TeachersFirst's Copyright and Fair Use Resources
Understanding copyright is essential for students living in today’s digital world. Copyright protects original creative works, allowing the creators to control how their material is used and shared. In the classroom, respecting copyright shows students why intellectual property rights and using content ethically matter. By teaching copyright principles, educators prepare students with the necessary knowledge for future courses, careers, and participation in our copyright-respecting world. This collection provided valuable resources for teaching students and staff the basics of copyright. The resources allow for discussions around plagiarism, piracy, and Internet ethics. It includes guidelines on fair use, how to credit sources appropriately, and updated copyright laws and policies.
Explore our entire collection of resources tagged copyright, creative commons, and/or plagiarism.
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3 Great Lesson Plans on Copyright - Common Sense and Bronwyn H.
Grades
K to 8tag(s): copyright (46), digital citizenship (86), STEM (269)
In the Classroom
Include the shared lessons and activities as part of your digital citizenship curriculum. Use the provided handouts to guide students toward extended learning and discussion of proper digital citizenship practices. For example, second-grade students complete a Digital Citizens Report handout, and as an extension, ask students to create a list of credits for some of their commonly used online sites such as PBS Kids Reading Games, reviewed here or Scratch, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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My Cyberspace Academy Lesson 12: Copyright and Plagiarism - Carnegie Mellon University
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): copyright (46), internet safety (112), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
In addition to the existing lesson plan, in small groups, have students use FreeComicMaker.com, reviewed here to create comics featuring heroes who respect copyright laws and villains who disregard them. This project encourages creativity and application of knowledge in a new context extending learning. Then, organize a virtual gallery walk for students to view each group's comics. Utilize a quiz program like Kahoot, reviewed here and use the information from the lesson to create a quiz that focuses on different aspects of copyright. Have students create their own Legal or Illegal trading card utilizing Trading Card Creator, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Students as Creators: Exploring Copyright - ReadWriteThink and Cassandra Love
Grades
6 to 8tag(s): copyright (46), digital citizenship (86), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
The lessons are designed to be co-planned and co-taught by a classroom teacher and school media specialist. If this isn't possible in your current situation, consider asking another classroom teacher to collaborate with you on teaching this unit, or break the lessons into smaller pieces and prepare portions of the lesson in your school library as needed. If you cannot teach all of the lessons, review and save the printouts for use by students throughout the year to determine how to address copyright issues with classroom projects. Save copies of the printouts for students to access on your LMS or class website.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Copyright Education YouTube Playlist - Media Education Lab
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): copyright (46), digital citizenship (86), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
View the videos shared on this playlist to understand copyright and how to attribute and include copyrighted materials in the classroom appropriately. Use Diffit, reviewed here to extend learning and understanding of the video concepts. Enter the video URL and choose a reading level to automatically create AI-generated resources and student activities, including vocabulary terms, multiple choice questions, and printable activities (look under student activities for items labeled "free this month"). Share videos with parents on your class website to help them understand the importance of properly using copyright and attribution.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Copyright & Creativity for Ethical Digital Citizens - Copyright & Creativity.org
Grades
K to 12tag(s): copyright (46), digital citizenship (86)
In the Classroom
Utilize the free curriculums offered on this site to teach students (and yourself) about the proper use of copyright. If you are unable to download the videos, this site recommends viewing the videos using View Pure, reviewed here, to remove all of the annoying "extras" included with YouTube videos. As you teach lessons and ask students to brainstorm ideas or compare and contrast information, use a graphic organizer tool such as Popplet, reviewed here, to create and save visual displays of students' ideas that include both text and images. Ask students to include a link to their Popplet organizer on Seesaw, reviewed here, along with original drawings, recordings, or other materials created during your unit. As a final project, extend learning by asking students to create a tutorial about copyright based upon their knowledge. Provide a variety of resources for creating the tutorial as a way to differentiate learning. Examples of some tools to include are Book Creator, reviewed here, or Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here, or create an infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quetext Plagiarism Checker - Quetext
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): copyright (46), editing (92), evaluating sources (27), plagiarism (33), writing (319)
In the Classroom
