We Trained Them to Copy

“The consumer is not a creator”

— Quote Shttps://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_laws_that_choke_creativity?language=enource

This quote from Larry Lessig’s TedTalk stood out to me and I replayed it over and over while letting my mind wander as I sat in its sound.

Why not? Why isn’t a consumer considered a creator? As Larry suggests, recreation IS creation. This is how our youth (and adults, too) communicate. All I could think was:

What if all original thought has already occurred and there’s nothing left to do but evolve?

Their Voice

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I consistently preach the phrase “work smarter, not harder”, in fact, I have this phrase printed in 1-foot-high letters and taped to a wall in my classroom. But I’m realizing there are no actions behind my belief. Our youth are doing this but we’re just refusing their format.

Change is scary and I feel the backlash is likely from those at risk of losing profit from the already established norms. We want them to PARTICIPATE in society and have a voice. Well, their voices ARE using our content to evoke change. They’re…

Working smarter instead of harder.

So why are we upset about it? Why are there laws against it?

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In Kirby’s video, Everything is a Remix, he discusses how every form of creation in the last century (or more) has been based on an original or recreation of an original. If a tune being whistled in Kill Bill is a copy of a previous film where the tune is also being whistled, why can a student not take that tune and use it as a background sound for a video they are creating? Did Quentin Tarantino have to pay to use that tune?

Where is the line between recreation and copying and why do we need one?

My First Revelation - Lead by Example

While watching Kirby’s video I started thinking, “Who are these people who have the time of day to sit and pick apart the creations of others?” Then I thought, me. I do this every day at my job. But we’ll get to that.

Secondly, I thought, “And who cares enough to file against the copiers?” This led me to think about my Teachers Pay Teachers account and the sales of my products. Am I any different? Needless to say, I then spent several hours creating groups on Open Education Resources, researching how to, and beginning to upload my created content on their site for free. If I want to advocate for Open Education I need to lead by example because I hated Kirby’s mention that:

“We have no problem with copying as long as we’re the ones doing it”

— https://www.everythingisaremix.info/everything-is-a-remix-remastered

And I am far too stubborn to fall within a category that I protest. So here I am, uploading my thousands of hours of work onto the internet for free. Does this mean I will take my TpT store down? I’m not sure yet. But my content will be out there for the world to use for free if someone so chooses to do so.

The Betterment of Society

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Next, why do I care if someone takes my creations? Isn’t imitation the highest form of flattery? Or did someone who was a ‘copycat’ create that saying to justify their actions? As educators, we are there ‘for the kids’. What we do is ‘for the kids’. So if my content is so great that someone else finds it valuable enough to take or pay for it to use ‘for their kids’, why am I not sharing it for free? If sharing my content is what is best for the kids, why am I upset if someone else takes it without my benefitting from it? Am I that hungry for attention and credit that I need the world to know that something great that someone else is doing was originally mine? Am I money hungry? Do I NEED to be rewarded for my labour?

This is what I’ve been battling with this entire topic discussion, research, and blog. My content is not by any means ‘original’. It is based on the provincial outcomes, work I have read and done previously, and research I’ve done about others. Though created in my own mind and formed through unique combinations, the combinations still consist of previously created materials, ideas, and thoughts - like the invention of the automobile. Like other inventions, my content could help others and that’s why someone is wanting to use it.

This is the premise of Open Education - sharing all content for the betterment of society as a WHOLE.

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If I believe that I do my job ‘for the kids’ then I need to participate in that belief. I began by starting to upload my content and then sent a few messages to staff members at my new school asking if they have a platform where educators share their content. The responses were not great and along the lines of, “That’s now how people work here,” but it inspired me to reply with, “Maybe we can change that”.

My Everyday Job - Picking Apart Copying

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After watching and reading all the information Katia shared in the weekly schedule I’m left here thinking about why on Earth I care about copying. Students copying. Co-workers copying. The people who ride-your-coattails-and-drive-you-so-crazy-that-your-eye-twitches copying… again. Why do I spend hours and hours picking apart assignments to check for plagiarism and copyright infringements?

Because that’s what we’re trained and told to do.

From the moment we started to write paragraphs in school we are taught that everything needs to be our own. Is this why the world is viewing ‘remixing’ as ‘bad’?

We are taught that original thought is both essential and the goal. We need to do it ourselves but in exactly the way the teacher showed us. We can’t copy the work of others but it has to resemble exactly what we’re learning in class so that we can get the highest marks possible.

We can’t… but we have to.

We are trained that copying is bad but we have to make copies of what the teacher modeled in order to succeed. We have told them copying is bad but trained them to do it subconsciously.

HOW ON EARTH DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE?

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We foster young minds to learn by leading with examples. We want them to take the information and ‘do it in their own way’. But aren’t ‘remixes’ a version of doing that? Why can we not get on board with evolution?

Change in the Classroom

My final thoughts are how can I take all of this information and apply it to my classroom. How can I preach and practice all of this on a daily basis? Where do I begin?

By starting small with an assignment.

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I’ve decided that when I return from my maternity leave I will have created an assignment like none I’ve ever assigned before. I want to create an assignment (which I’m sure someone else has already created somewhere in the world) that encourages students to find previously created content and use it to promote their voices. Students can select a topic of their choosing (or from a list I provide as a way of prompting them) and collect content to promote or disapprove of that topic. It could even take the form of activism. Essentially, I want a remix.

Now, to comply with copyright laws we will have lessons on referencing, citation, linking, and so on, that way I will be promoting the legalities but we will discuss open education and the endless possibilities the world COULD have, should the laws change. I’m inspired by this lesson and what it could do for education but why fight evolution?

All of these thoughts boil down to me wondering why we’re fighting this. Instead of fighting change, how can I foster it?

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YOU’RE FREE TO ALSO USE THIS ASSIGNMENT IDEA!!!! FREE FOR THE TAKING! Use this idea as a building block and add some of your own!

How are you going to foster evolution?