Should ideas be considered property?

I've seen the "Everything is a Remix" series before. It's one of the most interesting and thought-provoking sets of videos I've ever seen and forced me to heavily question my beliefs.

Prior to watching "Everything is a Remix", I was dead-set in my respect for intellectual property. I learned early on in school that plagiarism is theft and that copyrights and patents are as legitimate is the deed to one's house.

But unlike theft of physical property, ideas, as the video explains, are inspired by the ideas of others. There is no doubt that "we stand on the shoulders of giants" and that our thoughts and words are heavily influenced by the thoughts and words of others. Ideas are intangible and can happen simultaneously in separate minds, so there is a clear distinction between a thought and a piece of matter.

The concept of ideas being treated as property invokes feelings of Orwellian thought crimes. Should we be prosecuting people for the activity that takes place in their heads? Should we empower the authorities to investigate the content of our minds?

Towards the end of the video, the narrator says that the result of intellectual property laws has not been more progress and learning. This is a cynical and grossly inaccurate statement. We're on the verge of producing self-driving cars, renewable rocket ships, and private trips into outer space. Regardless of our policies on intellectually property, I'd say we're progressing just fine.

One potential problem I foresee that could come with easing up on intellectual property laws is replacing patent trolls with idea trolls. What would stop the parasitic among us from leaning over the shoulders of our innovators and stealing their ideas? How would an economy of inventors forced to shelter their thoughts and trust no one function?

I love discussing social and political issues and have principled opinions on most of them, but I need some more time to hear arguments and think this one through. It's a tough one.

My Favorite Lesson

My favorite lesson would have to be teaching Ernest Hemmingway's "Hills like White Elephants". It's a famous short story that consists of little else than a conversation between two young travelers deciding what to do about their pregnancy.

First off, the story is fantastic. It's the perfect length for a 50-minute class to read and analyze, contains unique vocabulary words and phrases, and exemplifies the eternal friction and misunderstanding between man and woman. The writing is off the charts brilliant and it makes way for several excellent discussion.

Most students who read the story find it boring (as I did when my teacher had us read it in high school). There is no action at all, and the main subject of the characters' discussion is implicit. But being able to comment and point out careful details throughout the story makes reading it fun thanks to the added tension and curiosity.

Possibly the most impressive aspect of "Hills like White Elephants" is the rapid character development. It's hardly 4 pages long, but you really get to know and understand the two main character before it's over.

The best part of the lesson is having the class try to figure out what the characters were speaking about the whole time. What is "it"? I've read the story with hundreds of students, but fewer than 3 have ever figured it out on their own. We go back through the story methodically and I point out details and ask questions until a lightbulb goes off in someone's head...

***SPOILER ALERT!***

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"they're talking about having an abortion!"

The shock and awe on my students' faces when they figure it out is priceless. The lesson learned is that we don't always have to be so explicit in our writing, but we always have to be perceptive and critical in our reading.

An Evaluation of My Digital Footprint

I Googled myself to get a glimpse of my digital footprint. I'm not too sure how I feel about it. The first page of search results are my Twitter account (which I am thinking of creating an alias for), 3 links to Facebook (my special teacher account for my students, a list of accounts for the name "Glenn Verasco", and an account my friends in college made for me before I had my own Facebook), my LinkedIn account (which my fiance recently updates), my voices.com account (I momentarily thought about a career as a voice actor), two YouTube videos made by my students (a recipe and a video featuring me), whitepages.com (creepy), and my bandmix.com account (that was from my college days too).

To improve my digital footprint, I would like to do the following:

1. Change my Twitter account name to an alias. I do not use Twitter as a means of communicating with friends or colleagues. I use it almost strictly as a way to access up-to-the-minute news coverage and compliment/criticize writers after reading their articles. By switching from my name to an alias, I will be able to Tweet more freely and espouse my political views without the risk of being discriminated against for expressing myself.

2. Remember who made my fake Facebook account in college and ask him/her to delete it.

3. Achieve greatness and have my achievement covered by a major news source, so those who Google me will have a wonderful first impression of me.

Google Form for Evaluation/Observation

Here is my evaluation form. It is a comprehensive personal assessment to be used to evaluate my 11th Grade gifted English students whom I have taught for the past two years.

Presentation Unit

The following is a project I assign my 12th grade English classes. I teach large classes of about 40 students each, and take advantage of if it by assigning this big, complex project called "The Perfect Country Project". The basic idea is that my classes take some debate topics we use in class to poll people outside of school in Bangkok. They get into specialized teams, collect the polls, analyze the information, and give a PowerPoint presentation at the end of the term.

Below is the project in detail. I couldn't figure out how to upload a file to this blog, so I just copy and pasted it. It's quite long and complex. A rubric is included. After the details of the assignment, a link to my screencast can be found below.

