"I Make A Difference" - Brad Wolf, Singer or Taylor Mali, Poet?

Here's one for your consideration:  Recently, a nice song was  recorded by Brad Wolf, a country singer.  The song "I  Made A Difference" is inspiring and sure to appeal to teachers everywhere.  However, a controversy has arisen from the publication of the song.  You see, Brad Wolf and songwriter Donald Goodman claim authorship of the song.  However, portions of the song are duplicated from Taylor Mali's inspirational poem about teachers.  In fact, the chorus and second verse are almost verbatim from the poem by Mali.

So, why blog about it?  Well, I guess the educational link is just too much to ignore.  There's something ironic and, well, sad about the idea that  a song honoring teachers who strive to be role models to the children might not have been created ethically.

So, what do you think?  Here's a link to the song (and I bet you will like it!):


Here's a link to the article about the possible copyright infringement:
http://americantwang.com/country-song-i-make-a-difference-plagiarizes-popular-poem-about-teachers/
Here's a link to the video and text of Taylor Mali's poem and, interestingly, a response by him to the blogger who posted them at http://www.wanderings.net/notebook/Main/WhatTeachersMakeByTaylorMali

Related articles

• What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali (edtechpower.blogspot.com)