Getting Started:

1. Review the History of the Blog
2. View student blogs from last year. Be advised, some of these students did NOT get a passing grade for their blogs. See if you can tell which ones got full credit.
3. Research Tips using Google - review this page and practice in your searches.

4. How to Create a Post

Possible topics to choose from: Note that you may narrow the topic once you get started.

1. Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan- What are the issue surrounding this?
2. Government Surveillance (spying) on Americans. Too much freedom given up for security?
3. Torture: What was the U.S. policy under Bush? Should he and VP Cheney stand trial?
4. Net Neutrality: Should the U.S. government keep Internet connections equal for everyone?
5. Political Speech in Schools: Are students' rights protected?
6. The Tea Party Movement: How big a player in American politics will they become?
7. Health Care: Should we remain the only industrialized country not to offer it to everyone?
8. Money and Elections: Is our system of elections legalized bribery?
9. Military Recruitment in Schools: Are students given the whole story before enlisting?
10. Climate Change: How does U.S. policy compare to the rest of the world?
11. 2000 & 2004 Were these presidential elections stolen? What election reforms are needed?
12. Al Qaeda: Is it a U.S. creation? What is Bin Laden's history with the U.S.? Is Al Qaeda an ideology or network?
13. U.S. Middle East Policy: Is the U.S. balanced and fair?
14. Corporate Media in the U.S.: Is the truth compromised in the mainstream press?
15. Fashion: How much of what we wear has blood/sweat on it? Sweatshops and apparel.
16. International Trade Agreements: Are they the makings of a corporate dominated world?
17. Is our democracy out of date? Compare our district system of elections with proportional representation and instant runoff systems.
18. Children as workers and soldiers: What is the status of the rights of the child around the world?
19. Guns and the Law: Are there too many or not enough guns in the U.S.?
20. Police Misconduct: Is there an epidemic or do cops get a bad rap?
21. Anarchism: Why is it the most misunderstood political concept?
22. Student College Loans: What do students need to know?
23. Privatization: Should schools, the military and post office become private, for-profit entities?

Project Purpose- to provide you with the experience of being a part of the media and making a constructive contribution to society. Worth 25% of your grade. You are to become an EXPERT on your topic. So, you won't have an opinion until the end of the semester. Your first 15+ posts will be reports on your questions about your topic.

Method: Blogger- www.blogger.com

CREATE YOUR BLOG

1. Login to www.Blogger.com and Choose to create a blog and follow the steps.
2. Use your network login for the blog address: first-4-of-your-lastname+last-4-ofyourOSIS.blogspot.com
3. In the Settings, choose Permissions, and under Blog Readers, choose ONLY PEOPLE I CHOOSE and add jelfrank1@gmail.com for now. YOU MUST DO THIS.
You can modify settings later. For blog description put: "Government Project" for now.

Your goal- to provide a blog of value to your peers or other members in society on a topic of interest to you.
Your topic will fall within the broad scope of this class and must be pre-approved by me.
Note: most of your work you will do OUTSIDE of class time.

Milestones (TBA):

1. Oct 25: Your blog should be created, topic refined and evidence of research through the posting of six or more posts with related links and/or stories.
2. Nov 15: You should have at least TWELVE posts of your own related to your topic, 150+ words each and referencing outside sources of information with appropriate links. You will have responded to questions from classmates about your topic and information posted there.
3. Dec. 20:  You should have at least TWENTY posts of your own related to your topic, 150+ words each and referencing outside sources of information with appropriate links. You will have responded to questions from classmates about your topic and information posted there.

End of Semester: Your blog demonstrates that you have developed considerable knowledge of your topic, have illustrated this knowledge through your posted reflections, questions, and links to other relevant sites. You will have at least a twenty posts, responded to questions from classmates and others, and have accomplished you stated goal.

Security:

1. No personally identifiable information: Only give your first name, and second e-mail address and school info. Do Not give your telephone, address, social security, OSIS, pin numbers, or full name, etc.

2. No personal photo.

3. Publish your work when ready. Use SAVE DRAFT until ready to publish (spell check, re-
     read for grammar, get source links...)

Assessment:

Blog Rubric: Be sure to check the milestones here.

Aspect	Full Credit	Partial Credit	Low  to NO Credit
Focus (20%)	Topic is clearly addressed and is relevant to the course.	Topic is addressed and is relevant to the course.	Topic is not addressed and/or is not relevant to the course.
Writing/Content (35%)	The blog is informative and posts well written, images appropriate, with source information (text and images) cited and evidence of critical thinking throughout the posts.	The blog is somewhat informative and entries understandable AND source information (text and images) cited and and evidence of critical thinking  .	The blog is vague and not informative with poorly written entries missing cited sources.
Sources (25%)	All source information is of high quality and properly cited with links that work.	Sources are cited with links that work.	Many sources missing and/or links not working.
Engagement (10%)	The blog makes connections to outside of school actors, like related organizations. Meaningful communications have been established.	The blog references outside organizations that are involved in the issue.	The blog fails have connections to the outside.
Mixed Media (10%)	The blog incorporates text, image, video and comments.	The blog incorporates text and images.	The blog only incorporates text.

Standards

Social Studies Standards Addressed: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/partgov.pdf

Technology Standards Addressed: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf

MIT New Media Lab:  MIT Whitepaper on Participatory Culutre

Sample Citation: no. endnote (at the end of the post), Name/Organization, Title of Page/Article & Publication, URL, Date, Paragraph no. (use of colors only for this example)

3. Elfrank-Dana, John, Teacher Vision in the New Media Classroom, Learning and Leading with Technology, http://www.elfrank.com/article, 10/2001, par. 4.

Last update: 10/25/2010