The Perfect Country Project

Teacher: Aj. Glenn Verasco

Classes: 48, 49, 58, 59, 80, 81, 125, 126, 143, 222, 223, 224

Due Dates: Progress Report: July 8^th

Presentations: The last day of class before finals

Objective: For the next few weeks, we will be discussing the dichotomy of “Tradition vs. Progress”. We will do some reading in Pathways, and debate and discuss various topics as a class. Unfortunately, our class demographic is not particularly diverse (we’re all Thai 12^th graders [except for me!]). The purpose of this project is to get a more varied and worldly view of these topics. Your assignment is to poll about 800 people as a class so we can get an idea of what the average person thinks. You will not only look at the grand totals of the poll results, but will also find differences and similarities between the sexes, age groups, and many nationalities. You will be working as a team, and must all do your part to make this project happen.

Evaluation:

Category/Score	5.5	4.125	2.75	1.375
Content	Full of quality information	Some very good content	Not enough information and seems flawed	Not at all educational and most likely inaccurate
Analysis/ Comprehension	Brilliantly critiqued and evaluated; you really get it!	Some thoughtful criticism and mostly understood	A few decent points, but could use some more thought	Not well thought out or comprehended
Organization	Absolutely ready to be presented and flawlessly delivered	Given plenty of thought ahead of time with little confusion	Should have been better prepared, but a decent outcome	Not ready to be presented and disappointing
Aesthetics	Includes photos of procedure; a pleasure to view	Nice looking and clear; includes photos	Not particularly nice to look at, but not bad	Unclear, dull, and lazily done

Value: 30 points (4 points for the progress report, 22 points for the final project, 2 points for self-evaluation, 2 points for evaluation from the management team)

Teams and Responsibilities:

*** EVERY STUDENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLECTING 10 POLLS FROM THAI NATIONALS AND 10 POLLS FROM FOREIGNERS***

Management Team (3-5 students):

-          Oversee the entire project

-          Attend Q&A meeting in room 262 with Aj. Glenn (Wednesday, June 1^st)

-          Create a checklist to use for completing each part of the project

-          Keep track of which students are in which groups

-          Make sure all students have taken care of their responsibilities efficiently

-          Hand in progress report the week before midterms (this covers your class’s formative 1 score)

-          Evaluate each student at the completion of the project

Poll Team (4-6 students):

-          Create 10 poll statements (suggested themes provided by Aj. Glenn)

-          Translate poll statements into Thai (or English if you wrote them in Thai first)

-          Translate “Mission Statement” from English to Thai

-          Have poll statements approved by Aj. Glenn (June 17^th at the latest)

-          Predict how different demographics will vote on each topic (must be done before polls are collected)

Design Team (6-10 students):

-          Design and create anonymous poll sheet

o    Must include:

§  Poll statements

§  Age

§  Gender

§  Nationality

§  Mission Statement (can be on a separate sheet of paper)

-          Use collected data to create a PowerPoint presentation (graphs, charts, tables, photos, etc…)

-          Help Presentation Team prepare for presentation

-          Collect photographs of entire process

Data Team (8-12 students):

-          Collect completed polls from all classmates (20 per classmate)

-          Organize collected data based on the following criteria

o    Grand totals

o    Thai vs. Foreign grand totals

o    Male vs. Female grand totals

o    Thai Male vs. Thai Female totals

o    Foreign Male vs. Foreign Female totals

o    Age group grand totals

o    Thai age groups

o    Foreign age groups

-          Deliver data to the design team

Analysis Team (5-7 students):

-          Thoroughly answer analysis questions (provided by Aj. Glenn)

-          Find other notable trends and results within data

-          Explain findings to presentation team

Presentation Team (4-6 students):

-          Answer questions about the process of completing the project (provided by Aj. Glenn)

-          Present project results to class at the end of the semester (it should be as long as one class period)

Mission Statement and Poll Statements

The following is the mission statement for our project. You can let English speakers read this as I have written it before they participate, and must translate it into Thai for Thai speakers.

Dear Friend,

Our class has been discussing and debating what policies a “perfect country” would have. As a class, we agree on certain topics, but disagree on others. Now, we want to find out what policies other people think would make a perfect country.

We would greatly appreciate your anonymous participation in our study, and promise to invite you for an all-expenses-paid trip to our perfect country once it has been founded!

Thanks for your help! J

-The Perfect Country Project Team (Triam Udom Suksa School)

Making the Poll Statements (Poll team)

Your poll questions should be in the form of a statement. This is called a “Likert Scale”.

Chocolate ice cream is the best kind of ice cream in the world.

___ Totally Agree  ___ Agree   ___ No Opinion ___ Disagree  ___ Totally Disagree

Our poll questions will be a bit more serious than chocolate ice cream. Here are five sample questions for your poll (you may use one of these for your poll if you would like).

1.      It should be legal for committed homosexual couples to adopt children.

2.      Wages should be negotiated by employers and employees without government interference.

3.      All able male citizens should be required to serve in the military for at least two years.

4.      Taxes should be high so the government can provide social welfare like education, healthcare, food, and housing for the less fortunate.

