Common sense with regard to Internet Safety and all around good digital citizenship can be applied to blog posts and quality comments.
Our classroom blog is a opportunity for us to share our ideas and hard work. It is also a way to continue discussions that we have started in class, to reinforce concepts, and demonstrate competency. Writing unique posts and comments is an important part of that process.
These General Guidelines are the best common practices, of sorts, when posting and commenting on a class blog, your own blog and our classmate blogs. They apply to all students, teachers, parents and blog viewers.
To write great POSTS:
- In general , BE MINDFUL of what you post to the Internet.
- Demonstrate Responsible Digital Citizenship.
- Remember that copying and pasting someone else’s ideas, work or images is just NOT OK. Always give credit to the originator, by proper attribution. Yes…you must “cite” your source!
- Protect your privacy AND STAY SAFE!
- When you write on the blog, use your first name only. You may use your last initial but should never use your full name.
- Never include complete last names, email addresses, telephone numbers, street addresses, school name or any other personal information about yourself or those you mention in your posts (or comments).
- Write in complete sentences.
- Please use proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
- NO TEXT talk, please! Capitalize your “I’s” and the first letter of the first word of all sentences.
- I don’t care if you are writing from your phone( actually that’s great!), but take the time & make the effort to present a mature statement.
- Communicate your ideas or opinions with examples, statements and supportive evidence. Content is critical!
- Connect your ideas to classroom topics, other classmates’ ideas and/or discussion
- Challenge your own, or someone else’s, point of view
- It’s a public forum; Stick to the topic and keep it appropriate
- Don’t forget to proofread!
REMEMBER : It’s not only what you say, it’s also how you say it.
Blogging is about Reading, Thinking, and Responding.
To write great COMMENTS:
- Be Polite, AND Be Kind! It’s OK to offer objective criticism, but Stay Positive.
- Again write in complete sentences. Please use proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
- Acknowledge the author of the post. If you agree with them, say so and explain why.
- Stay on topic! Restate facts, confirm an opinion.
- One word comments don’t add value.
- You shouldn’t be saying things like “Hi guys! “Great Job, boss!” Bye, guys!” You are having a discussion , not a casual conversation.
- And something new to the discussion. Read through all other comments to be sure you are not repeating what someone else has already said.
- Or …. Simply Ask a topic related question
- And Don’t forget to proofread!
Here are some simple suggestions to get you started thinking and writing a good quality comment:
- This made me think about…
- This post is relevant because…
- I wish I understood why…
- This is important because…
- Another thing to consider is…
- I can relate to this…
- I was reminded that…
Please NOTE: All posts and comments will be reviewed and approved before publishing to our live audience.
Note: for longer posts, I would encourage you to type a draft in a word processing program: Word, or Google Docs, whatever you are comfortable with. The purpose is to help you with spelling, grammar and punctuation. Also, If you have a problem publishing, you have a copy of your work, making it much easier to recover and try again.
Remember, this blog is a reflection of you and represents our class and school community. Make sure you always present your best YOU; give your best effort to share great ideas through great writing!
These guideline and suggestions were developed with the help of Mrs. Yollis’ class blog, Silvia Rosenthal Tolisana at langwitches, Youth Radio Blog and the wonderful Kathleen Morris of The Edublogger.
