A Parent's Guide to Facebook

I know that Facebook is a huge part of our social culture.  But, many parents struggle with how to guide their kids because their kids are usually one step ahead of them on the learning curve.  The annotation below has several links that can help parents with this social media.  I hope you find this helpful.

Connect Safely - A Parents' Guide to Facebook

via Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) on 11/8/10

Connect Safely, a resource reviewed last year on Free Technology for Teachers, has just released a new 32 page guide to Facebook for parents. A Parents' Guide to Facebook is a soup-to-nuts guide to Facebook privacy settings, profile settings, group settings, and more. For parents who "just don't get Facebook" the guide offers great explanations of the appeal of Facebook for teenagers and what teenagers do on Facebook.  The guide provides a run down of recommended settings for teenagers and explanations of what those settings mean.

H/T to Sylvia Martinez for the news about this guide.

Applications for Education
If you occasionally find yourself fielding questions from parents about Facebook and social networking, A Parents' Guide to Facebook is a good resource to refer them too.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
Phishing Detection Education
Zilladog - Kid Friendly, Parent Monitored Email
Safe Computing Tools for Kids - Windows Based

Sending Large Files on the Internet

My wife, Kristi, is the media specialist for Shepherd Public Schools.  She shared the information below with me, and I thought it might be good to post for everyone.  I hope you find this helpful!

Sending Large Files on the Internet

Have you ever needed to send a file to someone electronically and the file was too large to email? With the close of the semester or grading period nearing, large files that represent a culmination of the term’s assignments or projects may need to be sent via the Internet. Whether the file is a PowerPoint/Keynote presentation, spreadsheet, video or audio file, sending these files via email is problematic due to content filters and file size limits. There are several resources that you can use to send a file to someone via the Internet if emailing a very large file is not permissible.

One of the those services is Dropbox.  With Dropbox, you can upload files and access them via any computer that is connected to the Internet. If you are collaborating with others, you can share folders or individual files bypassing email filters or file size limits. It is free, quick and easy to use Dropbox. You can install the Dropbox app and easily move files into your online Dropbox without navigating to the Dropbox website by using their application. The free Dropbox is limited to 2GB of space and if you share Dropbox with others, you can get an additional 250MB of space. If you sign up with a .EDU email, each person that you refer to Dropbox will earn you an additional 500 MB of space instead of just the 250 MB.

There is an app for Dropbox! You can sync your files and access them anytime, anywhere via the internet on a computer, iTouch, iPhone, iPad, etc.

Author’s Note: If you are interested in signing up for Dropbox, I would greatly appreciate the extra space earned if you use my personal referral link although it isn’t necessary to use this link to begin using Dropbox: http://db.tt/dHoct9T. (This is not Kristi's link... It is from the original source on the Discovery Educator Network.)

DropItToMe

DROPitTOme is a service that is used with a Dropbox account. DROPitTOme allows you to send files to your Dropbox via email. Once you connect the service to your Dropbox, you will receive a personalized email that allows you send attachments that are posted to your Dropbox. The service is easy to use and setup and most importantly, is also free to use!

(Source: Discovery Educator Network. "DEN Blog Network - December Ed Tech News You Can Use." Message to the author. 6 Dec. 2010. E-mail.)

Veterans Day Program

Shepherd High School and Middle School are hosting a Veterans Day Program on November 11th.  The high school has held a program since 1997.  The middle school started to have a program of their own, but last year the programs were combined.  Veterans are invited to attend and are celebrated at the program.  There are special music presentations by the choir and the band.  There are special readings that also celebrate the sacrifice of the veterans.

If you see this post before the program, please consider attending.  The program is in the high school gym at 9:00.  It is good for our students and is always enjoyed by the community guests and veterans.  There is a special reception for the veterans following the program.

Cross Country State Finals

I went down with Mrs. Bridges to the Cross Country State Finals on Saturday.  This was a very exciting time.  Both our boys and girls qualified.  I don't want to mention names of runners because they all did well, and I don't want leave anyone else.  The boys ended up in 3rd out of the 27 teams that qualified.  This is very good.  A few of the runners set personal records.  The girls ended up 9th.  This was also very good.  Their goals was to make the top ten, and they achieved this goal.  Both teams had tremendous seasons!

Creating a Positive School Climate - Motivational Speaker October 27th

We know when students feel more comfortable at school with a positive school climate, they are more likely to maximize their success academically.  Shepherd Public Schools takes creating a positive school climate very seriously.  Of course, we know that it takes parents, students, teachers, administrators, and support staff working together to create this.  We are very fortunate to have such great parents and students, as well as a staff members who help to establish high expectations and who are committed to supporting students so they have a positive learning environment.


There are many special programs that each building within our district has to help support a positive school climate.  This post is to let you know that the high school is hosting such a program on October 27th.  With the help of a Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribal Grant, we are able to bring in a nationally recognized motivational speaker.  The speaker is Mr. Craig Conrad.  I want to encourage everyone to check out his website for more information.  It can be found at http://www.craigconrad.com/ .


Mr. Conrad is going to present "The Unstoppable You" to the high school and middle school students during an assembly on October 27th from 8:05 until about 10:30 a.m.  After this, Mr. Conrad will interact with student leaders at a lunch meeting   He is also going to meet with the teachers during their staff meeting after school.  The day ends with a community presentation in the cafeteria at 6:30.  Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.  One of the main goals of this program is to sustain the energy that will inspire the students, staff, and parents together to create the most positive school climate possible. We hope to see you there!

Open House/Meet the Teacher Night

I know it is a little short notice on the blog, but Shepherd High School is having an Open House/Meet the Teacher night on October 14th.  The event will be held in the auxiliary gym at 6:00.  The format will be a brief welcome and general information by me followed by time for parents to meet with individual teachers.  There will be tables set up for each department so parents can stop by and talk to any teacher they like.  Parents can also ask questions about homework expectation, major assignments, and other information related to their son or daughter's classes.  It is very informal.  We invite all of the parents to stop in and see the teachers, especially the teachers who are new to the staff this year.

School Improvement

I just wanted to send out a post to let people know about the professional development that we are doing this year.  We are using some federal Title IIa funding to bring in a literacy coach to help our staff.  She is working most intensively with English teachers, but she is also working with the the other departments on "writing across the curriculum."  This has really been positive professional development.

Another very exciting initiative is the development of a new RTI/SIP Team.  That stands for "Response to Intervention and School Improvement."  This group is going to look at data, current initiatives, potential interventions, and best practices to improve student achievement.

I will try to update more as we get further into the year, but I wanted to get the word out that we are continually trying to improve, and the teachers and administrative staff are committed to doing whatever it take to help students succeed!