As the Coordinator of Educational Technology for the Fox Chapel Area School District I developed a series of interactive activities for all new staff members addressing copyright and fair use. It was important that every educator understood their personal issues as well as how the issues impacted her classroom instruction. I never expected I would have to deal with this issue from a personal perspective.
What happened? In 2018 I received an email and then a letter from a Canadian firm that licenses photographs. They claimed I had used a copyright image on my website without permission. They wanted me to pay for the use of the image. I was taken back and went to the webpage in question on my own website. I could not find the image. Instead, I observed that there were four images on the page for whom I owned the copyright. Then, I went to my library of graphics. Could I have downloaded the image and used it in an earlier version? No, that wasn’t the case.
I started to talk with friends and colleagues about what I should do. Most said, “Do nothing. They’ll forget about you.” Well, that didn’t happen. A week after the initial contact, I received a letter from the law firm representing the photo agency indicating that there were seeking payment for my “digression.” Then a representative from the law firm called me. This really upset me. I felt like I was being harassed for something that really was not illegal. Then a second call came. I decided it was time to get legal counsel to delve into this issue.
The attorney and I did some virtual research and the attorney found the original story I had posted. The story included the photo I had supposedly used in violation of copyright law. The photo in question was part of a story about a Japanese robot. The image appeared as “thumbnail” in the list of most recent Posts in the sidebar on my website. We believed that I had not violated copyright law and could possibly be covered by the Fair Use part of the Copyright Law.
How could I be covered? During those years when I conducted my Copyright and Fair Use workshops for the Fox Chapel Area School District I did research on the topic. I came across an article from the Stanford School of Law that outlined what I called the “PANE” factors for Fair Use. PANE stands for Purpose, Amount, Nature, and Effect. I would tell my audience, “Limit your “PANE” by following some simple guidelines. Let’s look at how this framework relates to my issue.
The Purpose for my posting was to “curate” an article in order to share with my audience of followers something that I thought would be of interest to them. I have over 900 people who follow me on Twitter. Most are educators who have similar interests about emerging technologies. In addition, I’m the former co-chair of the Emerging Technologies Committee for the Consortium of Schools Network (CoSN), an organization for educational technology leaders. I write articles and do presentations on topics, such as Emerging Technologies.
The Amount deals with the percentage of the original work you use. Normally you can only use 10% of a resource to stay within the Fair Use realm. In this case, it’s moot, since there was only one image. When I worked with educators I had them think about using a part of a piece of music or a section of a paper or poem. In this case, there is a point that is relevant. The photography was part of an article. I did not just post the image. I posted an article that contained the image. Moreover, I did not post multiple copyright images. I only posted the story that contained the image in question.
The Nature is another important point. In this case it’s a bit muddy. After a second round of investigations, I discovered that I posted the story based on information from another company, TechTerra. I copied into my story information that TechTerra shared that included the copyright image. The copy of the photo was on the TechTerra server, not on my computer.
The Effect is also very important. My audience read the article with the incorporated photo and increased their knowledge of a unique use of robotics. The effect did not limit the market impact of the photographer or agency that owned the image.
Epilogue:
I thought I would never need to revisit this story, but guess what happened again? Yes, the same company came after me again in 2021. This time I made a critical mistake. I posted part of a story with a copyright image inside of a story I wrote about Remake Learning in Pittsburgh. The photo was on my server. I had used a copyrighted image in one of my stories with the proper attribution of the photo to the photographer and agency, but that didn’t dissuade the Canadian company. I, once again, reached out for legal help, but this time there was nothing they could do for me.
I deleted every story on my website that I did not write and/or had any images that I had not personally taken. I suggest you think about this story and make sure you’re protected.
I’d like to share this story so other educators can better understand the issues and think about how they are addressing Fair Use and Copyright. In addition, I want to use what James Comey calls “Ethical Leadership.” According to James Comey, it’s critical to use standards or outside frameworks that provide guidance to be an effective leader.
