Digital citizenship Tool # 11

Teaching students to be responsible in the digital world is extremely important. If we are truly giving them these tools to use we must help them understand that with the rights to use them come responsibilities. The Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship could be used as a starting point. Throughout the year I will discuss and explore what each theme means. Students can generate examples and non-examples of each theme. I will post an anchor chart to remind students of these responsibilities. Teaching students to be good researchers is an ongoing process. In order to get good pertinent information on any topic, the student must learn to go beyond the first site they find. After finding appropriate information, students must be taught to take notes and then use the information in a format that follows the guidelines of the assignment. This takes time and a committment of the teacher to circulate and guide students as they research. As part of the students social use of the internet, they must understand the implications of what they say to others and how they say it. I liked the lessons available in Texas Schools Safety Center from Tesas State concerning Cyberbulling. I will use these to develop awareness through the activities in those lesson plans. Teaching Digital Citizenship is so important that we should integrate it into our lessons each time we send the students to the computer.