Although the free portion of this site is somewhat limited, it is worth bookmarking and sharing for use by you and your students. Be sure to include a link on your class website for students to use at home. Demonstrate to students how to upload their writing to check for plagiarism as part of your ongoing lessons in intellectual honesty. If their work is longer than 500 words, upload a small portion that needs to be checked instead of the whole project. Often when students are researching and writing a report, they find it difficult to put information in their own words. Ask students to attach their report results to their writing as part of the writing assignment. Encourage them to share reports that indicate plagiarism, with an online bulletin board like Dotstorming, reviewed here, where other students can comment and help them reword the writing. Then, have them discuss steps to take to avoid it happening in the future. Ask students to create video commercials modifying their learning and informing viewers on different aspects of plagiarism. Use a tool such as Powtoon, reviewed here. Share their videos using a tool such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fair Dealing Decision Tool - Council of Ministers of Education, Canada
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): copyright (46), digital citizenship (86), ethics (21), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
Include this site as part of your digital citizenship lessons. Explore together what is the acceptable use, and what is not. Enhance classroom technology use by having students create online posters individually or together as a class using a tool such as PicLits, reviewed here, or transform class tech use with a multimedia poster using Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here, or Adobe Express for Education, reviewed here, to demonstrate the acceptable use of published work. Be sure to include a link to this tool on your class web page for student use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Resource Guides - Learning Commons - The University of British Columbia - Vancouver Campus
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): citations (33), copyright (46), creative commons (28), digital citizenship (86), plagiarism (33), Research (84)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard as you share individual topics with students, then create a link on your class website for students to access information at any time. Divide topics among groups of students and enhance or transform classroom technology use and student learning by having each group create a simple or multimedia infographic (depending on teacher requirements or student ability) and share their findings using Venngage, reviewed here. Create a class wiki with resources for using and crediting online tools. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cite This For Me - RefME Ltd. (2015)
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Share with students as a resource for saving and organizing web material. The Webclipper feature allows students to highlight the key information from a page so that a few days down the road they're not wondering why they bookmarked a web page. The bibliography tools help students properly format their Works Cited pages. Use this tool to help keep your students (or even yourself) organized! Make sure you teach plagiarism lessons about paraphrasing and proper citation of sources, so students use this tool properly!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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P.org - iParadigms, LLC & TurnItIn LLC
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): citations (33), plagiarism (33), Research (84), summarizing (22)
In the Classroom
Meet your Common Core standards for nonfiction reading using the pages at this informative site! In addition, every student who creates a report, presentation, speech, or project, in any subject, needs to know this information. Consider dividing and presenting this site with a teacher in another curriculum, so students get the idea that this is information for EVERY class. Modify learning and consider presenting the information, questions, and quizzes using a tool such as Vevox, reviewed here. Vevox will integrate with Microsoft Teams and PowerPoint, and you can have instantaeous question and answer sessions. Then you can quiz students on the information. Moreover, this program will make this text heavy, but necessary material, much more tolerable for your students. You may want to challenge your gifted and musically inclined students to create a rap highlighting the important information they learned about plagiarism and citing sources. Have them teach the rap to the rest of the class. Or enhance learning and have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. If you are flipping your classroom and having students to watch the videos residing on YouTube at home, you may want to use Edpuzzle, reviewed here, to add your own voice or add questions within the video and hold students accountable.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Academic Help - Academic Help
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): artificial intelligence (136), creative writing (121), descriptive writing (40), expository writing (31), letter writing (18), paragraph writing (15), persuasive writing (56)
In the Classroom
Be sure to bookmark this resource for use throughout the year. Share samples of writing on your interactive whiteboard with students, and explore different types of writing examples together. Be sure to include a link to Academic Help on your class website or blog for students to access from home. After they follow the advice on this site, transform classroom technology use and have students use Ourboox, reviewed here. Ourboox creates beautiful page-flipping digital books in minutes, and you can embed video, music, animation, games, maps and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Research Guide for Students - A Research Guide
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): expository writing (31), literature (214), persuasive writing (56), plagiarism (33), process writing (38), Research (84)
In the Classroom
Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start a research project. With younger students, you may want the class to go through each step together before beginning the next step. However, let gifted students work ahead. The beauty of this site is that it is great for classroom differentiation for independent work. With older students, you may want to show them the different steps and have them start where they think they need help and share examples. Be sure to post a link to the site for students and parents to access at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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YouTube Copyright School - YouTube
