What Educators can do
Teachers Guide to Copyright and Fair Use
What is Fair Use?
Fair use allows teachers to use limited copyrighted material for nonprofit educational purposes inside a school setting. But there are rules. This guide helps teachers safely use memes, videos, music, printed materials, and images when teaching.
Teacher Tips for Fair Use in the Classroom
1.Memes and Gifs
Rule: Teachers may use memes and GIFs as part of lessons, as long as they are for educational purposes and not redistributed publicly. Example: Adding a meme to a Google Slide to spark discussion is allowed—but posting a copyrighted meme on your classroom website or social media is not.
2. Videos and Movies
Rule: Teachers can show copyrighted films and YouTube videos in class if it is directly tied to instruction and shown in a face-to-face classroom, not for entertainment. Example: Watching a scene from Finding Nemo to teach ocean habitats is allowed; showing it for a “fun day” is not.
3. Photocopying Printed materials
Rule: Teachers may copy a short excerpt, like one chapter of a book, one poem, a few pages, for instruction. You cannot copy an entire textbook or workbook. Example: Printing 10 pages from a science book for students to annotate is fair use; photocopying an entire novel for the class is not.
4. Music in the Classroom
Rule: Music can be played for instruction, analysis, or curriculum and not for entertainment or background music. Short excerpts are best. Example: Playing a music clip to analyze rhythm or lyrics is fair use; playing Spotify as “background music” during work time is not.
5. Digital Pictures found Online
Teachers may display copyrighted images within lessons, slides, and worksheets that stay inside the classroom.
Contextualize your topic
Include infographics in your creations
Pose a question or problem that makes the class think; it is the essential ingredient to keep their attention. It is usually posed at the beginning of the topic to foster critical thinking and participation.
+ info
Awesome timeline, step by step
Step 3
Step 1
Step 4
Step 2
Maps are a great ally, use them!
Maps turn information into a visual landscape to explore with your eyes.
Here you can put a highlighted title
of our brain is involved in processing visual stimuli.
50%
+ info
Share your idea with an image
You can use any photograph, gif, or illustration you want to enhance the multimedia content.
+ info
Surprise your class withinteractive images
To create your interactive image,you can use an image as a base.
Visual content is a cross-cutting, universal language, like music. We are capable of understanding images from millions of years ago, even from other cultures.
Disciplines such as Visual Thinking facilitate visually rich note-taking through the use of images, graphs, infographics, and simple drawings. Go for it!
With this feature...
You can add additional content that excites your audience's brain: videos, images, links, interactivity... Whatever you want!
Here you can include a relevant highlighted fact
Visual support manages to convince 67% of your class. This is because visual language facilitates the quick acquisition of knowledge in an intuitive way. Could it be said that images are the key to success? Evidently.
Use images in your presentation
Social beings
Narrative beings
We are visual beings
We need to interact with each other. We learn collaboratively.
We teach through stories. They entertain us and help maintain attention.
We are capable of understanding images from millions of years ago, even from other cultures.
Use charts in your presentation...
Incredible Interactivity
Use this space to briefly describe your chart and its evolution. Statistics help to expose and contrast data in a more visual way.
Our brain is designed to consume visual content. And it makes sense: 90% of the information we process comes to us through sight.
Did you know that Genially allows you to share your creation directly, without the need for downloads? Ready for your audience to view it on any device and promote it anywhere.
Do you have an idea?
With Genially templates, you can include visual resources to leave your audience in awe. You can also highlight a phrase or a specific fact that will be etched in the memory of your audience, and even embed external content that surprises: videos, photos, audios... Whatever you want!
Include additional information and display it with a click. Images make your content more memorable, illustrate what you want to convey and sserve as support to add additional info.
Write a great text by clicking on Text in the left sidebar. Note: the fonts, size, and color should match the theme you are discussing.
Insert a great video
And use this space to describe it. Multimedia content is essential in a presentation to leave everyone speechless.
