Week 8: Digital Citizenship

 This week I was able to review the 9 elements of Digital Citizenship  and reflect on how I incorporate them in my classroom. 

Digital Access:

Access to technology has been something that has changed a lot over the past year. Prior to Covid my class was at a 4:1 ratio with technology and while many students had access to internet at home a lot of my families were sharing one computer for the whole household. At the beginning of year I always send home a survey for families to fill out so I can get to know their student, one of my questions is, do you have access to internet and a computer at home? Any family who does not have access, I make sure to send hard copies of newsletters home and send notes home with their students as oppose to an email. Additionally, to make it equitable for all students no homework assignments ever required a computer. Any online work that needs to be completed could be done at school. 

My students access to technology has gone up quite a bit since the start of Covid. My district provided every student with their own laptop. In addition, the district has paid for hot-spots to ensure that all students have access to technology in order to complete their school work. While some students still struggle with their WiFi I record all my lessons for students to refer back to. It is an alternative to our live lesson, incase technology issues were impacting their ability to join the class. 

Digital Commerce: 

While I do not touch a lot on digital commerce in third grade it can get brought up in conversation. Many students in my room play video games that offer upgrades for money. When we talk about digital safety this topic may get brought up when discussing being responsible with money and making sure you ask an adult before you purchase anything online. 

Digital Communication: 

Since I have been teaching fully remote all year my class has talked a lot about digital communication. Students have multiple ways that they can connect with myself or their peers. The main ways students can communicate is through Teams, Seesaw and Clever. On my class Teams page I have set up a social channel. This is a place where students can interact and share content, since they do not get this opportunity frequently being remote. Our class has set up a "Looks Like, Sound Like" chart that outlines what it looks like and sounds like to responsibly post and communicate with classmates. Things like using kind words and not typing when other are talking have been a few issues my class has need continued support with. Our school also has key words that get flagged if they are used such as "bullying" or "punch". If a student gets flagged using these words they have conference with myself and our vice principal to help ensure that they understand the expectations of communicating online. 

Digital Literacy: 

Focusing on digital literacy has been a huge component for me this year. In third grade students are really given a chance to dive into multiple research projects. We start the year off with a simple topic on a notable American. Our class then spends a week finding information on their topic through different resources. I show students how to access two or three resources and on the last day they find their own resources. We then talk as a class about how to identify if what they found is a good or bad resource. Students are then able to utilize the resource sites that they identify as good in order to help them with future research projects our class has. 

Digital Etiquette: 

The students in my class are not going back to in-person learning for the remainder of the school year. With that being said it is critical that they establish digital etiquette when working with myself and their peers. The first few weeks of the year I spent time establishing my expectations. We talked about what it looked like to be in a whole class lesson, in a break-out room and working independently. We then made a behavior tracker, identifying what it would take be following expectations as an online learning. Things that were included were ideas such as keeping camera on, mic muted and use responding kindly to classmates comments in the chat. Anytime a new issue pops up we address it as a class and talk about what the expectations need to be. 

Digital Law/ Digital Rights and Responsibilities: 

Last year my school put an emphasis on digital law and students rights when using school technology. My building created a slideshow presentation that I showed my students addressing what it looks like to use technology appropriately and inappropriately. This year I continue on that presentation and talked about the rights that come with getting to communicate and interact with their peers and use of the school computers. After the presentation students are given the opportunity to ask questions and then they sign a pledge confirming their commitment to being a digital citizen. 

Digital Health and Wellness/ Digital Security: 

These two elements go hand and hand in my classroom. Luckily all of my students access their account through Clever. All of students apps are found on Clever and once they log in the first time, Clever keeps them always logged in. This helps with security as students are not trying to come up with new passwords and usernames for each new app. We also talk about what happens if something they are unsure about pops up on their screen. If students are unsure what the pop up means they are directed to call me and I explain what the pop up meant and how we can move forward.