MY EXPERIENCE WITH DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP Having digital access at our school gives me the opportunity to provide different experiences to students while in the classroom. Even if they don’t have the same access at home, they are still exposed to the same issues as they grow up in a digital world. As I explored different resources, I was thinking about the things I already do in the classroom that apply to the eight topics of digital citizenship presented in the Common Sense training. As I explored and looked at the different approaches of presenting these topics, I realized that most of the topics I felt I was covering in class were only briefly presented to students. I don’t feel like I have provided as many opportunities for them to experience, make personal connections, and have those conversations about digital citizenship. For that reason, I want to continue looking into different ways that I can provide those opportunities for my students. One of the topics that I feel I have focused on in my classroom is Relationships & Communication. Students have been working on online writing and commenting on other students’ writing projects through the Seesaw platform. I tried to have students experience the power of their comments through this platform, allowing them the freedom to communicate and give feedback to each other. Not many issues came up since I controlled the posting approval at first, but we did have discussions about professionalism in their comments. Overall, I feel that a stronger foundation on all of the eight topics would allow for students to become more educated digital citizens and produce better results both in the real and digital world. Although we do have a technology teacher at our school that provides students with experiences and opportunities to practice digital citizenship, my next steps to continue making digital citizenship personal for my students in the classroom is to implement some of the strategies found in the resources we’ve explored. Many of these could be implemented in lessons we are already working on. MAKING LEARNING DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP PERSONAL FOR STUDENTS One example of something I want to do in the classroom to make learning about digital citizenship personal to students are the stand up surveys from the video in the common sense training. The teacher in that video asked questions that allowed students to bring their personal life into the lesson. I thought providing different scenarios for students would be a powerful transition when trying to share information with students before they get online and start researching or commenting on their peers’ work. Another thing I might do in the classroom to make digital citizenship personal is to have students create their own scenarios through comics. In one of the video lessons I explored, the teacher engages students in an activity where they not only practiced writing and story planning, but they could also apply their own experiences of what a good digital citizen should do as they created a superhero. These kind of activities allow for student creativity and also allow them to connect their own personal experiences, not to mention an outlet through art that allows students to communicate their ideas and feelings with others. One last example of how I can make learning digital citizenship personal for my students, is the use of the online civic reasoning resources found in the Stanford History Education Group. With the amount of resources that students are exposed to online, it is essential for them to be able to identify what is credible and what might be biased. These resources allow students to assess different sources and analyze them using assessments tools. These are strategies that would allow my students to assess what information to use now that we are starting research projects. It’s important that students understand how to identify and make good judgement when searching online. As mentioned in the parent outreach section of the common sense training, at a certain age, students believe that the first thing that pops up on a search bar is the most credible or best source. That is why it is important to give students tools to identify and be able to think critically when looking at online resources on any online site. This is one of the strategies I want to apply next in my classroom, assessing and being able to reason and think critically about what they are reading. As it was mentioned in the Common Sense training, giving students the exposure and opportunity to practice being good digital citizens at an early age is important so that they may experience and understand what it is to be part of the online world. These resources are great to begin in the classroom and share for home use as well. I look forward to exploring and providing the 21st century skills that come from being able to communicate and think critically in this ever-changing world we live in. LESSON PLAN IN MY CLASSROOM
4 Comments
Rian
2/12/2018 07:55:15 pm
You have a thorough, well-though plan to implement digital citizenship in your students lives! I really like the way, you have more than one approach and are trying to go deep with your lesson planning. You are correct, we should be teaching them at an early age about material this important.
Reply
Benjamin Scinto
2/12/2018 09:09:10 pm
It is interesting that we are working to have students critically think about the resources when on some level, the resources were "designed" or "created" to cross reference data and information for greater reliability. The internet is somewhat reminiscent of the wild west, purportedly to be tamed by the end of net neutrality - we shall see
Reply
Amanda Olson
2/12/2018 09:19:07 pm
I am in complete agreement that although many of the eight topics of digital citizenship are often topics raised in classrooms, they are not often enough explicitly taught as their own skills and are rarely assessed. These skills are so imperative to preparing our students to be citizens of their physical and digital worlds that they must rightfully be covered in the classroom. Our students need to learn how to navigate successfully within both the physical and digital worlds so as to ensure present and future success. I truly appreciate all of your ideas on how you will integrate this vital curriculum into your classroom, and particularly enjoy the idea of the comic strip. I know that there are several online programs/apps that students could use to create digital comic strips! Check out this website (https://elearningindustry.com/the-5-best-free-cartoon-making-tools-for-teachers) that lists several online programs that do just this. I also agree that teaching students about the credibility of resources and sources found online has to be taught, and I am currently grappling with how to go about teaching this to my students. I think that if I am able to teach my kinder kiddos that online resources come from sources, both credible and not, is a good way to begin the foundation for the learning that will take place in this area later on for them.
Reply
Scott Marsden
2/13/2018 03:08:29 pm
Great blog post, Jose! Not only do you talk about your experience personalizing digital citizenship for your students, you also also talk about some of the tools you want to try from the iCARE. I love the comic book idea, and would be interested to hear what apps work best for creating comic books. I know there is a history teacher on Twitter who teaches with comics. I will try to find his handle for you.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Jose G. CerdaArchives
May 2018
Categories |