Norms for Blogs

Mrs. Flanagan's Blogging Norms

1. Always use appropriate language on your blog. This is still a classroom discussion and needs to follow the decorum of the classroom environment.
2. Always be respectful in comments. Don't say anything to each other you wouldn't want your grandmother or the principal to see. 
3. Make sure to get someone's permission before posting personal information about them, such as images or names. Never post last names.
4. And while we are at it, don't share any PERSONAL information online, such as phone number, address, email, or last name.
5. Make sure that you link back to your sources for images and quotes. Any music or image you use must be copyright free. Please review [copyright info source to be found later] for information on appropriate use. 

Author's Note: 

I like blogging in the classroom. It gives students that real world audience to write to and is an excellent tool to teach digital citizenship, a critical 21st century skill they will need when entering the work force. Another great skill they learn while blogging is ethical use of someone’s creative content. 

My students have thought that if they post song lyrics everyone knows what they are from, so there’s no need to clarify they did not come up with the words themselves. It was only through working for a directory advertising company that I learned about copyright laws and sourcing the information (you would be surprised at the number of businesses who steal artwork and have NO idea it is wrong). How would they feel if someone took their words and claimed them as their own? 

In today’s world, where we have everyone sharing everything and no way to prove its origins, it is so important to teach our students there are ethical and legal ways to do this. I have done entire units on plagiarism and the students still copy and paste direct quotes from websites found during their research into an essay. 

Research shows that learning through experience and practice is the only way to commit it to memory. Digital literacy and citizenship are just as important for our student's future as grammar and mechanics in their ability to communicate with a larger audience. 

It is for these reasons I plan to make blogging a big part of my year again this year. I believe, like notebooks, this practice should be established with a set of norms. Again, my students will come up with a list of their own, but I want to have an idea of what is important to the success of the plan so I may guide them to any we have left out.