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21 st century learning tools dear parents in an effort to help prepare my students to use the tools they will need for their futures i have been learning about using 21st century tools in the classroom in education students can use blogs wikis chatrooms social networks and mobile devices among other tools to communicate with people on different schedules or different locations students can post their ideas and allow others to read and comment on their work i use such communication tools to have students reflect on what they re learning so they can demonstrate what they are learning getting feedback and learning together is what makes global communication a powerful learning tool we have been using a class blog so that our students can share their ideas and what they are learning in science with you their parents each other and other students around the world as with every internet activity that i sponsor at school i will monitor all activities your child participates in here at school i would request you also monitor them on the computer and cell phone at home too since i am responsible for what is posted to our blog site i will approve any posting in the way of articles or comments on our articles if i do not approve a posting i will explain to your child what the reason is and give him/her an opportunity to edit the posting or to repost if your child has an account with some other service using his or her email i will only be responsible for what your child submits to me please be assured that this is not a myspace.com site or activity the web address is on classblogmeister.com which was set up by a former educational technology director in north carolina for the purpose of teachers using it with their students our specific class blog site is http mrgonzalez.org and on this site you will see the assignments on the left with my class lists on the right clicking on your child s name will take you to your child s blog page where you will see the things your child has written and has been approved by me if you are looking at your child s site your child can log into the site and look at any article that has been written and is awaiting approval but not published yet too your child can edit and resubmit anything from home once i have your approval for your child to participate in this project you will need to send a password back to me and i will change the password to the one you and your child chose this year i am looking forward to offering other opportunities for students to participate in online discussions through forums wikis and even using their cell phones i offer many opportunities for all my students to share their learning but i am not asking any family to purchase anything they don t already own i still accept all work on paper i also have email accounts that my students share to create accounts on certain school approved websites if your child wishes and has your permission to use his or her own email to create accounts that is fine albeit it is not required i will be happy to answer any questions you might have and would appreciate your comments either at this blog http mrgonzalez.org or my other blog http educatoral.com/wordpress you can also share your thoughts with me via email at al_gonzalez@csd49.org text me or leave a voicemail at 360-4537021 or we can talk face to face please sign the next page and have your child return it to school tomorrow.

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i am willing to have my child try this project parent signature [please choose the password for your class blog i would like to decline participation in this project parent signature if your child cannot complete our class blog assignments on the internet here at school at the library from a cell phone nor at home then your child can always complete the assignments on paper your child will only miss out on sharing ideas with other students in class in my other classes and from classes around the world blogger s contract acknowledging that blogging is a legitimate and authentic form of journalistic publication student and teacher bloggers must adhere to essential principles of ethics the free exchange and publication of information can help people in important ways at the same time information can also harm people either intentionally or unintentionally being a responsible participant in the great online conversation i pledge that i will use information to honestly and joyously express the truth and that if challenged i will be able to prove that what i write or say is true always treat all people with respect i will never use information to cause harm or appear to cause harm to any person or group of people and respect and protect information tools and that i will neither do any harm to a computer system network software or other person s information nor will i allow others to do harm to a computer system network software or other person s information i will always be accountable for the information that i produce and publish willing and able to defend my information or acknowledge when i have made a mistake and fix it teacher student

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