YMI News

Every member of YMI’s team—from our administrative staff to our marketing and editorial executives—is actively involved in developing programs that help teachers excite their students with creative materials and teaching techniques. Here are just a few examples of ways we try to “inspire young minds.”

BUSINESS SOFTWARE ALLIANCE INTRODUCES B4UCOPY CURRICULA TO TEACH RESPECT FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

The Business Software Alliance (BSA), the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world, introduces its new free educational program, B4UCopy, designed to raise student awareness of copyright and encourage responsible behavior online. Designed by curriculum specialists Young Minds Inspired (YMI), the B4UCopy curricula is a comprehensive program with lesson plans and teacher guides for grades three through twelve. The curricula are available for free download at www.b4ucopy.com/kids (grades 3-8) and www.b4ucopy.com/teens (grades 9-12).

“Research shows that educating youth about copyright and downloading positively impacts their behavior,” said John Wolfe, BSA’s Director of Internet Enforcement. “B4UCopy teaches students about the risks they can face online and the importance of respecting the rules for accessing and sharing digital resources.”

“Computer use is taught at all grade levels in education today, and teachers realize that good legal and ethical behaviors need to be taught along with the technology,” said Dr. Dominic Kinsley, Executive Vice President of Creative Development at YMI. “We are pleased to work with BSA to develop curricula for youth that focus on copyright in the digital realm and remind kids and educators about the importance of learning and practicing good cyber ethics.”

BSA and YMI also developed a B4UCopy website (www.b4ucopy.com), targeted at educating college students about cyber safety and cyber ethics. It is designed to help students understand the risks of downloading, including the potential negative consequences, and how to apply common sense and respect for copyrighted works online.

In addition to the curricula being available for free download at www.b4ucopy.com/kids (grades 3-8) and www.b4ucopy.com/teens (grades 9-12), the curricula are being mailed to 10,000 elementary and middle school and 10,000 high school teachers throughout the United States.

NFL Scores a Learning Touchdown!

The third year of NFL School Smarts once again included 7 activities (one translated into Spanish) and an 8-page teacher’s guide. This year, all 16 pages were combined into one booklet, instead of having loose activity masters. There was also an interactive poster, and sets of player trading cards for each student included in the packet. Activities spanned the curriculum, with many of them focusing on using the statistical and geographical information available on the cards. Several of the activities tied into similar activities now available on the new NFL kids’ site www.nflrush.com

Many teachers made the program a multi-teacher effort. Here’s what Linda Williamson, from Norwood, North Carolina, had to say: “The children really like them. I will use this for data analysis , classifying and graphing. I will also have my students write a story with a footballl player as the main character and write descriptive details about the player. These materials add sparkel to my class.” Penny Peterson from Jacksonville, Florida said: "I teach Language Arts. Each year I use the NFL School Smarts in Reading, Language and WRiting and even spelling. With your program I can reach a high interest level in some of my children that would normally be much lower. Thank you very musc for your program." This program truly scored a learning touchdown!

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