Connie Sylvanus
Ls521 SP02
Elective Instructional Activity
Email Made Easy
The use of email as a communication tool is being practiced by all ages. For this reason it is important to teach all ages’ efficient practices for using email. After surveying my third graders on the use of email and finding that over half use email, I began to realize a few short lessons to my young students should be conducted. The following tips and practices I feel could be understood and employed by eight and nine year olds.
Email Tips
Always check your email address twice before sending any email.
I find this very helpful to instruct students to check addresses. This tip saves much frustration in getting an incorrect address response. Writing down an email address and double checking that address is always a good idea.
Emails sent from school should contain school appropriate ideas and language.
I think it is helpful to teach this age group of children that once you put an idea or thought in an email it can be read by anyone. Therefore, they should understand nothing vulgar or hurtful should be in an email. Children at this age have an enjoyment of bathroom humor, but the person or persons they send email to might not enjoy that humor. I also think the students’ parents and our district’s administration might not approve of off color humor going out over district email.
Although email is an informal form of communication, it still must be proofread.
Many feel that email should not adhere to rules of punctuation and capitalization because it is not formal communication. I feel that good grammar and spelling need to apply to all forms of communication. This tip or lesson would include having children in pairs edit all email for grammar and spelling before sending any email. There is also the issue of readability if there are many spelling and punctuation errors.
Emails should contain an ending signature.
Although emails are not a formal letter, I would strongly encourage my students to end all emails with their name. Most emails when sent contain the senders email address, but that may not contain a person’s real name or the email address might not be familiar to the person receiving the email. Furthermore, I think it is common courtesy to end a communication with the sender’s name.
The subject line in an email should contain the main idea of an email.
This tip is a time saver. If the main idea of an email is include in the subject line then one can decide whether or not that particular email needs to be read immediately or can wait. If the subject line is also labeled one can also tell if the email is from someone they know. With children this tip may also be a safety issue. Children should be taught not to open emails if they do not know the sender.
All caps or repeated exclamation points should not be included in an email.
Repeated caps in emails signify someone screaming. Anger at others should not be included in emails. One angry email may encourage a myriad of emails in return. In addition, there is no reason for anyone to endure screaming in emails or any other form.
One should not include personal information in emails.
This is a big safety issue. I can see at times when email may be used in a class to communicate with other students or resource people that may not be known. To keep children safe they must be strongly urged not to include their addresses, last names, and phone numbers to those they do not know personally.
Short and to the point emails are best.
Emails are to be similar to a note. Long emails are hard to read due to having to read the message on the computer screen. Emails should be kept to essential thoughts and ideas.
Email can be made expressive by the creative use of punctuation.
Different marks on the computer can be made into expressions of feelings or ideas. The colon and the right parentheses can be made into a smiley faceJ. Also the right and left parentheses around a person’s name can indicates a hug(((((Sarah))))). The use of these symbols will help make emailing more fun.
Always check with an adult before sending an email.
This is another safety concern. Children should
be monitored while using the computer to be assured of their safety.
Email is a wonderful opportunity for children to learn about new places and things. After learning a few simple rules, as mentioned above, I am sure children will enjoy this form of communication.