In Part 1 of “The Teachings of Mister Rogers” (https://nlg-consulting.net/2021/11/22/the-teachings-of-mister-rogers-part-1/) we looked at the chapters from Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski’s book, When You Wonder, You’re Learning on Curiosity, Creativity, and Collaborating and the guest experts who joined my Carnegie Mellon Osher class to talk about Fred Rogers as a Learning Scientist. In this post we’ll look at the chapters and class sessions that address Communicating, Learning and Growing, and Connecting.(http://whenyouwonder.org)
Communicating with Bill Isler
Each chapter in the book is filled with great stories about Fred Rogers, examples of episodes and songs that illuminate the theme, contemporary research, and contemporary examples in Pittsburgh of people and projects that manifest the theme today. I was quite fortunate to connect with Bill Isler for my Osher class to share his insights into Fred Rogers as a masterful communicator. Bill served as the CEO of Family Communications, the company that produced the Mister Rogers Neighborhood. He also became the first Executive Director for the Fred Rogers Center, a non-profit that promotes the work of Fred Rogers and contains the archives for much of Fred Roger’s work.
Before I introduce my guest each week I outline some of the themes from the book, When You Wonder, You’re Learning. Deep Listening and Loving Speech were two elements that were part of Fred Roger’s communications approach. According to a quotation from Thich Nhat Hanh in the book:
“When we listen to someone with the intention of helping that person suffer less, that is Deep Listening. When we listen with compassion, we don’t get caught in judgement.”
Bill Isler related a story in the book about Fred Rogers and how he listened and expressed his love with children as well as adults. “When he talked to children, he was always down on one knee. He always got down to eye level….” Fred never wanted to have kids or adults feel that they were inferior to him. He wanted everyone in his audience to feel loved. Moreover, Fred wanted his audience to know that he listened to them. This carried over to letters he received. He literally sent a personal reply to every person who wrote to him. In at least one situation he used a question from a parent’s letter to create a story episode. According to Bill a parent sent a letter and asked Fred for help toilet training her son. Fred used the opportunity to demonstrate on the TV show what toilet training meant and tackled the issue straight-on.
As part of his approach Fred Roger felt it was critical to talk about our feelings in an honest and direct way. Fred always said, “When we talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, less scary.”
One of the best examples of a contemporary example of Fred’s style of communications is found in the Reel Teens project in Pittsburgh. In this project high school students create videos that demonstrate Fred’s “Loving Speech” approach. They show empathy and concern for their subjects. They communicate well since they have a Purpose, just as every documentary that Fred created had a special reason behind it. In Chapter 3, Gregg and Ryan share the Reel Teens story about Kung Fu Joe, a local Pittsburgh character who would have likely made his way to Mister Rogers Neighborhood. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLdrzBouUb8&feature=youtu.be)
Bill explained that Fred was a “grateful receiver.” He had an amazing interest in listening to people’s stories. Moreover, he used his personal stories and experiences to create the tales and themes for Mister Rogers Neighborhood. It was never about “I.” Fred was always about “our” or “us” or we.”
One of most memorable moments on the Mister Rogers Neighborhood occurred when Jeff Erlanger, a young boy in a wheelchair, joined Fred for the song, “I Love You.” Bill Isler brought the story up-to-date telling the Osher class about a surprise visit by Jeff at the ceremony when Fred was inducted into the TV Hall of Fame. Fred, just as he always did, knelled down and just shared his love for Jeff after more than 25 years apart. The moment brought tears to people. It was just how Fred acted on stage or in real life. He shared his love for people through everything thing he communicated.
