The year is about to start and I'm wondering if I need to let parents know that I will be blogging about the class. What have you all done?

Of course I'm not going to use names or anything, but I wonder if some might get upset if they find out and weren't told beforehand.

Thanks

Allison, our school district which is very large came out with a power point titled "How to get fired, blogs, face book and etc." Since parents can make comments and they can be read by all...I'd make sure you protect yourself in any way you can. I know as teachers we are always about doing good and helping each other but it can take one innocent slip. Be cautious.
Hope this didn't scare you off.

Alli,

When I start next week, I am going to talk to my principle to find out how much I have to tell my parents. I know we have forms that atevdistributed at the beginning of the year for parents to sign if they do not want their child photographed for any reason. I also plan not to use student names on my blog. I really have to be careful since my class is special education which means students have IEP confidentiality. My blog will definitely be encouraged to be read by both my Super and principle so that they know exactly what I am doing. They are really good at defending our staff to which they believe in. That way, if they feel something should be reworded or removed, they can hopefully tell me prior to a parent who may have a problem with something. However, like Annette said, be cautious!

Great point ladies! Thanks for the advice!!!

I ended up putting a section in my back to school info that said,

This year I have the opportunity to participate in a professional development program to challenge my own skills and share new information with other teachers. As a part of the process I will maintain a blog to communicate with other teachers at awholebrainteacher.blogspot.com. I will discuss aspects of my teaching and classroom experiences, but I will not use any student’s name or personal information. I will also post photos and videos of our class, in accordance with the ISD Acceptable Use Policy, as a tool to educate other teachers about new strategies.

Thanks Alli! This is super helpful. Any questions from parents/staff/principal?

The principal is on board. Parents haven't questioned the blog.

At parent orientation this week I told them that I would be making some videos to post on youtube to share with other teachers. I showed a little clip from one of Farrah's videos and pointed out how it is similar to some of the things their students would do in my class. Then I asked them to sign this note with yes or no.

This year I am participating in an exciting program where I have the opportunity to share teaching experiences with other teachers around the world. As part of this program, I will be posting some videos of class lessons on YouTube. I would appreciate your permission to include your child in the videos. If you would like examples of the type of videos we will be doing, you can visit www.youtube.com/chrisbiffle.

I did get a couple of No's so I'll just have to pull them out of the shot.

One parent is also a teacher and emailed me back saying how she watched more videos and thought they were "a hoot!"

Thanks Alli - this is great info - want to make sure I am protected!!!

what a FABULOUS idea, showing the parents Farrah's videos on back to school night. It can really help the parents to realize just what the videos are being used for. Love it. I'll have to get it translated, but I plan on using your wording too. THANKS