Blogging Guidelines and First Blog

Blogging Guidelines-- first and foremost you must realize that when blogging you are entering the public domain. While blogging opens your writing and thoughts to a greater audience, this can have both positive and negative effects as you have no control over who responds to your blog and what they say. Please keep your safety in mind at all times. Never post anything that would help someone identify you-- this includes specific references to our school, town, etc. Treat your blogspace as a class room. Your posts to this blog are a school assignment and should strive to implement the following:

• use of appropriate language and refrain from using curse words or inappropriate language.
• avoidance of words that are hurtful or provoking
• avoidance of the use of chat language or other informal speech patterns.
• adherence to standard grammatical, spelling, and punctuation rules
• refraining from giving personal information about yourself or anyone else.
• assumption of responsibility for anything posted on the site.
• no plagiarism.
• use of common sense.

First Blog Instructions:

1. Explain the social issue in general.
2. Explain how the issue is depicted in Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
3. Explain what modern teenagers should understand/consider regarding this issue
4. Locate blog elements which pertain to the issue and which will enhance your site

Issues in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Welcome to the portal for our English 10 blogs. Your first post will reflect a social issue in American literature/history that is addressed in Angelou's autobiography. Select one of the issues that you and your class have brainstormed. Use the school databases and virtual reference library to locate 2 articles about your topic. Print out the two articles and note relevant citation information. Read each article and write a summary of each in paragraph form.