TESL 0150 - Resources Development and Integration - Unit 1

Unit 1: Developing Materials and Copyright

Teaching is a lot like carving. You have a goal and a finished project in mind 
and you have to gently and skillfully carve away to reveal the beautiful end result.
In order to achieve your goal you will need the right tools. Tools that are 
designed to perform a precise function and desired effect. In teaching these tools 
are the materials you bring into your classroom to “carve out” of your students their 
highest potential and the end learning goal.

A teacher must choose their materials wisely and fairly. They can create their own materials,
 collaborate with peers, use online resources, teaching resource books or government provided
 materials. There are the wide range of materials that a teacher could use in their classroom: 
worksheets/workbooks, flashcards, interactive online programs, realia, videos, posters, 
flipbooks, picture books, quizzes, picture dictionaries, games, and the list goes on and on! 

The future of material development for the EAL classroom is bright. The amount of online 
resources is amazing with websites like Tutela.ca, ESL Library.com, Twitter, Teacher Pay 
Teachers.com (TPT), Hal and Steve English.com, TEFLtest.com, ESLgames.com, 
TeachHub.com, English Club.com, Woodward English.com, Ellevation Education.com, 
Busy Teacher.org, learnenglish.britishcouncil.org, teachingenglish.org.uk, Finger Tips 
Resources on TPT, Language Gym.com, One Stop English.com, and MORE! Plus there are
 hundreds of published teacher resource books out there which are just an Amazon search 
away. We are living in the golden age of collaborative teacher resources!

Of course the next topic to cover is how to use the materials created by others in a 
respectful and responsible way. Conversely, how can we share materials that we have 
created confidently, knowing that our work is protected. The three main topics to learn about 
are copyright, creative creative commons license, public domain and the fair dealing act. 

Copyright:

“Copyright is the exclusive legal right to produce, reproduce, publish or perform an original
literary, artistic, dramatic or musical work. The creator is usually the copyright owner. However,
an employer—for example, a film studio—may have copyright in works created by employees
unless there is an agreement in place stating otherwise.” (What is copyright?, n.d.)

“Copyright exists automatically when an original work or other subject-matter is created,
provided the conditions set out in the Copyright Act have been met. This means that as soon 
as you create something, it is copyrighted. However, a certificate of registration of copyright is 
evidence that copyright exists and that the person registered is the owner of the copyright. 
Copyright registration is done through the Government of Canada.” (A guide to copyright, n.d.)

Creative Commons License: 

 “A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable 
the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author
wants to give other people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that he or she 
(that author) has created.” (Creative Commons License, n.d.)

“What the symbols mean:

BY indicates that you must attribute the source of the work. Fulfill this requirement by citing 
the source.

NC Some licenses limit the rights to non commercial use, which means that you are not 
allowed to make money from the work.

SA The Share alike icon means that any work you create using others' work must also be
licensed share alike.

ND The ND symbol stands for no derivatives, that means the work must be used as is and 
not changed” (Creative Commons: A new kind of copyright, n.d.)

To create your own creative commons symbol: https://creativecommons.org/choose/

FAQ about Creative Commons:  
https://creativecommons.org/faq/#what-are-creative-commons-licenses

Public Domain: 

“The public domain consists of all the creative works to which no exclusive intellectual 
property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, 
or may be inapplicable. A public domain book is a book with no copyright, a book that was 
created without a license, or a book where its copyrights expired or have been forfeited. In 
most countries the term of protection of copyright lasts until January first, 70 years after the 
death of the latest living author.” (Public Domain, n.d.)

Popular public domain books: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/public-domain

The Fair Dealings Act: 

 

“The Canadian Copyright Act allows the use of material from a copyright protected work 
(literature, musical scores, audiovisual works, etc.) without permission when certain conditions
are met. People can use fair dealing for  research, private study, education, parody, satire,
criticism, review, and news reporting. In order to ensure your copying is fair, you need to 
consider several factors such as the amount you are copying, whether you are distributing the
copy to others, and whether your copying might have a detrimental effect on potential sales of 
the original work.” (What is fair dealing?, n.d.)

