Unpack and Repack Digital Citizenship
Defining digital citizenship seemed pretty self explanatory to me. I am a regular digital user and I am a pretty honest person. What I didn't think to include in my definition before the start of this class is all Ribble's nine elements that are a part of the full definition. These nine elements helps me to define a path to help my 5th and 6th graders learn about digital citizenship. I need to help them unpack all the elements and repack them in meaningful lessons. I will use Respect, Educate and Protect as building blocks for my students to become effective digital citizens.
Respect Yourself/Respect Others - Character education lesson that has been taught in the schools but when designing lessons for my 5th and 6th graders, I need to make sure to include digital etiquette. This is sometimes harder to do because you are not directly interacting with another person. Typed words have no emotion meter. Access is a lesson in where and how to access digital services. No internet at home, ok, where and how else can services be accessed. Teaching law needs to include being mindful of your own creations as well as others. This will be an area I need to unpack more for myself before teaching it to others.
Educate Yourself/Connect with Others - Communication is an area that many lessons can be learned. We have read a few books and studied growth mindset. Communication needs to be modeled with respect and empath. Literacy, using all kinds of digital devices and learning something new even if it looks hard. I teach them to build on what they already know. An example I use with them, they already know T or the A always means text, we know this and can list several program and apps that use this. What else do we already know and can build from there. Commerce is an area that I use but I will need to learn more in order to share.
Protect Yourself/ Protect Others - Rights and responsibility- with the power to share comes responsibility to respect yourself and others. Responsibility is also a component to learn with security. 5th and 6th graders for the most part are accepting, my lessons will need to model what to share and when to get help. I think when it comes to Health and wellness, this is where I will have my students model lessons for their parents and community. This is an area that needs more attention and who better to learn from than the younger generation.
As I started the week, I thought literacy would be my closest connection to this class. I teach it every day to staff and students. “Have you tried this? I will help you.” The concept of literacy is easy for me. What I have learned is that I need to more to help my 5th and 6th graders. I need to pack all the nine digital citizenship elements in to the literacy lessons that come naturally to me.
Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know. (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology.