Teachers Guide to Copyright and Fair Use
Adeline Carlyle
Created on November 6, 2025
Start designing with a free template
Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:
View
Customer Profile
View
Movie Infographic
View
Interactive QR Code Generator
View
Advent Calendar
View
Tree of Wishes
View
Witchcraft vertical Infographic
View
Halloween Horizontal Infographic
Explore all templates
Transcript
What Educators can do
Teachers Guide to Copyright and Fair Use
What is Fair Use?
Fair use allows teachers to use limited copyrighted material for nonprofit educational purposes inside a school setting. But there are rules. This guide helps teachers safely use memes, videos, music, printed materials, and images when teaching.
Teacher Tips for Fair Use in the Classroom
1.Memes and Gifs
Rule: Teachers may use memes and GIFs as part of lessons, as long as they are for educational purposes and not redistributed publicly. Example: Adding a meme to a Google Slide to spark discussion is allowed—but posting a copyrighted meme on your classroom website or social media is not.
2. Videos and Movies
Rule: Teachers can show copyrighted films and YouTube videos in class if it is directly tied to instruction and shown in a face-to-face classroom, not for entertainment. Example: Watching a scene from Finding Nemo to teach ocean habitats is allowed; showing it for a “fun day” is not.
3. Photocopying Printed materials
Rule: Teachers may copy a short excerpt, like one chapter of a book, one poem, a few pages, for instruction. You cannot copy an entire textbook or workbook. Example: Printing 10 pages from a science book for students to annotate is fair use; photocopying an entire novel for the class is not.
4. Music in the Classroom
Rule: Music can be played for instruction, analysis, or curriculum and not for entertainment or background music. Short excerpts are best. Example: Playing a music clip to analyze rhythm or lyrics is fair use; playing Spotify as “background music” during work time is not.
5. Digital Pictures found Online
Teachers may display copyrighted images within lessons, slides, and worksheets that stay inside the classroom.
Contextualize your topic
Include infographics in your creations
Pose a question or problem that makes the class think; it is the essential ingredient to keep their attention. It is usually posed at the beginning of the topic to foster critical thinking and participation.
+ info
Awesome timeline, step by step
Step 3
Step 1
Step 4
Step 2
Maps are a great ally, use them!
Maps turn information into a visual landscape to explore with your eyes.
Here you can put a highlighted title
of our brain is involved in processing visual stimuli.
50%
+ info
Share your idea with an image
You can use any photograph, gif, or illustration you want to enhance the multimedia content.
+ info
Surprise your class withinteractive images
To create your interactive image,you can use an image as a base.
Visual content is a cross-cutting, universal language, like music. We are capable of understanding images from millions of years ago, even from other cultures.
Disciplines such as Visual Thinking facilitate visually rich note-taking through the use of images, graphs, infographics, and simple drawings. Go for it!
With this feature...
You can add additional content that excites your audience's brain: videos, images, links, interactivity... Whatever you want!
Here you can include a relevant highlighted fact
Visual support manages to convince 67% of your class. This is because visual language facilitates the quick acquisition of knowledge in an intuitive way. Could it be said that images are the key to success? Evidently.
Use images in your presentation
Social beings
Narrative beings
We are visual beings
We need to interact with each other. We learn collaboratively.
We teach through stories. They entertain us and help maintain attention.
We are capable of understanding images from millions of years ago, even from other cultures.
Use charts in your presentation...
Incredible Interactivity
Use this space to briefly describe your chart and its evolution. Statistics help to expose and contrast data in a more visual way.
Our brain is designed to consume visual content. And it makes sense: 90% of the information we process comes to us through sight.
Did you know that Genially allows you to share your creation directly, without the need for downloads? Ready for your audience to view it on any device and promote it anywhere.
Do you have an idea?
With Genially templates, you can include visual resources to leave your audience in awe. You can also highlight a phrase or a specific fact that will be etched in the memory of your audience, and even embed external content that surprises: videos, photos, audios... Whatever you want!
Include additional information and display it with a click. Images make your content more memorable, illustrate what you want to convey and sserve as support to add additional info.
Write a great text by clicking on Text in the left sidebar. Note: the fonts, size, and color should match the theme you are discussing.
Insert a great video
And use this space to describe it. Multimedia content is essential in a presentation to leave everyone speechless.