Internet Safety and Rules

Internet safety is very important. In order to participate in our Literature Circle blogs, please read the following list of agreements with your child. Please sign and date this agreement and return to Mr. Mullins. Thanks for your cooperation!

1. I will never post any information more personal than my first name nor will I post pictures of myself.
2. I will not plagiarize, instead I will expand on others' ideas and give credit where it is due.
3. I will use language appropriate for school.
4. I will not insult my fellow students or their writing.
5. I will only post pieces that I am comfortable with everyone seeing; other pieces I will keep as drafts.
6. I will not be afraid to express my ideas, while not overgeneralizing or making derogatory/inflammatory remarks; any posts or edits on controversial issues must either be submitted to Ms. Hughes prior to posting or be a part of a classroom project/question which addresses controversial issues.
7. I will use constructive/productive/purposeful criticism, supporting any idea, comment, or critique I have with evidence.
8. I will take all online content creation seriously, posting only things that are meaningful and taking my time when I write.
9. I will try to spell everything correctly.
10. I will not use my public writing (blog posts, comments, discussion topics, wiki edits) as a chat room, instead, I will save IM language for private conversations.
11. I will not bully others in my blog posts or in my comments.
12. I will never access another student's account in order to pose as them or look at their personal content, but I will advise them when they haven't logged out of their computer from my own account.
13. I will be proactive in monitoring the comments that others leave on my blog, utilizing the comment blacklist if necessary.
14. I will personalize my blog and keep my writing authentic, while taking responsibility for anything blogged in my name.
15. I will not provoke other students in my blog posts or comments.
16. I will use my online content as an extension of the classroom, and in doing so, I will leave anything that unsaid in the classroom unsaid online.
17. I will only post photos which are school appropriate and either in the creative commons or correctly cited.
18. I will not spam (including, but not limited to meaningless messages, mass messages, and repetitive messages)
19. I will only post comments on posts that I have fully read, rather than just skimmed.
20. I will respect the public nature of online information, and in doing so, I will respect the wishes of my fellow students for keeping their information (full name, compromising stories, etc.) private.

Infractions of these rules will lead to the following consequences in order of severity and number of offense:

1. Letter of apology to those offended by the infraction(individual students, one core class, or whole blogging community),warning by teacher, and editing or deletion of offending post/comment.
2. Letter of apology to those offended by the infraction(individual students, one core class, or whole blogging community),temporary loss of blogging privileges (duration of quarter), editing or deletion of offending post/comment.
3. Letter of apology to those offended by the infraction (individual students, one core class, or whole blogging community), permanent loss of blogging privileges(duration of school year), editing or deletion of offending post/comment.

Student's Signature & Date Parent's signature & Date
Students will be participating in blogs in ELA class and will not need to share any personal information including an email address. I will provide students with a universal username and password. Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued
support!
Sincerely,