Bill also shared stories about the production of the documentary and the Tom Hanks film, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Fred was leery about anyone making a movie about him. Bill made sure that the documentary and feature length films were of high quality. In the case of the Tom Hanks film Bill related how Fred turned a project that was supposed to be just an article by Tom Junod into a major magazine cover story and subsequent film. Along the way Fred used his amazing communications talent to turn Tom Junod into a believer in the Mister Roger’s mystique. (https://time.com/5733017/a-beautiful-day-in-the-neighborhood-true-story/)
Learning and Growing with Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski
Photo CC BY 4.0 Norton Gusky
While I had originally hoped to have Gregg and Ryan join me for Week 1 of my Osher class, it turned out quite well to have them join for Week 5. They used the opportunity to address questions about the origin of the book and reviewed some of the highlights in the previous chapters that were highlighted by my previous guest experts.
I started my mini-lecture by using the Driving Question that was the underlying element in When You Wonder, You’re Learning: In what ways were the teachings of Fred Rogers rooted in Learning Science?
Gregg and Ryan in their book highlight the importance of Striving for Fred Rogers. According to Fred, “Life is marked by failures and setbacks and slip ups as much as hard-won satisfactions…. We need to let Children understand that for us , as for them, life is made of striving more than attaining.” It’s not the final product that is often most important. It’s the process, the steps getting there. It’s not just being persistent, but learning from mistakes and failures.
According to Chapter 5 we need to avoid Toxic Anxiety, “If we want kids to stick with something, experts say, we need to take a different approach from the beginning – one that reduces anxiety.” I brought up the findings from Learning Science around Mastery Learning. We want our learners to demonstrate a pattern of success. That doesn’t mean necessarily 100% or even 90%. Sometimes we might make a mistake three times in a row and then “get it.” We demonstrate success two, three, maybe four times. We’ve mastered a concept or skill, but if we used an average we have failed.
Right in line with Fred’s Teachings is the work of Carol Dweck on Growth and Fixed Mindsets. (https://fs.blog/carol-dweck-mindset/) According to Carol Dweck, “Although people may differ… – in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments – everyone can grow and change through application and experience.”
In Chapter 5 Gregg and Ryan highlight the song, “You’ve Got to Do It” where Fred sings, “It’s not easy to keep trying, but it’s the one way to grow. You’ve got to just do it. ” Here is a great example of Striving in order to Learn and Grow.
One of the great local examples of how Fred Roger’s Teachings carry on today is through Remake Learning Days. (https://remakelearningdays.org/) Gregg explained how this annual spring celebration now “billed as ‘the world’s largest open house for the future of teaching and learning” began. At first the Remake Learning Days was an effort in Allegheny County by schools, museums, libraries, after-school programs, and other learning places to showcase what kids could do with technology. Year by year the program grew and today every county in the state of Pennsylvania participates and kids, parents and community members from nineteen other states will join in the celebration of Learning and Growing from May 12-23, 2022.
While I could share my own personal stories, my guests really bring to light their personal connections to Fred Roger’s teachings. Ryan talked about his grandmother and a 1940s photo. His grandmother was the youngest of ten children and her mother did not speak English. She dreamed of becoming a hairdresser. One day she came to school wearing curls she had put in place. The teacher sent a note, “Get a look at Shirley Temple.” This created such anxiety for his grandmother that she never pursued her dream. Ryan’s story demonstrated a Fred Rogers approach where you need to share feelings in an honest and direct in order to learn and grow.
Gregg honed in on Mindsets by telling a story about his soccer coaching experience with his two daughters. He focused on winning and when the team lost their first two games he had to reset his mindset and think about what was needed in practice and the games so the girls enjoyed playing, not just winning. By taking on a Growth Mindset approach he made the game more fun and soon the team was on a winning streak.
Connecting with Larry Berger
For the final class I invited Larry Berger who started his broadcast career at the age of 17 and then at the age of 50 left an environmental engineering position to pursue full-time his passion working with young people and start SLB Productions, a 501c3 company. SLB Productions has gained local and international honors for its innovative approach working with young people using radio production and oral history. (https://slbradio.org/)
Larry and I agreed to focus on “Neighborhoods” for his session. Beginning with the Class Starter I had people think about what neighborhoods meant to them. I used an image of Sampsonia Way on the North Side of Pittsburgh to initiate the Chat Room conversation. People talked about physical elements like buildings as well as psychological needs and most importantly, people. I brought up how this alleyway has become a home for writers, poets, and other artists who come to Pittsburgh through the City of Asylum project. This was a great way to kick off the conversation about the Teachings of Fred Rogers for our last class.
