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As teens across the country head back to school this year, far too many of them are facing the entrance doors to their schools with feelings of fear, trepidation and dread. For an increasing number of students across the nation, schooldays are filled with the never-ending cycle of taunting and abuse from their bullies. But this year, in an unprecedented display of solidarity, thousands of strangers who have been through the same harrowing experiences, are sharing their private tales of torment with these teens for the first time ever because of the story of Olivia Gardner.

Interactive exploration of piracy issues related to music from the ThinkFinity web site and Read/Write/Think.

A student sample public blog that has done a good job of protecting identity but still having voice. This is on blogger.

This student I know started this blog to write about things. Notice that the student has done a pretty good job of keeping things private about his/her identity.

Marian Merritt works for Symantec as their Internet Safety Advocate. She keeps a blog and writes a column, "Ask Marian." Her site offers advice about safely using MySpace, YouTube, and other social networking sites, along with information on cyber ethics, privacy, and instant messaging. She also provides resources for parents.-

ThinkQuest Newswire Announcement: Students from 13 countries took top honors in this year's ThinkQuest International 2008 Competition. The competition is utilized by teachers to engage their students in developing critical skills for life and work in the 21st century.This year's winning teams collaborated in the research, writing and creation of websites on educational topics ranging from mathematics to promoting tolerance and preventing bullying.

ThinkQuest International 2008 included 972 teams from 60 countries and the winning entries included students from Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. Each team had approximately eight months to complete their final websites. The submissions were then reviewed by an international panel of volunteer judges who selected the winners in each of the three age divisions. The judges also awarded the "Global Perspectives" prize to the team best exemplifying respect for diversity and recognition of global interdependence.

A blog post from a ninth grader researching cyber security. He did a very nice job (with the exception of a typo or two.)

Seeing my students blog like this one on cybersecurity makes me realize that effective online communication and writing is important. I'm proud of my student bloggers and glad that we've made time to blog this year!

Excellent article by Suzie Boss at edutopia about filtration. I think this is an article to print and send to IT departments and headmasters. Excellent writing. Incredible article!

Excellent article on digital citizenship in schools.

Students explore a range of resources on fair use and copyright then design their own audio public service announcements (PSAs), to be broadcast over the school's public address system. Work can also be published as podcasts on the Internet. Students tap research and persuasive writing strategies as they design announcements for an audience of their peers.

Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection
In this lesson plan, students explore a class inquiry project, collecting Web-based resources that can be used for further study during the course of the class or for more in-depth projects. Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists and questions to find and evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the items they have found will be valuable to the class.

Steve Hargadon writes: 'We've spent the last ten years teaching students how to protect themselves from inappropriate content - now we have to teach them to create appropriate content.'

David Pogue write in The New York Times, "As my own children approach middle school, my own fears align with the documentary's findings in another way: that cyber-bullying is a far more realistic threat. "

Anne Collier has been writing about Family Internet issues through her weekly publication, NetFamilyNews for over a decade and her thoughtful opinions and analysis of noteworthy events are widely respected. Together with CBS Reporter, Larry Magid, she is co-author of MYSPACE UNRAVELED and co-director of the web site, CONNECT SAFELY.ORG. You can subscribe to her weekly publication. She also keeps a blog with timely updates in between publications.

After spending the day practicing cursive writing and discussing how money moves through a community, Mike Ice's second-graders at Dunn Elementary took out their notebooks and described what they'd learned - in 140 characters or fewer.

Suggested classroom use (4th-10th grade): writing, literature, history, technology/computer teachers, character education, leadership classes. Additional use: school-wide assemblies, school broadcasts, district streaming, counselor sessions, "back to school" programs on cheating/plagiarism, college prep, in preperation for assigning a major writing assignment,

Little or no grammar teaching, cellphone texting, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, all are being blamed for an increasingly unacceptable number of post-secondary students who can't write properly.

Because Cory was in a class that used social networking tools for writing-specifically Elgg, an open source media platform-other students, teachers, family members and even the general public were able to comment on his story. For example, an "army colonel," who did not give a name, said about chapter 1, "Your words have painted a very vivid picture. You did an excellent job of illustrating the terror of war. Keep up the good work."

The rise of online media has helped raise a new generation of college students who write far more, and in more-diverse forms, than their predecessors did. But the implications of the shift are hotly debated, both for the future of students' writing and for the college curriculum.

b>Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection
In this lesson plan, students explore a class inquiry project, collecting Web-based resources that can be used for further study during the course of the class or for more in-depth projects. Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists and questions to find and evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the items they have found will be valuable to the class.

Teacher notes that the specific criteria and descriptions listed on the rubric have been effective at helping students to improve the posts they have been writing. A google docs version is located here: http://bit.ly/ckQOeR

"In this lesson, students analyze the effects of devices and protocols used to communicate and create posters highlighting their findings. They then write response papers exploring the future of these social networking methods."