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): copyright (46), multimedia (45), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start your study of plagiarism on writing projects or copyright in general. Use it in art or music classes when discussing the use of "derivative works" or performance rights on music. Include this site on your class webpage for students and parents to access as a reference. To show what they have learned from this site, enhance or transform (depending on teacher requirements) class room technology use by challenging students to create an online infographic about copyright to share using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Comments
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openverse - Word Press - Creative Commons
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): air (104), copyright (46), creative commons (28)
In the Classroom
Teaching students to understand and respect copyright of digital information can be difficult and overwhelming. The first step in helping students understand digital copyright is to get them to explore the terms of use and copyright of a variety of information. Create a scavenger hunt for students to find the terms of service and/or copyright for common websites. Once they realize that not all information is "free" for them to use, introduce the Creative Commons website and the symbols that are used to describe how the content is licensed by the owner. Use an interactive whiteboard or projector to demonstrate searching using the CC search site. Perform searches that yield results that show several different types of licenses. Discuss each type using scenarios of how the information can and cannot be used. As an extension activity for this site, students can create their own work and publish the work using a creative commons license. The work can be as simple as using a digital picture or as complex as creating their own derivative artwork, such as a collage or "photoshopped" image. It can be published on a commercial site such as flickr or on your school webpage. Make sure to follow any school guidelines before publishing student work. Perhaps you can create a class wiki of annotated creative images created by students with explanations of where they found the "parts" and how they created the original works from these parts. What a wonderful model to share with future students, as well. Teachers will also appreciate being able to find images you can freely use on class web pages and in online project samples, etc. (with attribution).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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21st Century Information Fluency - 21CIF
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): copyright (46), digital citizenship (86), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
This site is deep and robust and should be explored thoroughly before using it with students. As you approach a research project, plan to include some of these lessons as part of that project. Ideally, team with other teachers at your school/level to require consistent standards of research as taught through this site, but be sure you know which teachers and classes will help the students master them first! This is one to save in your favorites for repeat visits. Be sure to review the Bad Apple game with your class on a whiteboard or with an overhead projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching Copyright - Electronic Frontier Foundation
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): copyright (46), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
Use when teaching essay writing and how to cite sources. Plan a unit on plagiarism using the resources on this site or incorporate them into your existing research units. Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students do the activities on this site independently or in small groups. The culminating activity here is a trial; plan to use this with the entire class with each member having a distinct role.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tales from the Public Domain: Bound By Law - Center for the Study of the Public Domain (Duke Law)
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): air (104), copyright (46), media literacy (102)
In the Classroom
Since this content requires concentration and understanding of concepts beyond the typical high schooler, you may want to share selected frames from the book on your interactive whiteboard or projector as discussion starters or inspiration for debate on copyright issues. Whether you are introducing a research project that requires adherence to Fair Use and proper documentation, are coaching a debate team, or prompting a piece of persuasive writing on this hot topic, this resource will provide fodder for discussion. Don't expect mastery of the legal concept, but you will certainly hear opinions as students navigate this "book."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Podcasting Legal Guide - Creative Commons
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
If your class is set to "publish" their recorded exploits, working through this site with them would be a great introduction to the "rules of the road" for journalists in general.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Understanding Fair Use - University of Minnesota
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): copyright (46)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site to the class with a projector or whiteboard, and then replace pencil and paper notecards by having partners read this and take notes with an online tool such as Memo Notepad, reviewed here; tell students to be sure to save the URL to share their notes and questions with you and their peers. Next, at the end of your copyright and fair use unit, modify student learning by challenging them to demonstrate their learning by creating an inforgraphic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Purdue OWL - Avoiding Plagiarism - Purdue University
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): copyright (46), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
Share this site on the interactive whiteboard to establish a set of rules before beginning a research project or paper with your class. Teachers can even post the site on their teacher webpage, emphasizing it's importance and allowing students to reference it both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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