For this class our Driving Question was: In what ways have the teachings of Fred Rogers addressed the needs of neighborhoods? Again Larry and I wanted the Osher class to think about “Connecting” through the Neighborhood lens.
In When You Wonder, You’re Learning there were a number of learning research projects that were highlighted that address the issue of Belonging and Feeling Connected: Spitz research with orphans and Harry Harlow’s research with rhesus monkeys. I also brought back into the conversation one of the key research projects that Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski had highlighted in the previous week conducted by the University of Washington. Here’s a key finding from that research that was highlighted in the book: “Those parents and teachers who had been taught to build stronger relationships outperformed their peers on every measure of well being…”
In every Mister Rogers show, Fred Rogers used his puppets to address feelings. In this case it was feeling not connected or excluded. King Friday plays the role of Fred’s alter ego. He declares, “When I was a young prince, I was not very fine at playing games. So when it came time for people to choose their teams, nobody ever…[selected me].”
To introduce Larry and his work I focused on the theme of Empathy. In When You Wonder, You’re Learning, there’s a wonderful quotation from Larry as he talks about the students in his Youth Express project, “”By the time they put a finished product together, they’re thinking about their projects in ways they never had before. They’re full of so much empathy.”
Larry highlighted how all of his work with kids is built around three key principles that go directly back to Fred Rogers:
Creating Safe Spaces
Working with Trusted Adults
Providing Opportunities to Grow
Larry shared an examples of of Youth Express projects for a local Pittsburgh High School and elementary programs. The process takes time. At first it’s very difficult for both the teachers and the kids, but by using the three principles everyone is successful. In the elementary example Larry and his SLB team were invited to work with 2nd grade teachers around the standard for Persuasive Writing. Larry stepped the class through a series of writing assignments and prompts that kept building on successful communication. In the first stage the young writers wrote a “Mini Bio.” They learned how to record their voices as they read their short personal tales. They moved along a series of steps that led to a Town hall meeting where they connected with their peers. At the final stage each learner had to create a Persuasive Editorial on a subject of personal interest. The process demonstrated the Teachings of Fred Rogers as a contemporary learning activity designed around Psychological Safety, Trusting Relationships, and Personal Growth.
Larry then added another element of research that he incorporates into his programs – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. SLB Productions make sure that every dimension starting with Physiological needs (nutritious snacks and drinks) to Self Actualization (a final project with true agency expressed) is part of the process.
After sharing additional examples of successful student projects, Larry and I used the Zoom Breakout Rooms to put the class members into virtual neighborhoods where they used a “Quick Story” prompt about childhood memories to have a discussion with their peers. The Osher students loved the opportunity to share their personal stories. Sometimes one person’s story elicited ideas that the student had not thought about before. It was a great way to demonstrate the power of Connecting. As one Osher student shared in the post-course survey, “The activity in the breakout rooms was excellent.”
As we wrapped up the final session Larry shared one last student project that demonstrates how Fred Rogers’s Teachings are still alive today.
Final Thoughts
Even though I was already a teacher by the time Mister Rogers Neighborhood came on the air, I always felt that there was a part of me that belonged in that neighborhood. My Osher students left their impressions in a final survey of the class. Here a few of their thoughts:
What You Learned: “I learned about all of the things that are being done in Pittsburgh to foster creativity. I learned about the background of how Fred Rogers became Mr. Rogers. I learned that it is easier to be a better person by simply changing the mindset. I learned the importance of acknowledging children’s thoughts and feelings and allowing them to share in a safe environment.”
