Blog Requirements

Health Current Event Blog

Blog is located at http://Beaumonthealthcurrentevents.blogspot.com/

Goals of the Blog

An essential piece of awareness involves staying on top of current events.  This assignment will help to build community awareness and knowledge of past and current health issues.  Also, it is necessary in the 21^st century to be skilled at online communication and able to participate in discussions on blogs.  The hope is for this blog to be a place where students can authentically discuss current events that they believe are relevant and interesting without the restrictions and demands of a formal essay.

Blogging Guidelines (RESPECT!)

The mutual respect rule that exists at Aragon within the classroom applies to anything posted on the blog.  The expectation is for all students to be civil.  You can disagree with another post but you need to make sure that you do so in a respectful manner.  It is essential that you never personally attack another student.  For example, “how can you live with yourself” or “only a moron would think” are NOT appropriate ways to respond to a post.  Instead, “Bob, did you consider the effect” or “I understand the point that Sue is making but I disagree because.”  Remember that everything in print can be taken twice as harsh as you might intend.  Posting under the influence of emotion is dangerous.

An excellent POST is one that …

·         Introduces a new current event topic that has not yet been posted

·         Connects current event to health content  – MUST connect with Health! 

·         Provides a link to an article from a reliable news source

·         Includes embedded images, video, charts, cartoon, etc.

·         Includes reaction to the news article (in approximately 2-3 sentences)

·         Poses an issue or question for discussion

·         Is approximately 50-150 words

An excellent COMMENT is one that …

·         Directly address the material or ideas presented in the post

·         Brings up a new perspective or idea

·         References others sources as support for their argument

·         Comments regularly throughout the semester and does not cluster all comments in the final week

·         Uses respectful academic language while agreeing and disagreeing with posts

Blog GradingI will keep track of your blog participation throughout the ten week blogging period.  

Needs substantial guidance to avoid plagiarism.In order to provide you with more feedback, the rubric included here will be used.   

Good Resources for News Articles

These sites are great places to get started in your search for a good news item to include in your post.  Please do not feel limited by this list in anyway … it is just a list of suggestions to get you started. 
SEE LIST ON HOME PAGE OF BLOG.

How to Use the Blog to COMMENT:

1)      First, you need to be signed in to your gmail account that Aragon has provided for all students.   Log in information for smuhsd.org is …

- User Names: [Grad Year ##] [Last Name, First Initial] [Last two digits of the student ID number]  @smuhsd.org

- Password: [last 6 digits of the student ID and the day of birth as a two digit number.]

2)      Go to the blog and verify that you are signed in (you can see that you are signed in if your account is listed in the top right hand corner.) 

3)      Once you are signed in, review the posts that have been made during the week and comment on the posts. 

How to Use the Blog to POST:

1)      Sign into your account and open the invitation email you received from me asking you to be an author of the blog.    

2)      Accept the blog author invitation.

3)      Return to the health blog and click the “New Post” button in the top right hand corner.

4)      Complete your post by following the requirements included in the posting rubric.  Then post!

SEE BLOG SCHEDULE ON Canvas