5.      Abortion should be illegal except in cases of rape or a threat to the mother’s health.

Remember, your polls should be controversial (meaning people will disagree with each other about them). If you use a statement like “murder should be illegal”, everyone will choose the same answer, and we will learn nothing. Try to think about “Tradition and Progress” when making your poll questions. Here are some themes you can think about when creating polls:

-          Taxes

-          Economics

-          The Environment

-          Gay Marriage

-          Abortion

-          The Death Penalty

-          Immigration

-          Military

-          Citizenship

-          Form of Government

-          Freedom of Religion

-          Freedom of Speech

-          Education

-          Prostitution

-          Voting

-          Trade

-          Foreign Policy

-          Healthcare

-          Etc…

***A perfect poll will have 5 statements from a traditional (Conservative) point of view, and 5 statements from a progressive (Liberal) point of view.***

Designing the poll (Design team)

The way you design your poll is up to you. But here are a few requirements, and a few suggestions.

Requirements

1.      It must include all ten statements and space to fill out the poll.

2.      It must include a space for the participants to write their age, gender, and nationality.

3.      The “Mission Statement” must be viewable for participants.

4.      Since the polls are anonymous, the poll must not ask for participants’ names.

Suggestions

1.      Try to use as little paper as possible for environmental and monetary reasons.

2.      Use recycled paper.

3.      Keep the “Mission Statement” separate from the polls, and have it displayed on a clipboard to save paper.

Questions (for Presentation Team and Analysis Team)

Presentation Team

1.      Please explain the process you used to complete this project.

2.      Where did you find people to participate in the poll?

3.      What did you think would be the most difficult part of completing the project?

4.      What turned out to be the most difficult challenge you faced?

5.      What did you enjoy about completing this project?

6.      What did you learn from participating in this project?

Analysis Team

Expectations (to be answered before data is collected)

1.      Of the ten statements, which do you think come from the most extremely traditional and extremely progressive points of view?

2.      Which demographics do you predict will vote the most progressively, and which will be the most traditional?

3.      What are some other predictions you have for how the polls will turn out?

4.      Do you think the project will be successful? Why or why not?

Basic Results

1.      Which statement had the highest overall approval rating?

2.      Which statement had the lowest overall approval rating?

3.      Which statement was the most controversial? (had the most people voting “totally agree” and “totally disagree”)

4.      Which demographics voted most similarly?

5.      Which demographics voted most differently?

6.      On which statements did men and women disagree the most?

7.      On which statements did Thais and foreigners disagree the most?

8.      On which statements did different age groups disagree the most?

Critical Thinking

1.      Please explain what you think the purpose of this project was.

2.      By your definitions, which demographic voted the most traditionally, and which voted the most progressively?

3.      Why do you think certain demographics voted in certain ways?

a.       Thais

b.      Foreigners

c.       Males

d.      Females

e.       Different Age Groups

f.       Etc…

4.      Which results were the most surprising and why?

5.      Critique the project and its results: Is doing a project like this useful? Why? What are the project’s flaws?

6.      How seriously should we take the results of the polls?

BEST OF LUCK!!! J

Click here to see my screencast!

How can I become a more effective presenter?

To be honest, my presentation skill is one of the strongest in my overall teaching ability. I feel that I was born with the gifts of being able to be compelling, charismatic, and able to explain concepts simply and effectively. I have delivered lectures and lessons on some of the most boring material there is (sentence structure, clause types, proper citations) and managed to keep my students' eyes and minds on me and the discussed content.

If I had to come up with a weakness in my presentation ability I'd like to improve, I'd say that there are two. The first is my overall physical health. As I mentioned in my last post, I'd like to drop a few pounds and increase my stamina. By doing so, I believe I would become a more appealing presenter and able to be center stage for longer without sweating too much or needing to lean on something.

Another area to improve upon would be my breadth of mediums used to deliver presentations. I use PowerPoint often and sometimes use a simple Word Document to supplement my lessons. I am quite minimalist, and take pride in that, so extravagant technological displays are not something I desire to use in any sort of frequency. But being skilled in more programs would give me the option to give it a shot.

What I hope to Gain from EDUC 932

As a teacher, there are several areas I would like to improve upon. My classroom management skills are decent, but I have benefited mightily from an irregularly well-behaved group of students over the course of the past two years. I will probably have to wait for a less ideal bunch to have a chance to improve in this area. I would also like to improve my overall health. I need to lost some weight and increase my stamina. This will help me set a better example for my students, and should be more effective towards making a first impression on them. A third area in which I would like to show some improvement is becoming a more dynamic teacher. I have a fairly varied repertoire when it comes to differentiated instruction, but this is an area that must be perpetually improved for any teacher.

I am hoping that EDUC 932 will assist me in achieving my goal of a more diversified approach to pedagogy. I am not exceptionally attracted to technology, particularly when compared to many of my 21st Century peers. I don't even have a smart phone! Hopefully, EDUC 932 will expose me to more technology-based methods of teaching and will turn me on to some websites and programs that can be useful in the classroom. I am not a traditional learner in the sense that one should be able to follow instructions and pick up on a new skill or concept. I generally prefer to be exposed and left to my own devices to experiment and learn through trial and error. I guess you could say that, ideally, EDUC 932 will plant seeds in my mind that can grow into flowering technological advances in my teaching later on.