Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers and
technology leaders understand what students should know to use technology
appropriately which serves as a way to teach students how to react in a world
of technology. ("Open Thinking, 2007). For digital citizenship, I chose to
focus in on a third grade classroom environment I chose this age because they
are older enough where they are being given the responsibility to use
computers, and the internet to do research independently.
In a In a world that is ever evolving in the area of technology,
we as future teachers must keep ourselves educated in order to be able to
provide our students with current and useful information and resources. It is
very important that we do so, or our students will pass us right up! The
knowledge that today's average third grade student has of technological
resources is mind blowing! Therefore we must be the eyes and ears there to
remind them of how to properly use technology and keep themselves safe and
secure on the internet. Children, at this age, do not know any better than to
get on the internet and type in exactly what it is asking for. This could be a
name, phone number, address, or photo. Also, kids do not know that not
everything on the internet is true and if we do not teach them these things, who
will!
As y As young as children may seem to us at a third grade level,
unfortunately there are still many issues that can arise for them when using
the internet. Today's third graders know much more than we did when we were
young about technology and they know the resources but, they do not know how to
use them until they are properly taught. Because of this, we as future teachers
must make them aware of digital citizenship and how to keep themselves safe on
the internet. At this age, it would not be uncommon for them to have cell
phones and to be taking harmless pictures with their friends but what may be
harmless to them can be very dangerous to put on the internet for multiple reasons.
Therefore we must be there to teach them what is appropriate and what is not.
Also, they may come across a website that asks them for their information such
as phone number, address, name etc and they do not know potentially how dangerous
this could be. If they are not taught to not make this information public they
are more than likely to do so. On the Internet, unfortunately in some cases,
pop-ups are not blocked and if this occurs, our students need to know that the
information being given is 99.9% of the time false. It is easy for an adult to
in some cases fall for a free ipad or Hawaii vacation let alone a child who
does not know any better.
Anot Another aspect of technology that is harm full for children
that they may not be aware of is that every picture or word they put on the
Internet, even if it has been deleted, it will never be gone. This is very
dangerous for young children who do not think before they act. This could be
detrimental to their future endeavors if their digital footprint is negative.
It is our job as future parents and teachers to educate children about digital
citizenship and how to keep themselves safe on the Internet. Below is a Prezi
that I created on the idea of digital citizenship. Within the prezi I have some
information on how digital citizenship can be incorporated in a classroom and
some different information including the nine themes. Also, I have links to
four use full sites that can be used in the classroom to introduce and teach
digital citizenship. These resources were all found on current teacher websites
and I checked them all to make sure they are appropriate and useful. Hope you
enjoy! Thank again for visiting my Blog!!
