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Terms of Service

Last updated: 10.4.21

About Us:

Share My Lesson is a website offering free lesson sharing, funded by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Built by educators across the country, we bring together a community of teachers, paraprofessionals, school-related personnel, parents, partners, union members and nonunion members to join in our effort to provide high-quality education to all students. Share My Lesson was created by the AFT and TES Global in 2012. From the beginning, Share My Lesson has been committed to providing our community of members high-quality and effective lessons, useful information to use in the classroom, and professional development. 

Share My Lesson is owned by the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.

The American Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. We are committed to advancing these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through the work our members do.

Terms of Service:

The following Terms of Service govern all use of the sharemylesson.com website and all content, services and products available at or through the website (hereinafter, Services). Our Services are offered subject to your acceptance without modification of all of the Terms of Service contained herein and all other operating rules, policies (including, without limitation, Share My Lesson’s Privacy Policy) and procedures that we may publish from time to time. By clicking on this button, you agree that we may automatically upgrade our Services, and these Terms of Service will apply to any upgrades. This website is intended for use by residents of the United States, and your agreement is with the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO (hereinafter, AFT), the owner of sharemylesson.com.

For individuals uploading or downloading information on Share My Lesson (hereinafter, SML), by clicking that you agree to SML’s Terms of Service, you are also confirming that you have carefully read SML’s Terms of Service. Individuals not uploading or downloading information on SML, please read these Terms of Service carefully before accessing or using our Services. By accessing or using any part of our Services, you agree to become bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to all the terms set forth herein, then you may not access or use any of our Services.

Our Services are primarily directed to educators to create and share their very best teaching resources with other educators. Access and use of SML is only offered to users 18 years of age or older. If you are under 18 years old, do not register to use our Services. Any person who registers as a user or provides their personal information to SML represents that they are 18 years of age or older. Use of our Services requires an SML account. You agree to provide us with complete and accurate information when you register for an account. You are solely responsible and liable for any activity that occurs under your username. You are responsible for keeping your password secure.

1. Your sharemylesson.com Account

If you create an account on sharemylesson.com, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your account, and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the account. You must immediately notify AFT of any unauthorized uses of your account, or any other breaches of security. AFT will not be liable for any acts or omissions by you, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions.

2. Responsibility of Contributors

If you post resources to sharemylesson.com or otherwise make (or allow any third party to make) material available (hereinafter, Content), you are entirely responsible for the Content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content. That is the case regardless of what form the Content takes, which includes, but is not limited to text, photo, video, audio or code. You must not post Content that is copyrighted unless you are the copyright owner or have permission from the copyright owner to share it. By making Content available, you represent and warrant that your Content does not violate these Terms of Service. By submitting Content to AFT for inclusion on sharemylesson.com, you grant AFT a worldwide, royalty-free and nonexclusive license to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish the Content for the purpose of displaying, distributing, operating and promoting sharemylesson.com. Further, by clicking that you agree to this Terms of Service agreement, you are affirming that you acknowledge, consent and agree that AFT may access the Content if required to do so by law or if based on a good faith belief that such access, preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with the legal process; (b) enforce these Terms and Conditions; (c) respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of any third party; (d) respond to your requests for customer or technical service; or (e) protect the rights, property or personal safety of AFT, its users or any third parties. The rights afforded to AFT under this section may not be exercised by AFT, its affiliates or related entities for any other purpose whatsoever.

The license described in this section of the Terms of Service does not apply to other users on the site that may want to share your Content. In order for users to be able to share their Content with other users, they must grant another license to those users. The section of this Terms of Service titled “Rights in Posted Content” describes how users can license their Content on sharemylesson.com for other users to share. 

3. Rights in Posted Content

Content uploaded by a user to sharemylesson.com remains the property of that user. Nothing in these Terms of Service shall be construed to take that ownership right away from any user. AFT values sharemylesson.com as a community of education professionals and parents who choose to freely share their resources with each other, and AFT will always respect that resources are the property of the educators whose time and talent went into their creation. This is our solemn promise and commitment to you.

In order for users to be able to share their Content with each other, it is necessary for users to license their Content to be shared. A license may grant users and downloaders of Content certain rights to make use of such Content, but can never transfer ownership. AFT has chosen to utilize two of the Creative Commons licenses to enable legal sharing of resources. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. Their free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work—on conditions of your choice. For example, Creative Commons licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.” Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs. More information on the Creative Commons organization and the services it provides may be found here: Creative Commons.

Sharemylesson.com provides users a choice of two Creative Commons licenses to use to license their resources:

  1. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike -CC BY-NC-SA. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. The license deed may be found here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. And the license legal code is here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode.

