Week 8: Digital Citizenship- Reflection

How do these resources inform, fit into your current practices in digital citizenship in your classroom school? 

These resources were beneficial because they helped paint a more clear picture of what exactly it means to be a digital citizen. While I knew a some of the components such as access and communication, there were a few elements that I have not thought a lot about such as commerce and health and wellness. The Digital Citizenship License was the tool that I found to be most helpful in informing my instruction and current practices. While I may not show my class the material, it helped me as the teacher come up with ideas for how to present the content to my students and talk about it with them. These resources also showed me that I do not need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to teaching digital citizenship. There are many tools out there that I can share with my students that will not take large chucks of instructional time but will still allow me to share this information with them and help support their development as a digital citizen. 

 Did the resources prompt you to think differently about how you and your school approach digital citizenship? 

Looking into the different resources available I started thinking differently and questioning how my school approaches digital citizenship. What I realized is our overall lack of content. There are so many free and engaging resources out there that I had never heard of before. With my school continuing with remote learning, I think we are doing a disservice to students by not addressing these topics directly. Since my students are only in third grade I don't think they fully understand what it exactly means to be a digital citizen. Specifically teaching the nine elements to students by utilizing these resources could help them understanding their role a a technology user. 

Did you find any resources you plan to incorporate into your curriculum/school?

While I saw multiple resources that I could incorporate, two stood out to me. Other than a presentation at the beginning of the year my school does not offer any curriculum in regards to digital citizenship. The first resource that I could see myself incorporating is the "Digital Passport" created by Common Sense Media. These skills are important for student to learn and they teach students the different skills in engaging ways. The fact that they teach students through games would really cater to my third grade students. In addition to the digital passport, Common Sense Media offers a digital citizenship curriculum. I plan on incorporating a few of these lessons into my whole class instruction. While I enjoy that the Digital passport introduces students to digital citizenship in an engaging way, I think there is value in having whole class discussions on certain topics. Making a pledge to be a digital citizen and talking about the power of words are two topics that I would want to reinforce and make sure my students had a strong understanding.