How you now Connect to the teachings of Fred Rogers: “At this time for sure, the need for his particular type of kindness, listening, wisdom really strikes a chord. I wish I had this course earlier in my life, as a Mother of 4 and a speech therapist – his quiet, calm, voice and slow cadence now make so much more sense to me now than it did when my young children watched the show …trying now to remind myself to model some of this with adults as well as children in my life now…”
What You’ll Do with What You Learned: “Share with others the resources mentioned throughout the course. Buy the book for a couple of people in my family circle.”
When I heard that my colleague, Gregg Behr, was about to publish a book on the contemporary importance of Fred Rogers, I knew I wanted to teach a course for the Osher program at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Gregg explained that his book would look at the teachings of Mister Rogers in light of learning science findings. I immediately contacted Gregg and he agreed that he and his co-author, Ryan Rydzewski, would join my class, but unfortunately they would be out of town to kick off the class. I then decided I should purchase When You Wonder, You’re Learning, and see how the book would align to a class format and who were some of the key people in the book.
Chapter 1 focused on Curiosity. I immediately thought about another colleague, Melissa Butler, who appeared in Chapter 1 and created the Children’s Innovation Project (https://www.cmucreatelab.org/projects/Children’s_Innovation_Project) as part of an investigation around innovation and technology while she was a primary school teacher for Pittsburgh Public Schools: Allegheny and also worked with the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.
Children at PPS: Allegheny Photo by Norton Gusky CC BY 4.0
As part of her work for the Children’s Innovation Project Melissa took several of Fred Rogers key ideas and brought them into the formal classroom:
Be Observant. Study known objects as simple as a button in detail;
Be Curious. Examine objects and ask questions, such as how does this work?
Be a Team Member. Work with your peers and learn from each other.
For the Osher class Melissa introduced the senior adults to several Fred Rogers resources that are available online. The Neighborhood Archive (http://www.neighborhoodarchive.com/) contains everything from the Mister Rogers and Daniel Tiger shows – episodes, characters, songs, memorabilia. Educators’ Neighborhood, a project of the Fred Rogers Center (https://www.fredrogerscenter.org/,) is a community of educators who learn together inspired from the life and work of Fred Rogers. Melissa is one of the key people for this modern day learning community. According to the website: “We study episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, read from the Fred Rogers Center archive, and connect ideas to our daily practice with young children.”
For the Osher class Melissa shared an early episode from the Mister Rogers’ Show where Fred visits Mrs. Russelite. Together they explore her collection of hats and model the attribute of curiosity. Melissa shared a technique called “Episode Talk.” She asked people to first describe that they saw. Then, she queried the group to connect what they described to their lives. It was amazing to hear some of the comments. One person noticed how Fred Rogers and his director used camera angles to provide insight into characters. Other people outlined how they used to play with clothes or hats. The key to ignite curiosity for Mister Rogers and for Melissa Butler is to start with something you know and then ask children or adults to think about new ways to use that item. Melissa explained that the best items are “open ended.” A cardboard box can provide hours of curious investigation and imaginative play. The role for adults is to introduce new narratives for children. Use questions like, “I see you have a new hat. How many ways can you wear it?”
Creativity
For the second week of the class I tapped into the expertise of Jane Werner, the Executive Director for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Originally I had intended for my class to visit the Children’s Museum to view artifacts from Fred Rogers, to interact with the exhibit, the Kindness Gallery, and to observe kids using their creativity throughout the museum. However, the uptick in COVID meant that we had to go online and use Zoom. So, I decided I would create my own Fred Roger’s style documentary to take my class to the museum.
Film by Norton Gusky
To set the stage for Jane I highlighted several themes that came out of the book, When You Wonder, You’re Learning: how learning science has created tools, like the Torrance Test, to measure Creativity; the importance of choices; why we need to “play” even as adults; the Creativity Crisis – how even children are now less creative today than they were 30 years ago; and new directions for Creativity including events like Maker Faires, and spaces like the MakeShop at the Children’s Museum as well as Maker Spaces across the United States.