  2. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs-CC BY-NC-ND. This license permits others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they cannot change them in any way or use them commercially. The license deed may be found here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. And the license legal code is here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.

  3. Public Domain Dedication CC0 1.0 Universal. Allows others to copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. The license deed may be found here: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0. And the license legal code is here: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.

If you choose to delete Content and do not reside in a European Union (EU) country, AFT will use reasonable efforts to remove it from sharemylesson.com, but you acknowledge that caching or references to the Content may not be made immediately unavailable. Without limiting any of the foregoing, AFT has the right (though not the obligation) to, at AFT’s sole discretion, (1) refuse or remove any content that, in AFT’s reasonable opinion, violates any AFT policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, or (2) terminate or deny access to and use of sharemylesson.com to any individual or entity for any reason.

Residents of the EU have the “right to be forgotten,” and formal requests for the deletion of content pursuant to the EU’s regulations will be made by you to SML’s compliance officer. By agreeing to these Terms of Service, you acknowledge your responsibility to properly notify SML’s compliance officer in the event you choose to invoke your right as an EU resident to be forgotten. Please read SML’s Privacy Policy for more information regarding the collection of information.

4. Responsibility of Visitors

AFT has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the Content, including computer software, posted to our Services, and cannot therefore be responsible for that material’s content, use or effects. By operating our Services, AFT does not represent or imply that it endorses the material posted there, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful or non-harmful. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. Our Services may contain content that is offensive, indecent or otherwise objectionable, as well as content containing technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes and other errors. Our Services may also contain material that violates the privacy or publicity rights, or infringes the intellectual property and other proprietary rights, of third parties, or the downloading, copying or use of which is subject to additional terms of service, stated or unstated. AFT disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from the use by visitors of our Services, or from any downloading by those visitors of Content posted there.

5. Responsibility of All Users

By accessing or using any part of our Services or clicking that you agree to SML’s Terms of Service, you agree to not use our Services to:

  1. upload, post, email, PM (personal message) or otherwise transmit any Content that is unlawful, harmful, objectionable, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise discriminatory;

  2. harm or attempt to harm minors in any way;

  3. impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, an AFT staff member, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity or your age;

  4. forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Service;

  5. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);

  6. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;

  7. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation, except in those areas (such as shopping rooms) that are designated for such purpose;

  8. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, damage, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

  9. disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to “scroll” faster than other users of the Service are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users’ ability to engage in real-time exchanges;

  10. interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers or networks connected to the Service, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Service;

  11. intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable law or regulation;

  12. collect or store personal data about other users;

  13. post content that refers to individual schools, colleges or agencies—or their staff—whether by name, or identifiable by a pseudonym or any other means; and/or

  14. advertise any job vacancies in any area of our forums (other than through a feature of Service which is clearly designated as a recruitment service).

You acknowledge that AFT does not pre-screen Content that you post on the Service, but that AFT and people designated by it shall have the right (but not the obligation) to monitor communications that occur through, and posts made to, the Service. If AFT determines, at its sole discretion, that you or another user has breached these Terms of Service or that any Content is inappropriate or otherwise objectionable, AFT may refuse to accept or may remove any Content from the Service, without any liability to you or a third party. AFT reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, at AFT’s sole discretion, violates or is suspected of violating this section.

Any individual that AFT believes has violated SML’s Terms of Service, may have their account suspended or terminated. If AFT believes an individual has violated SML’s Terms of Service more than once, that SML user account will be terminated, suspended, or any other action AFT and SML deem necessary to enforce SML’s Terms of Service. This, however, does not reduce SML’s right to terminate or suspend an account without cause.

6. Content Posted on Other Websites

We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, made available through the resources or websites to which sharemylesson.com links, and that link to sharemylesson.com. AFT does not have any control over those non-sharemylesson.com websites, and is not responsible for their contents or their use. By linking to a non-sharemylesson.com website, AFT does not represent or imply that it endorses such website. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. AFT disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from your use of non-sharemylesson.com websites and webpages.

7. Copyright Infringement and DMCA

If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any content on sharemylesson.com infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by providing our Designated Agent (as set forth below) with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) for further details):

  • A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;

  • Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works on the Services are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works on the Services;

  • Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;

  • Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number and, if applicable, email address;

  • A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and

  • A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

  • Written notification of claimed infringement must be submitted to the following Designated Agent:

The Compliance Officer–Share My Lesson
AFT Copyright Agent
American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
555 New Jersey Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20001

Email Address of Designated Agent: [email protected]

For clarity, only DMCA notices should be sent to the Designated Agent. You acknowledge and agree that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements of this section, your DMCA notice may not be valid.

