Digital Citizenship

 

It’s imperative to teach young children how to effectively use technology in order to enhance their learning. However, with the use of technology also comes the teaching of how to use it effectively, appropriately, and safely. Below are three areas I feel are most crucial to incorporate into first grade curriculum.

1. Sending an Email: (Relationships and Communicating) Each Friday I send the students’ parents an email in an effort to communicate our current curriculum, important dates, and any other pertinent information regarding school events. As I was reading over the Digital Citizenship curriculum, I realized I can teach my students how to create their own newsletter to send to their parents. This way students are learning how to send emails and communicate with their families what we are doing in the classroom.

2. Staying Safe Online: (Internet Safety) Navigating the internet is a challenging task for young students. Educating them on how to choose appropriate internet is overwhelming, so that’s why I always appreciate suggestions on how to teach my students. The stoplight activity lesson was creative and a great way to help students understand the importance of thinking about which sites are appropriate for them. This lesson could be adapted to fit into our animal research unit easily. I like the idea of creating a Symbaloo page with different pages all on animals, but some not appropriate for students, whether too difficult to read, or sites with opinions or falsities on animals. These sites can then be sorted into “safe” sites or sites not appropriate for young students.

3. Using Keywords: (Information Literacy) I think this skill is extremely useful to begin teaching students. Using keywords to search online can provide students with many opportunities for learning. If used effectively, students could extend their learning beyond the curriculum using the internet as a way to research a question or learn more about a specific topic. Many times students will ask questions that I can’t answer and I always look it up online. Teaching them the importance of keywords will yield the best results for their inquiries. This easily lends itself to our animal research unit, but really could be taught and applied in any subject area that students have questions on.

It’s imperative to teach young children how to effectively use technology in order to enhance their learning. However, with the use of technology also comes the teaching of how to use it effectively, appropriately, and safely. Below are three areas I feel are most crucial to incorporate into first grade curriculum.