You must ask consider 6 topics when deciding if somethings falls under the fair dealings act: 
purpose of dealing, the character of the dealing, amount of the dealing, alternatives to the 
dealing, nature of the work and effect of the dealing on the work/impact on the market.

Below are 2 websites to aid in deciding if it’s okay to use a work under the fair dealings act:

https://copyright.uwinnipeg.ca/fair-dealing/two-tests-for-determining-fair-dealing-.html

http://www.fairdealingdecisiontool.ca/DecisionTool/

References:

A guide to copyright. (n.d.). Canadian Intellectual Property Office. 
Retrieved from : https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr02281.html

Creative Commons Licence. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. 
Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license

Creative Commons: A new kind of copyright. (n.d.). West Vancouver Schools, Secondary 
Learning Commons. Retrieved from: http://www.sd45slc.ca/creative-commons.html

[Graphic of creative commons symbol] (2019). 
Retrieved from: http://www.sd45slc.ca/creative-commons.html

[Graphic of copyright symbol] (2019). 
Retrieved from: https://www.lifewire.com/copyright-symbol-on-windows-and-mac-2688246

[Graphic of public domain symbol] (2019). 
Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Domain_Mark

[Graphic of justice scale symbol] (2019). 
Retrieved from: https://www.iradio.ie/wpquizzes/the-ao-show-grab-a-grand-quiz/libra-q-9-right/

[Photograph of a carver carving] (2019). 
Retrieved from: https://videohive.net/item/wood-carving-11/3974659

Public Domain. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. 
Retrieved from: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain)

What is copyright? (n.d.). Canadian Intellectual Property Office.  
Retrieved from : https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr03719.html

What is fair dealing? (n.d.). Canadian Association of Research Libraries.  
Retrieved from: https://fair-dealing.ca/what-is-fair-dealing/

TESL 0140 - Assessment and Evaluation - Assignment #3: Self-Evaluation

 

To continue the analogy from my post on learning goals at the beginning 
of this course - we have reached the finish line in the race! As we come 
to the end of this assessment and evaluation course it’s time to reflect on 
the learning goals I made at the beginning of this course.

During this course we have explored formative and summative evaluation, holistic and
analytic rubrics, self and peer evaluations, assessing productive and receptive tasks and 
many other forms of assessment at different learning levels. Let’s see if I have attained my
learning goals.

My first goal was to learn how to create practical, reliable, valid, and authentic 
assessments/ evaluations that create positive washback and to use them confidently. Do I 
feel confident in creating effective assessments? Yes and no. I feel like I just scratched the 
surface of assessment creation. I did all the formative unit assignments and have posted 
them to Padlet and the discussion boards. I also read all the readings and explored Twitter. 
The textbook readings were helpful for understanding evaluation practicality, reliability, validity
and authenticity. The course activities were helpful for trying my hand at creating assessments
and exploring the different terminology surrounding assessment. I feel like it came together 
for me in the last unit. Creating the adapted rubric for the Unit 4 padlet was when it clicked for
me and I gained confidence. This was a good warm-up for the final assignment of doing a
larger scale adaptation and assessment creation. As we wrap up this course I feel like I 
have so much more to learn and that I will need a lot more practice creating assessments 
to really evaluate my students with confidence. It’s all in the practice for me I think.

