Nicholas Skelton 
This week has been a struggle. Not going to lie or sugar coat it. The week back from Thanksgiving Break right into testing. Luckily in this class we were reviewing Copyright. However, there is a lot of information that comes along with copyright material. In the past I just through up materials on my websites and YouTube without ever really doing any research into what the ramifications could be possibly be. This week kind of helped out with that and digging super deep into the world of copyright infringement and how you can get away with using the information in an educational setting.
Over the past few years, I have worked extensively (as much as possible) on getting Hat Trick Training Academy up and running. While it truly still in its infancy I had been researching on ways to share videos from other coaches and programs on our YouTube channel and Facebook. Times we have had the videos pulled down or challenged by the media platforms with copyright infringement. But when we challenge those rulings with the fair use and not for monetary gain, they usually reverse their decisions.
Looking into the world of education and in the classroom setting though, I had some idea that the schools had license to view materials, be never understood why. Now seeing that it really is a way to cover all legal possibilities I completely understand. That also explains why I will see that license stickers at churches too. Can’t show materials that have a copyright for entertainment without that license.
Being that Fair Use for Education purposes helps protect educators it also them some freedom on what could be shown in class. For instance, the teacher I assist, as a paraprofessional, and I are huge hockey fans. Both former players (he played much higher level than me) and coaches, our love for the game is intoxicating and we want to share it with everyone. In our classroom we have a bulletin board dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice, when the United States Men’s Ice Hockey Team beat the reigning Olympic Champions, The Soviet Union, in the winter Olympics in Lake Placed New York. We have been talking about showing the movie Miracle to our students. While we can’t show this movie for entertainment in the classroom, we can show it in an educational setting that covers; History (Cold War), Government (Foreign Relations), Science (making of ice in a closed environment), Art (creativity of Coach Herb Brooks), Physical Education (what it takes to be a hockey player and not just someone who plays hockey), Math (Physics and the ability to learn and understand the way the game was being changed by Herb Brooks) and etc. At this point, I do believe that we are covered incase anything were to ever come across to us about it.
