Film Clip Lesson Plan

I really enjoyed last week's class because I thought it was interesting to see how everyone incorporated different films into their lessons. Not only did I like most everyone's movie clips, but I feel as though I learned a lot about how to use this form of technology in the classroom.
My first instinct, and the way in which I detailed my lesson, is to use film as a creative writing piece.

I used a clip from the film adaptation of the novel Hoot by Carl Hiaasen in order to get the students thinking about the qualities of descriptive writing. This was the only idea I could think of when I was making my lesson. From the presentations, I was able to see the thought processes of other people, which I think will help me in the future. Beyond creative writing pieces, other people used the film clip as a gateway for deeper discussion about the novel, a comparison and contrast of themes and details, and even as a way to incorporate more technology in the classroom by way of Power Point. I'm really glad I got to see these other ideas, and I know I will be using them in the future.

Copyright! Ah!

So, as it turns out, there is a lot about copyright laws that I didn't know. Here are some of the things I found most interesting, and unreasonable:
*Teachers are not allowed to show their own movies in class because it violates copyright laws
*Teachers are not allowed to buy songs from iTunes and play them in their class because it
violates copyright laws
*You cannot play music and have a fund raiser because you are making money and it violates copyright laws
These are just a few of things that were surprising to me. It's not as though I'm necessarily worried about getting in trouble with the "copyright police", but it does make me think twice about plans I had as a teacher. While I know that this is good knowledge to have, especially as a teacher being set to higher standards than others, but I can't say that I won't continue to violate those laws. I feel as though its inevitable, and I'm not willing to sacrifice my students education by redesigning lessons because I'm worried about breaking copyright laws.

Web Quests: Not my fav!

So for the past two weeks we have been working on our Web Quests. Maybe it was just because I was having trouble being inspired, or because I never did a Web Quest in school, but I was not really a fan of the procedure.
I based my quest off of the young adult novel Hoot by Carl Hiaasen. This is a wonderful novel, full of witty sarcasm and a positive environmental message, but I don't know if it's ready for the Internet. While I designed my quest to be one that teaches about different regional areas of the United States and the importance of protecting their wildlife, I feel as though it wasn't a very good lesson for an English class.
I have not quite given up on the idea of Web Quests or their effectiveness, but I think that the next time I attempt to make one of my own, I will need a more purposefully driven idea that reaches students on a Language Arts level.