Jane provided a virtual tour of the Children’s Museum and MuseumLab, the new space just across from the Children’s Museum that is a laboratory to look at how informal practices can make an impact on formal learning with slightly older kids – middle school age. Jane shared many wonderful stories working with Fred Rogers and his wife, Joanne. Fred played a key role in the mission for the Museum – providing a space for Kindness, Curiosity, Creativity, and Joy. Jane highlighted how scientists and artists are both attempting to create models for understanding our world and children need to have experiences as both an artist and scientist. Jane highlighted how the Children’s Museum works with the University of Pittsburgh and a team of Learning Scientists to understand things like the Principles of Practice for the MakeShop: Inquire, Tinker, Seek and Share Resources, Hack and Repurpose, Express Intention, Develop Fluency, and Simplify to Complexity.
Jane designed an engaging interactive activity for the group. She asked them to look at a photograph she had taken of a model car she had inherited from her father with a paper clip next to it. She challenged the Osher students to write a story or draw a picture to explain what was in the photo. The Osher students came up with some wild ideas to express their creativity.
Working Together
For Week 3 I reached out to Cara Ciminillo, the Executive Director of Trying Together (https://tryingtogether.org/). I had served on the Board for the organization when it was known as PAEYC and I knew that in 2018 the organization rebranded itself using a quotation from Fred Rogers:
We need to remember that children are trying, too—trying to understand their feelings and their world, trying to please the people they love, trying to grow. When grownups and children are trying together, just about anything can be possible.
Fred Rogers
I set the stage for Cara looking at key issues from Chapter 4 in When You Wonder, You’re Learning:
The lack of Collaboration Skills for students in the US based on the PISA test from the Office of Economic and Community Development (OECD);
The importance for Psychological Safety to build Trust and Respect in groups with a special look at research from Google and the work of the Girls of Steel, a Carnegie Mellon University sponsored program of FIRST teams and community outreach, serving girls and boys in grades K-12 in Greater Pittsburgh.
The importance of Diversity with a look at how the Mister Rogers Neighborhood modeled the inclusion of gender, race, and disability for team-based projects.
Screenshot from Osher Class
Cara shared the Simple Interactions Tool developed in collaboration with Jun Lei Li, the former director for the Fred Rogers Center. The graphic serves as a way to frame peer-to-peer conversations about best child-caring practices. Cara explained each of the key factors and then she presented a wonderful video about a child-giver who had to deal with a young child new to a facility. The care-giver was a wonderful example of the teachings of Fred Rogers. She demonstrated how to build Psychological Safety by demonstrating kindness and trust. And most importantly the caregiver provided the young child with a simple experience to grow and feel connected.
Cara also highlighted Message From Me (https://messagefromme.org/), a technological tool developed with the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, to provide greater communication between care-givers and children. According to Cara the tool is now used by educational institutions across the country. The tool allows a child to take a picture of a product or activity, add a verbal explanation, and then send the message to a caregiver, so the child and care-giver can have a conversation later about something authentic in the child’s day. Instead of the caregiver saying, “What happened in school today?” and the child saying, “Nothing,” there is now a concrete example to share. Now the caregiver can say, “Tell me more about your drawing. I see you focused on a yellow bird. Tell me more about your bird.” Cara pointed out that Message from Me is a great example of where technology can make a positive difference in a child’s learning and provide for learner autonomy and voice. And most importantly, it helps to build relationships.
Trying Together has also been a leader in the region providing online tools for caregivers to find quality programs and resources for young children. The website AlleghenyChildcare.org is the latest example of the efforts from Trying Together.
The last segment of the session focused on questions from the Osher students. One of the questions came out of the COVID situation. How are young children dealing with living in a world where adults are behind masks? Cara explained how children can read expression from people’s eyes and the tone of their voice. Even though masks make it more difficult for children to read an adult’s expression, they are still very perceptive.
(For the other three chapters and the related Osher class sessions based on When You Wonder, You’re Learning, stay tuned for Part 2 of The Teachings of Fred Rogers.)