My second goal was to understand on a deep level the role, benefit, challenges and “big 
picture” of assessment and evaluation, to understand the pedagogy of assessment and 
evaluation.  Do I now understand assessment and evaluation pedagogy and the “big picture” 
of how to use it in the classroom? Well, I would say I definitely grew a lot but I have a lot to 
learn! I am very much a beginner student of language pedagogy and to really gain a deep 
understanding I think I would need much more study, perhaps it was a lofty goal. That said, 
I do think that I have gained an understanding of how and when to use the different kinds of 
assessment as well as some of the strengths and weakness of each. The whole idea of 
positive washback was new for me and really shifted my perspective. The studying and 
preparation that students put into preparing for the assessment contributes greatly to their 
learning. The feedback that they receive post-assessment also contributes to positive 
washback. Student reflect on their mistakes and gain confidence from a job well done.  Also 
my understanding of evaluation was broadened with discussion of alternative methods of 
assessment and evaluation. Assessing student learning can take many different forms and 
often result in more long term learning then a test could achieve.

My third goal was to be inspired to use creative and new ways of assessing and evaluating.
 To push myself to think “outside the test”. Was a inspired to try creative avenues of 
assessment? This is an area I think I could have pushed myself more in. I did collect some
ideas on my Twitter account ( eg. https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2018/02/26/tch-tips-creative-assessment) 
for future reference however I wish I had collected some more. I would really like to learn 
more about PBLA and explore the creative resources on Tutela. For my final applied exercise
I choose to assess speaking and writing with a presentation style assignment. I think is more 
creative than say a test but I think I could have pushed myself a little more. I guess I was 
constrained by the lesson plan I was instructed to adapt but even within the category of
presentation I could have perhaps been more creative. Seeing examples of creativity in
the classroom is really how I see myself growing in this area. I think the most creatively 
inspiring thing for me was Amy Abe’s presentation entitled, “An Indigenous Strategy in the
ESL classroom” (see link in references). Her account of how she got her class involved in 
the community and out of the classroom was very inspiring for me. I hope to follow her lead 
when I have my own classroom. 

I have enjoyed this assessment and evaluation course as I have found my perspective 
on classroom assessment has shifted into a more positive light. I now see that assessment 
is not just for the teachers but also for the benefit of the students. I think this had been the
biggest perspective change for me. I lot of my learning took place while doing the readings
and formative assessments and I benefited greatly from the learning of my peers in our 

online classroom discussion posts. As a grow and develop as a teacher I hope I will
gain confidence, deep understanding of language pedagogy and increasing creativity
in the area of assessment and evaluation. Thankful to be on this journey with such a
supportive, positive and hard working learning community!

References: 

Abe, A. (2017, June 15). An Indigenous Strategy in the ESL Classroom [Video].  
BC TEAL Webinars. Retrieved from  https://vimeo.com/221699761

[Clipart of runner finishing race] (2015). Retrieved from:
 https://runtosucceed.com/race-timing-services-run-to-succeed/

Hollenbach, L. (2018, Feb 26). Tch Tips: Creative Assessment Strategies. Retrieved from:
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2018/02/26/tch-tips-creative-assessment

[Picture of female runner] (2018). Retrieved from: https://www.runnersworld.com
/runners-stories/a25422964/running-solo/ 

_____________________________________________________________________________

Samples of my work from this module:

Unit 1:

Needs assessment conceptual map:  
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15112gdV_w6XUCE-n60hhi1Qk6QaCvJ3NcHN3ca6xglY
/edit?usp=sharing

Needs assessment for advanced learners:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17KoRTv4n0MRA5VmOif_FayiDsf3nKeWLMaiV
MzGMhEw/edit?usp=sharing

Unit 2:

Comparing formative and summative assessment in the classroom context:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yBS52hxcj7w8UDLvA6NJ0ptGdyYFKqcN/view?usp=sharing

Unit 4:

Adapting a listening assessment rubric:  
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iZTwbYqqcVFecIrvd-okELyIZph6CcorO6nCy0IvXDo/
edit?usp=sharing

Final Assignment: Indigenous Art - Speaking and Writing Assessment Plan:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pjj1IrJdkACM_ZzxbMgaIE1_iV3-5xqiFzuHJ2iTrdk/
edit?usp=sharing