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Letter to Parents Concerning Blogging in the Classroom

Dear Parent/Guardian:

As your child's elementary teacher this year, I am eager to share with you some of the observations I have had as a new year of Reader's Workshop is starting to get underway. Over the years that I have been teaching and during this time I overheard classmates discussing characters, story lines, and funny moments in books that they have read this summer. As an introduction to the workshop, students were asked to recommend a book they have recently read so that their friends could share in their enjoyment of a particular book, series, or author. I was asked multiple times, "Can we pick two?" I couldn't help but leave school feeling an overwhelming excitement about the upcoming year in reading. This class loves reading! They enjoy choosing books, reading books, and talking about books. I couldn't feel more blessed. Our conversations as a class this week sounded like a book club gathered together with the true intent of learning from the books we are reading. This authentic communication about books and high level of excitement about reading led me to reconsider how students typically keep track of their nightly reading assignments and respond to their reading to show their thinking. I thought that there must be a way to channel this excitement that comes from talking about books into an authentic way to keep track of our nightly reading assignments, thoughts about our reading, and passion for improving our reading skills. This is where the idea of "Reading Blogs as Reading Logs" came from. A blog, or web log, is a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a web page to encourage open communication about a subject. In our case, the subjects are the books we are reading. The web page is a password protected secure site only accessible to the students of GREAT SCHOOL. Students will have the opportunity to make nightly reading and responding to their reading a more authentic experience by blogging about their book and gaining feedback from their teacher and occasionally their classmates, transforming reading logs into a true conversation about books. Students will be able to see growth in their reading skill as the school year progresses, parents will be able to see the skills that students are working on in reading, and most importantly students will have a renewed sense of energy and excitement about reading at home. Recording pages read and recording time spent reading will become a thing of the past. Instead students will still be reading for pleasure after school or at night and then choosing two days per week to write on their blog, or personal journal, in response to their reading. Our chief priority is to maintain a safe environment on the blog for your student. To achieve this we have taken the obvious measures to keep the website secure from outside users, only allowing access to the students, teachers, and principle. Another concern we have taken into account is "cyber bullying". With social networking becoming more prevalent in society, those people looking to cause harm or "bully" individuals or groups have begun using the internet as a medium to bully others. As students will be using the blog to make comments and respond to readings, it will be a priority of mine to monitor the comments making sure student make no remarks attempting to belittle, disrespect, or cause any sort of harm directed his/her fellow students. Again, we believe this blog is an excellent opportunity for students to enhance their learning experience and we will leave no stone unturned making sure we keep their safety a top priority. As teachers, we understand why parents may be nervous when their children go on the internet. There is a lot of information on the internet and some, we admit, is unsafe. We have a plan though to make sure your child is safe when working on blogs and interacting on the internet. Prior to starting work online, your child will be taught how to surf the internet safely and how to notice avoid unsafe links and pages. Children will be taught the importance of passwords they only know and they will also know what to and not to share when communicating with other people on public or even private pages. The blog we will be using is a resource for the class. It is a great way for all students in the class to contribute. This will be a site open to all students, myself, and the principal only; nobody outside of the school or your family. We want to keep you informed of what and how your child is doing and this is a great way to not only see what we are doing in class, but for you to see how your child is participating to our important discussions. We know how this is difficult with stories and news of what you hear happening through the internet, but please know your child will be taught and we will make sure they use safe ways to use the internet. This safe work on our blog will allow for us to enhance the learning experience of your child and be able to interact with others in even more ways. Living in the 21st century, we have become dependent on technology because its quick, easy to use and convenient. Although there are many advantages to using technology in the classroom, we will also discuss the disadvantages with your children. Many of you are aware of the dangers and consequences involved with bullying. Today’s technology has allowed bullies to take harassment to another level by hiding their identity and using threatening comments on the internet. This form of abuse is known as cyber bullying and as a staff we feel it is extremely important to confront the challenges of using technology in the classroom. Cyber bullying is an extremely serious issue which can have devastating effects on our students. Blogging is also important for students to express their thoughts and feelings which is why we will protect your children’s safety by monitoring their interaction on the site and ensuring that cyber bullying will not be tolerated. As a parent it is also important for you to stay involved in your child’s online world because eventually technology will benefit all students by changing the way they socialize, think and learn Directions on how to access the Blog are attached and students will be practicing accessing the blog and learning how to transfer their thoughts to the password protected blog during class. Students will be communication about reading, beginning to understand the importance of clear communication with an audience, and honing grade level computer skills at one time. Not to mention, the class is genuinely excited about the blogging process! Please note, nightly reading and response is a part of our curriculum. Blog responses will only be required two times per week and will be reviewed on Mondays. Students can choose any two days to write as these days will probably correspond to the days that students are having a reaction to their reading that merits writing about. It may also correspond with days of the week or weekend that are less busy for students of allow for the ten minutes of computer time that will be needed at home. If for some reason this becomes difficult to manage or computer access is not available at home, students will have the option of choosing to complete their yearly reading work as a hand-written reading log, which can be done on white lined paper. If time permits, students may use the school computers to transfer their handwritten reading responses to the computer. I thank you in advance for your support as we make reading a success this year. As always feel free to contact me with any comments, questions, or concerns. Sincerely, Education and Computer Class Group