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Teacher's Net

Lesson 1: Communications, Part One

Email

About Email

There are very very few people who, if they've not ever used email, don't at least know what email is. In short, for the sake of following through with our definitions, Email is like the Internet Post Office, where you can send and read letters.

If you have specific questions about email clients, blocking spam, etc. I highly recommend browsing Heinz Tschabitscher's topic at About.com: http://email.about.com/

Pro's of Email in an Educational Setting

By offering students, parents, and coworkers a place that they can contact you at any time you are opening the communication lines a hundred-fold. Not only can students write to ask questions, but they could submit rough drafts for comment or turn in their research.

Con's of Email in an Educational Setting - Safety and Security

The same guidelines as mentioned in both the previous sections completely apply here: NEVER share personal information in an email, and NEVER download any attachments. If you will be using email within an educational setting, pick an email provider (like yahoo.com) and walk your students through the set-up of their account. When providing information to the provider, don't use full information - for name, they need to enter a nickname like "lolaness" or a set of initials like "J.A.D.", and never provide a full address. This information is directly available in email headers, and isn't something anyone- especially young people- should be sending out.

Assessment

Largely, assessing email involves researching the client you plan to use, or the service. Use the assessment guide below.

Integration

Some quick ideas for integrating Email into the classroom and lessons:

Create a contact card, like a business card, which invites students, parents, and coworkers to contact you via email.

Require that all assignments have one specific component, like research, that be turned in via email.

Create a class e-newsletter which would be sent out once a month to keep students, parents, and coworkers informed about what has been happening and what will be coming up in the class.