistributed. The students will be asked to add something of their own to the drawing they received. The altered drawings will be returned to the original creator. We will discuss their reaction to someone altering what they originally created.
By this means, I hope to impress upon students the value and purpose of copyright.
Below are several links to sites that only produce copyright free images or pictures. Please use the following sites when searching for pictures to support your projects. Thank you.
Photo by Tom Tolkien
