Fair Use/Copyright Issues

While copyright laws are essential to promote innovation, they can be quite frustrating to teachers who have no desire to profit off of the copyrighted material, only to use the material to teach their students more effectively. However, there are limitations on copyright, that fall under the concept of fair use. Using only portions of the material can be allowed under certain circumstances. By being aware of how much can be used, teachers need not avoid using potentially useful material.

Sample Interview Questions

3. Tell me a lesson you taught and why it went well. In using a story to teach German vocabulary, I was able to make a simple but entertaining story that involved usage of key German verbs. The lesson went well since the words could be repeated (necessary for retention) without the students becoming bored. I was able to do this by providing multiple types of questions that did not become tiring to the students.

4. Name a specific method or strategy that you have used to teach in the past and why it is one you will continue to use.
In language teaching, the usage of games has been both a highly motivating and highly effective method for me. For example, with vocab teaching, matching games allow great repetition of words while being fun at the same time.

8. While a lesson is ongoing, how can you tell is students are "getting" the material?
The best way I have found to assess learning in the middle of a lesson is questioning. By asking questions to several students I can gauge how well the class is following along with the material, and then adjust the lesson accordingly, either proceeding or going back to review and reinforce.

Technology and Persuasive Videos

Video technology can be a great asset to students giving a persuasive presentation. The recent political advertisements on television are an example of how effective video statements can be. Although I personally do not believe that we should teach our students to stretch the truth as far as possible for their own ends as is done in the political advertisements, the usage of visual and auditory can be effective ways to communicate ideas to other people.