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Dear Parents/Guardians:

The following teachers: Ms.Defelice, Ms.Kohr, Ms.Kotok, and Ms.Rivera wish to incorporate the use of blogging this coming school year. We assure all parents that their child's safety is our number one concern. We want all students to have the opportunity to enhance and deepen their learning through the use of blogging. Students will not only learn how to navigate and update information, thoughts, and reflections on their weblogs but in addition will learn fundamental learning habits that will carry on throughout their academic career. The main principle behind the incorporation of blogging is to teach students how to read more critically, think more analytically and to write sophisticatedly with proper grammar. In addition to developing their learning skills, students will grow to realize that learning does not stop once they leave school grounds. Using weblogs, students will be able to build relationships with their classmates by collaboratively solving problems and exchanging thoughts and opinions.

A weblog is a personal site that includes updated commentaries, thoughts, and reflections from other accredited sites about a certain subject matter, topic, or interest. Every entry that is posted has the date and time that it is posted. In return, this is a great feature for teachers. We can assign strict deadlines for students to complete assignments on the weblogs. In addition, below every entry visitors to the site can leave comments about what the blogger has stated in their post. Students will have weekly Weblog assignments, where they will be prompted by teachers to reflect on something that has been covered in class, whether expressing opinions on a piece of literature or creating hypothetical situations that could apply to a particular experience documented in an article we read in class. At times, teachers will use videos and images posted to the Weblog to encourage reflection and cultural comparisons related to the subject matter we are covering at that time. Students will be assigned their Weblog contributions as homework, and we ask that you place equal importance on written homework and assignments submitted online, as they are integral parts of our classroom learning. Students will also have the opportunity to work on their posts and comments in school during computer lab periods. Additionally, we will have classroom collaborations on test and exam review packets, where students will contribute to the online collection of material that we had learned throughout the marking period.
 * Weblog:**

The use of the Weblogs will be closely monitored by the teachers. We assure you that all students are aware that they are not allowed to reveal any personal information that may identify them. In order to ensure safety for all students, they will only be allowed to use their first name when publishing their own work through the Weblogs. If for any reason you are not in agreement with your child using their first name, they can either use a fictitious name or we can assign complete anonymity by assigning a number to each student. If you wish for your child to remain anonymous on the Weblogs, we will inform all students and parents the number that corresponds to each student. In addition, to protect your child's safety, there will be no mention of our school name or location. Students are advised not to mention the school's town nor state that is resides in. Student will only be allowed to voice their opinions, thoughts and interests. We have discussed with the students that they are not allowed to state their age, e-mail address, photos, video footage or any other information that may include themselves and fellow classmates. Prior to any students publicly submitting any of their work, we will screen and closely monitor for any information that may invade their safety and privacy.
 * Safety:**

Although this weblog is designed to be updated and maintained solely by the student, we encourage parents to read through their child’s entry before they post to make sure that nothing too specific or personal is revealed. However, this weblog should remain a reflection of the students progression of learning, and while parents are more than welcome to view their child’s weblog at any time, editing and posting are to be done by the child only. If at any time there is something that a parent feels should be removed from the site contact us and we will work with the student on how to rephrase what has been posted or ask your child to edit their post.
 * Parental access:**

As you may have recently learned, our school and district have passed new measures and policies regarding the unfortunate existence of Bullying and Cyber-Bullying in all grade levels of our school. In efforts to keep our schools safe and optimal places for learning, any reported instance of bullying, whether online or in person, will be seriously investigated and the implicated students will respectively be subject to severe consequences, depending on the outcome of the particular cases. In using such a valuable online resource as a Weblog in our classrooms, we must be especially vigilant about protecting our students from the dangers of online harassment and bullying, in order to keep our online learning environment safe and conducive to academic growth and development of ideas and opinions. For our part, we will be heavily monitoring the content posted on the class Weblogs, making sure that every post and comment is based on the academic material covered in class, and has no offensive or hurtful content whatsoever. We will also make sure that no inappropriate outside links or comments are allowed to be published on the blogs. Our policy of mandatory usernames or pseudonyms corresponding to students will allow teachers to monitor the origin of each post and comment, making each student responsible for what he or she writes in our online classroom. We ask that parents cooperate with us as a team to keep our students safe. If you see any instance of Cyber bullying or harassment, please report these to the teacher as soon as possible. We will go through with the necessary procedures and contact administration, and our main goal is to keep our Weblog safe for students to express themselves.
 * Cyber bullying:**

Access to the blogs will be held by the students and teachers only. The students are there to first and foremost make their posts reflecting their thoughts and ideas. As teachers we review their posts to make sure that they make sense, are well written, and contain no more information than necessary to keep the students safe and anonymous. As far as viewing the blogs, they are open to the public. As a safety precaution no information is shared on their whereabouts, or about the students specifically other than their first name. These blogs are meant to be used as a learning tool and as a way to expand students learning to outside the classroom.
 * Access to the Blogs:**

Before any student is allowed to use Weblogs, they must have signed permission by their parents/guardians. Please review discuss carefully the following terms and conditions. After carefully reading the terms please sign the form and return to your teacher. If any parent/guardian has any questions and/or concerns please do not hesitate to contact use via email.
 * Permission:**

Paulina Defelice paulinad@eden.rutgers.edu Erin R. Kohr ekohr@eden.rutgers.edu Valeriya Kotok vkot@eden.rutgers.edu Bianca Rivera biancari@eden.rutgers.edu


 * Terms and Conditions:**
 * 1) Students are not allowed to post any personal information regarding their family, last name, username/passwords, e-mail address, home address, school name, city, country, or another other type of information that a visitor to the site can have the ability to contact you in person. Student are highly encouraged to share and post their interests, ideas, preferences, thoughts, and opinions.
 * 2) Students using Weblogs are advised not to share their username or password to anyone besides their teachers and parents. Student agree never to log in as another student. If this were to occur, the student will receive punishment.
 * 3) Students are advised not to use any inappropriate language while using the Weblogs. Students need to remember that language that is considered inappropriate in class is also inappropriate to use in the blogs. Prior to all students allowing publication of their entry, teacher will read all entries that may include improper language. Students who continue to write in inappropriately will receive punishment.
 * 4) The student blogs are intended for a student to express their opinions. Students need to take into regard that all material need to be school-appropriate and relevant to what is being taught in class.
 * 5) Students are to understand that the online Weblog environment is just like the classroom, and interactions with teachers and classmates are to be conducted with the same level of respect and attention as is given every day in our classroom. Any students who use derogatory language or write hurtful or menacing comments towards any other student or teacher will be subject to the school's Anti-Bullying/Cyber Bullying policies and consequences and will immediately be asked to stop participation in our blogging activities.
 * 6) If for any reason a student receives a comment that makes them feel uncomfortable or is disrespectful, please contact the teacher right away. If you witness this at home, first tell your parents and then contact us via email. The teachers will take care of the situation. Please do not respond to the comment.
 * 7) Students who not follow these terms and conditions may receive punishment and/or lose their privileges to take part in this project.

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

Student's signature: Date:

Parent's signature: Date: