My second post Mod 2

Internet safety is something very important whether it be to keep your computer virus free or to protect yourself from identity theft. One site that I found that gave good information to be used within the classroom for both teachers and students is . This website also gives many links to other sites with even more information.

If I was specifically teaching internet saftey to my students, I would focus on the following points:
1. Never give personal information out online. This seems like common sense, but many people fall victim to this.
2. Never share passwords. Even if you trust the person at the time such as a friend or boyfriend/girlfriend it is never a good idea.
3. Never post anything (photos or words) that you may regret later. Once it is on the internet, it is always there. Even if you think you have deleted something, there will always be the chance of someone having copied and saved it.
4. Ignore unwanted posts. Responding to them will only egg that person on even more.
5. Never meet someone you met online. Even if they write really cool comments on your blog and you think that you know them really well, you don't and you could be putting your life in danger.

As a teacher in the Kenton school district, I had a vague idea that there was an internet usage policy and I knew that as long as I stuck to academic things, or at least was able to give a reason as to why whatever I was looking at or showing the students was educational, that I was in the clear. So it never really effected me or my students as far as how I was incorporating the internet into my instruction. I was completely unaware of how in depth the district policy on internet and webpage usage was until I looked it up for this class. The following is taken directly from the policy handbook for the Kenton school district:

The availability of Internet access in the School District provides an opportunity for staff and students to access information and contribute to the School District's presence on the World Wide Web. The District/school/classroom Websites must relate to curriculum or instructional matters, school authorized activities, or general information of interest to the public pertaining to the District or its schools. Staff and students are prohibited from publishing personal home pages or links to personal home pages as part of the District/school/classroom Web Page(s). Similarly, no individual or outside organization will be permitted to publish personal Web Pages as part of the District/school/classroom Web Page(s).
Internet access for the creation of Web Pages is provided by the District and all information must be reviewed by the Website Manager (Webmasters) prior to publishing it on the Web. Personnel designing information for the Web Pages must familiarize themselves with and adhere to District standards and procedures. Failure to follow District standards or responsibilities may result in disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law and/or the applicable collective bargaining agreement.
The District shall provide general training on relevant legal considerations and compliance with applicable laws and regulations including copyright, intellectual property, and privacy of student records as well as relevant District procedures to those staff members and students who are allowed to develop or place material on the
District/school/classroom Web Page(s).

Content Standards
a) Approval for posting a Web Page must be obtained from the Website Manager or his/her designee(s). If at any time, the Website Manager/designee(s) believes the proposed material does not meet the standards approved by the District, it will not be published on the Web. Decisions regarding access to active Web Pages for editing content or organization will be the responsibility of the Website Manager/designee(s).
b) A Web Page must be sponsored by a member of the District faculty, staff or administration who will be responsible for its content, design, currency and maintenance. The sponsor is responsible for ensuring that those constructing and maintaining the Web Page have the necessary technical training and that they fully understand and adhere to District policies and regulations. The Web Page must include the name of the sponsor.
c) Staff or student work should be published only as it relates to a school/classroom authorized project or other school-related activity.
d) The review of a Student Web Page (if considered a school-sponsored student publication) shall be subject to prior District review as would any other school-sponsored student publication.
e) An authorized teacher who is publishing the final Web Page(s) for himself/herself or for a student will edit and test the Page(s) for accuracy of links and check for conformance with District standards and practices.
f) A disclaimer statement about the content of Web Pages must be part of individual sites:
Example: "The District has made every reasonable attempt to ensure that our Web Pages are educationally sound and do not contain links to questionable material or material that can be deemed in violation of the School District's Standards and Guidelines for Web Page Publishing Policy."
g) Commercial advertising or marketing on the District/school/classroom Web Page(s) (or the use of schoolaffiliated Web Pages for the pursuit of personal or financial gain) shall be prohibited unless otherwise authorized in accordance with law and/or regulation. Decisions regarding Website advertising must be consistent with existing District policies and practices on this matter. School-affiliated Web Pages may mention outside organizations only in the context of school programs that have a direct relationship to those organizations (e.g., sponsorship of an activity, student community service project).
h) Web Pages may include faculty or staff names; however, other personal information about employees including, but not limited to, home telephone numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses, or other identifying information such as names of family members may be published only with the employee's written permission.
i) All Web Pages must conform to the standards for appropriate use found in the District's Acceptable Use Policy(ies) and accompanying Regulations regarding standards of acceptable use; examples of inappropriate behavior; and compliance with applicable laws, privacy, and safety concerns.
j) All Web Pages must be approved through the designated process before being posted to the District/school/classroom Websites.
k) All staff and/or students authorized to publish material on the District/school/classroom Web Page(s) shall acknowledge receipt of the District's Web Page Standards and agree to comply with same prior to posting any material on the Web.

My first post Mod 2

Since I had never used blogs at all let alone in my classroom, I was really interested to get ideas of how they could be used most effectively. The first thing I really liked about the concept of blogs discussed in the text was the concept of collaboration and discussion through comments. When teaching a foreign language, it's important to have communication and to have a community. The first way I thought I could use this in my classroom is to have a class blog where each student creates a post a week about what they have learned and we could could have students in another German class in the district or area or a class in Germany comment on it. We could also then comment on that other classes blog creating a learning community. This activity would accomplish the Communication, Cultures and Communities standards in the ACTFL standards. For the Technology Standards for Language Teachers goals it would reach goals 1, 2, 3 and 4. Another activity that was given as an example in the book that could be used with blogging would be where students have their own blogs and they could use them as a portfolio of the best pieces of work. Other students could then go through and correct their peers pieces or give them feedback in the forms of comments. This meets the Communication standard of the ACTFL standards and goals 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the Technology Standards for Language Teachers. Another way of using blogging is having students for every month find a holiday in a country where the target language is spoken and a holiday in their home country and give links in their blog to that information while comparing and contrasting the holidays. Then students from said country (if an exchange program was set up for example) could give their thoughts in the comment section. This would meet the Cultures, Communication and Comparison standards in the ACTFL standards. For the Technology Standards for Language Teachers it would reach goals 1, 2 and 4. Another thing that I liked about using blogs that wouldn't necessarily relate to the standards was the concept of how it can help organize both myself and my students. I teach middle school so students are rarely if ever organized. But if I had all of the assignments and the due dates listed on a blog where students to could refer if they forgot to write down the homework, things would probably work a lot smoother. Also I could incorporate classroom news or put information on about the German club  or foreign language club activities coming up. I could even give the job of "editor" to students. This is really something that I am going to look into. The only thing that I am worried about is the lack of technological resources that my students have. It would be hard to move the assignments to the web since quite a few of my students do not have access to a computer at home and are often stuck watching their siblings and can't get to the library.