If you believe that your Content was removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or that you have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent, or pursuant to applicable law, to make such content available to SML for use on the Service, you may send a counter-notice containing the following information to our Designated Agent:

  • Your physical or electronic signature;

  • Identification of the content that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the content appeared before it was removed or disabled;

  • A statement that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or a misidentification of the content; and

  • Your name, address, telephone number and, if applicable, email address, and a statement that you shall accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.

  • If a counter-notice is received by our Designated Agent, SML may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed content or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider or the user, the removed content may be replaced, or access to it restored, in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at SMLs’ sole discretion.

Please be aware that if you knowingly materially misrepresent that material or activity on the website was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may be held liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) under Section 512(f) of the DMCA.

8. Intellectual Property Belonging to AFT, Its Affiliates, Related Entities, and Content Partners

These Terms of Service do not transfer from AFT to you any AFT or third-party intellectual property. All right, title and interest in and to such property will remain (as between the parties) solely with AFT. American Federation of Teachers, AFT, Share My Lesson, SML, sharemylesson.com, the AFT shield logo, the SML cloud logo, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with sharemylesson.com or our Services are registered trademarks or registered service marks of AFT or AFT’s affiliates and related entities. Other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with our Services may be the trademarks of other third parties. Your use of our Services grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any AFT or third-party trademarks or service marks.

9. Mailing List

By joining Share My Lesson, you consent to being placed on a mailing list for promotional and other materials from Share My Lesson. You can change your email communication preferences here: https://sharemylesson.com/user/profile.

10. Promotions

From time to time, AFT or its affiliates, suppliers and advertisers may conduct promotions on, through or in connection with sharemylesson.com, including, without limitation, contests and sweepstakes (hereinafter, Promotions). Each Promotion may have Additional Terms and/or Official Rules that shall be posted or otherwise made available to you and, for purposes of each Promotion, shall be deemed incorporated into and form a part of these Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

11. Changes

We are constantly updating our Services, and that means sometimes we have to change the legal terms under which our Services are offered, including this Terms of Service. If we make changes that are material, we will let you know by posting on sharemylesson.com, or by sending you an email or other communication before the changes take effect. The notice will designate a reasonable period of time after which the new terms will take effect. If you disagree with our changes, then you must stop using our Services within the designated notice period. Your continued use of our Services will be subject to the new terms. You will also be asked to agree to the amended Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to affirm your agreement. However, any dispute that arose before the changes shall be governed by the Terms of Service that were in place when the dispute arose.

12. Termination

AFT may terminate your access to all or any part of our Services at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. If you wish to terminate your responsibilities under these Terms of Service or your sharemylesson.com account (if you have one), you may simply discontinue using our Services. All provisions of these Terms of Service that by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.

13. Disclaimer of Warranties

Our Services are provided “as is.” AFT and its affiliates and related entities hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither AFT nor its affiliates and related entities make any warranty that our Services will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, our Services at your own discretion and risk.

14. Limitation of Liability

In no event will AFT, its affiliates, and related entities be liable with respect to any subject matter of these Terms of Service under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (1) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (2) the cost of procurement for substitute products or services; or (3) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data. AFT shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond its reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.

15. General Representation and Warranty

You represent and warrant that (1) your use of our Services will be in strict accordance with the SML Privacy Policy, with these Terms of Service, and with all applicable laws and regulations (including without limitation any local laws or regulations in your country, state, city or other governmental area regarding online conduct and acceptable content, and including all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside); and (2) your use of our Services will not infringe or misappropriate the property rights of any third party.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless AFT, its affiliates, related entities, and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of our Services, including but not limited to your violation of these Terms of Service.

17. Translation

These Terms of Service were originally written in English (U.S.). We may translate these terms into other languages. In the event of a conflict between a translated version of these Terms of Service and the English version, the English version will control.

18. Miscellaneous

These Terms of Service constitute the entire agreement between AFT and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and they may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of AFT, or by the posting by AFT of a revised version. Except to the extent applicable by law, if any, provides otherwise, any access to or use of our Services will be governed by the laws of the District of Columbia in the United States, excluding its conflict of law provisions, and the proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to any of the same will be the courts located in the District of Columbia. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce these Terms of Service shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. If any part of these Terms of Service is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of these Terms of Service or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. You may assign your rights under these Terms of Service to any party that consents to, and agrees to be bound by them; AFT may assign its rights under these Terms of Service without condition. These Terms of Service will be binding upon you and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.