As our schools and classrooms are connected directly to the Internet, e-mail will become an important tool for both you and your students. In many settings, e-mail is already a significant communications tool.
The school district creates an e-mail account for every employee. That account can be used to communicate with your colleagues. To check your mail you must configure an e-mail program to look for it on the district mail server (staff.chuh.org). It is the electronic equivalent of going to the post office to check a post office box for new mail. When you check your mail, the e-mail program on your computer, moves your new mail from our server at Taylor to your computer. Depending on how you set the preferences on you e-mail program, the e-mail will be removed from the server (post office box) or left there for you to get a copy of it again on another computer.
Checking mail is easiest to do on a computer that only you use. If you do not have your own computer you can ask to use a lab or colleague's computer. Netscape Communicator can be configured to handle multiple accounts on the same computer. This is done with a User Manager program that is installed with Netscape. When there is more than one account, Netscape displays a dialog asking you to choose the account to open. Mail left in your account is NOT password protected. Anyone can sit at that computer and look at mail your have already received or sent -- unless you delete it and empty the mail trash folder. The password is only required when you check the district mail server for NEW mail.
There are a number of companies that provide free e-mail accounts. Most of them allow you to check any e-mail account via a web browser on a public computer. You do not have to configure the computer for e-mail and leave your mail for others to see. Two popular free web based mail accounts are managed by yahoo (mail.yahoo.com) and hotmail (www.hotmail.com). These mail services can also be used to check your staff.chuh.org account.
If you do not have an easy way to check your school mail account, you can have your school mail forwarded to another account. Send your request to postmaster@staff.chuh.org from the account you want your mail forwared to.
Whether you are a beginner or an overloaded e-mail user you can make more effective use of e-mail by adapting these tips and guidelines.
Use the subject line to describe your message in 5 words or less. The more descriptive you make it, the more easily the recipient can determine if the message is a priority to read.
Keep individual messages short, (one or two screens) and on the topic described in the subject line. Don't mix unrelated subjects in the same e-mail. You can attach a word processing file or other electronic document to your e-mail message when needed.
When a response is expected, put the recipient's address in the To: field, when the message is informational only use the CC: (Carbon Copy) field. The BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field can be used when the recipient list is large or you do not want other recipients to know who was sent a copy of the message.
Respond within a day or two. Once you have committed to corresponding via e-mail it is important to check your mail regularly. Try setting aside a certain time of day to check for e-mail and write responses. If you need to research an answer, send a quick reply stating when you expect to be able to fully respond.
When replying to a message, include only enough of the original questions to put your answers in context. Select and delete the unimportant parts of the original quoted message.
Handle messages once -- file, delete or act upon them as your read them. You can create mail folders to store messages related to a particular topic or sender. Filters can automatically move messages into designated folders before you read them, helping to prioritize them. Filters can also be used to automatically delete unwanted junk mail from specific addresses.
Consider work related e-mail formal correspondence. Check your spelling and grammar. Avoid jokes and sarcasm, they often require facial expressions and body language to put the words in context. Don't write anything that you would not be willing to say in public. Personal attacks and angry responses do not belong in e-mail. Highly confidential information should not be discussed electronically. E-mail is often archived and could be forwarded without your knowledge.
Be considerate when forwarding messages. Public announcements are meant to be widely distributed but private correspondence should be not be forwarded without permission. Chain letters and pyramid schemes are just as inappropriate via e-mail as they are via U.S. Mail. There are many hoaxes that sound real, be sure the information is accurate before forwarding it. Most messages that ask you to forward it to everyone you know are hoaxes. It is very easy to forge someone else's e-mail address.
Spam is e-mail that is sent to a large number of people that did not request it. It often advertises get rich quick and sex oriented web sites. You will find this a growing problem, especially if you place your e-mail address on a web site or use public discussion forums. You can disguise you e-mail address on a web site using extra characters. For example S_Titchenal@REMOVETHIS.chtu.org. If the spam comes from a company you do not recognize, it is best not to reply to it. Often requesting to be removed, actually gets you more mail since they now know you read it. For more information on how to combat spam check sites such as SpamCop.net.
E-mail can be a time, money and energy saver when used in a thoughtful and constructive manner. Over the next few years, it will become as important in education as it currently is in the business world.