Blog Request Letter

For my assignment this week in my Ed Tech 357 Blogging in the Classroom, we were asked to write a letter to our administration in a request to have and use blogs in our classroom. Below you will find my letter to my Principal. Due to privacy and safety reasons I decided to not put my Principal's name or my school address on this letter that I am posting.

June 27, 2014

To whom it may concern,

            This is a letter to express my interest/request for using a blog in my classroom. There are many benefits to using blogs in elementary classrooms. Using blogs in the classroom is a great way to involve students and get them writing, with other ways rather than the traditional pen and paper way. Blogging helps students become published writers, and it is a great way for them to showcase their work for their friends, family, and world to see.

            In my classroom I plan on using the blogging platform called Blogger. This is my top choice because it is a blogging platform that I am familiar with and have experience using. Another reason why this is my top choice for blogging in my personal classroom is because it is easy to use, allows me to monitor comments that are made by viewers, and it will allow me to have a private blog that only gives certain readers access to view the blog if I wish to make it private.

            Due to the grade level that I currently teach, Kindergarten, I would want just one classroom blog. Although it would actually be two separate blogs in my case, one for my morning class and one for my afternoon class.

            The reason I would like to have a classroom blog for each one of my classes is because I think it is a great way to keep parents informed about our classroom. We would be able to post either together as a class or I would be able to post individually as the teacher. The students and I would decide together what items or topics we would want to post on our blog. This might be to showcase fun or exciting events that have been  happening in our class, such as cross age tutoring or a fun Polar Express day. This blog would also be a place for parents to use as a reference for calendar dates where we would post upcoming events in our classroom.

            I would use students' real names, but only first names and never last names. In addition, before I posted any names I would get parent signatures/permission for their student to be on our classroom blog as part of my disclosure from the beginning of the year. If a parent wishes to not have their student's name published as part of our classroom blog I will respect their wishes and not post their name. I will still have that student be an active participate when we blog as a class though.

            I love taking pictures of my students, however, we will not be posting the pictures of my students to our classroom blog. Instead we would post pictures of our classroom work that we have completed, art projects we have finished, or pictures of our classroom. If student work is posted to our classroom blog, names would be removed from the work prior to posting. Also I would make sure in advance that I have not only parent permission to post student work, but also permission from the student who completed the work. If they don't feel comfortable sharing their work then I would value their request and not post it.

            Having a classroom blog is also a great way for me to teach my students about internet safety and netiquette.  We would be able to discuss why it is important to not share certain information online. We would be able to discuss why it could be dangerous if we were to share too much information on the internet. This would also be a great start for me to introduce young students to what a digital footprint is and why it important to have a good digital footprint. I feel these are important topics that students need to learn and be exposed to at an early age.

            A classroom blog would allow my students and I to complete a yearlong journal. It would be a great way for us to reflect on our school year when it comes to a close. We will be able to see how far we have come during our nine months together, and to see all the enjoyable learning experiences that took place in our classroom.

            I feel that a classroom blog is the best way to accomplish what I want to accomplish; which is: to inform parents about our classroom, teaching students about writing and publishing, teaching students about the importance of internet safety and creating a journal that my students and I can look back upon at the close of the year.

            In closing I am asking you to consider my request to have a classroom blog for both my morning and afternoon Kindergarten classes for the educational purposes that have been listed.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Stacie Barker