Bryan's+Blog+Lesson+Plan

Bryan Flickinger Blog Safety Lesson Plan (7th Grade) October 28, 2009

The student will be able to effectively use a blog (both question and comment) both safely and with proper net etiquette to answer thought provoking questions throughout the school year.
 * Objective:**

Blog Netiquette: [] This site does a nice job of explaining proper etiquette on grade level for blogs.
 * Learning Activity:**
 * 1) I would begin by showing the you tube video clip //Blogs: In Plain English//
 * 2) After viewing the video I would have students in groups of 3-4 brainstorm potential safety concerns they foresee in doing a student-led classroom blog.
 * 3) I would then post the brainstormed ideas onto a classroom blog created by myself.
 * 4) Each group would then be asked to respond to potential ways to solve one of the brainstormed safety concerns. (This would allow me to also determine their prior knowledge.)
 * 5) I would then use the //Are You Web Aware? – Blogs// [|www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/wa_resources/wa_teachers/are_you_web_aware/web_aware_blogs.cfm] to address internet safety and communicate specific issued during the brainstorming.
 * 6) I would then ask students to log onto my blog and answer the question I ask that particular week. From this point, I would use anonymous comments on the site to show what is good netiquette for blogs and what are the steps to moderation of a blog site.

Blog Moderation: To ensure that this experience is productive for everyone, please ensure that you do not post any material that a reasonable person would consider:


 * includes any abusive, obscene, indecent or offensive language
 * is defamatory, abusive, harassing or hateful
 * that you do not have the necessary rights, licences and consents to post
 * constitutes spam, unauthorised advertising or solicits
 * contains long embedded URLs
 * invades anyone's privacy or impersonates anyone
 * is far off-topic
 * encourages conduct that may or would constitute a criminal offence or give rise to civil liability, or that otherwise violates any local, state, national or international law or regulation anywhere in the world
 * the comment appears to contain irrelevant or excessive links or appears to contain code.

List from: [|www.archive.dbcde.gov.au/2009/july/future_directions_blog/blog_moderation_policy] Australian Government Department of Broadband, Communications, and Digital Economy, July 6 2009 //[|www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguidee.htm]//
 * The following website is a good resource for dealing with trouble shooting and dealing with aspects of blogging that may not have been directly addressed.[]
 * Student would then conduct a mock blog with paper and pencil to determine whether and aspect of the lesson were inadequate and in need of clarification or re-teaching.
 * //Additionally, I would alert parents of internet safety with a blog of my own. I would direct them to the site A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety and allow for blog comments to be sent to me with question s and concerns.//


 * Assessment:**

I would assess students on the Blog Work Sheet ([] ) Additionally, I would continually assess through moderation and evaluation throughout the school year.

Permission Letter
Dear Parent or Guardian,

During the school year, Mr. Flickinger’s class will be taking part in blogging on science classroom topic by sharing their thoughts and experiences with a real audience. Students will be using classroom Weblogs to post their comments to the Internet.

A Weblog, or blog as they are commonly called, is a special type of Web page that can be created and easily updated using a Web browser. Each new entry has its own date stamp. Each entry has a comments section where visitors to the blog may leave comments for the author.

To begin this experience, Mr. Flickinger will teach a lesson on Blog Safety and Etiquette. After the lesson, students will write an entry to my blog. As I receive comments to my blogs, I will be showing students how to moderate comments so they will be able to eventually create blogs of their own.
 * Blogging: How To:**

Students will have access to computer sessions during designated times throughout the school day as well as at home (if available) All that is required is an Internet connection and a Web browser. Students are able to save their work as drafts before publishing it to their blog. Directions for working from home will be provided.

Having a real audience is one of the key components to this program. In addition to receiving comments from their classmates, Mr. Flickinger’s students will receive comments from Mr. Flickinger. Parents are also invited to visit the blogs and respond to selected topics. Potentially, anyone on the Internet could respond to our blogs, however, it is not likely that the world at large will stumble across them.

The weekly blog assignments will be based on participation using proper netiquette. As with other projects they have completed this year, students will receive a scoring rubric that explains the expectations for these assignments. The rubric will include a section for the comments they leave in other students’ blogs.
 * Assessment**


 * Blog Safety and Security:**
 * Students using blogs are expected to act safely by keeping personal information out of their posts. You agree to not post or give out your family name, password, user name, email address, home address, school name, city, country or other information that could help someone locate or contact you in person. You may share your interests, ideas and preferences.
 * Students using blogs agree not to share their user name or password with anyone besides their teachers and parents. You agree to never log in as another student.


 * Resources**

[|www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguidee.htm]
 * Parent's Guide to Internet Safety


 * Permission**

Before your child may start posting to their blog, we are asking for you and your child to discuss and sign the following form. Please return the form to Mr Flickinger.


 * Blogging Terms and Conditions**

1. Students using blogs are expected to act safely by keeping personal information out of their posts. You agree to not post or give out your family name, password, user name, email address, home address, school name, city, country or other information that could help someone locate or contact you in person. You may share your interests, ideas and preferences.

2. Students using blogs agree not to share their user name or password with anyone besides their teachers and parents. You agree to never log in as another student.


 * //Students who do not abide by these terms and conditions may lose their opportunity to take part in this project.//**

I have read and understood these blogging terms and conditions. I agree to uphold them.

Student’s signature: _____________________________ date: ________________

Parent’s signature: _____________________________ date: ________________