Internet Safety

Our students are a part of a digital society.  As we teach our students to be a member of a global society we must also teach them digital citizenship.  Part of digital citizenship is teaching students how to ensure their safety as they navigate the internet.  The Digital Citizenship web site offers numerous resources including videos which cover the nine elements of digital citizenship.

As a way to guide and safeguard my student’s safety while using the internet, I set ways which will keep my students focused on certain sites.  When I have a project t or assignment they students will use the internet I place all materials and approved web sites as part of a assignment in my classes Edmodo site.  I know my students will have web sites which are safe for them to use.

I also had my student’s sign a digital citizenship pledge which I hung on my wall in my classroom all throughout the year.  This pledge I received from Common Sense Media.  This site provides lesson plans and videos for educators to use in their classroom along with materials for families.  Along with teaching students proper internet safety at school, we hope this education transfers to home but it is important that this knowledge is transferred outside of school.

A strategic to teach our students proper internet safety teaching our students proper and safe ways to search for information.  Our students must know how to tell who is a safe site and what information could be a hoax and when and when not to provide personal information.  The Center for Safe Schools provides resources and courses for students and their parents to review have to navigate the internet including the “Friend or Foe “ program.

In the new age of BYOT and BYOD (Bring Own Technology and Device), I have found many teachers do not understand it is so important that we limit the students use of technology to our school Wi-Fi systems and not cell providers.  We as educators are responsible for keeping our students safe as required by the Child Internet Protection Act (Richardson, 2010, p10).  Allowing students to use their devices under their cell plans does not provide a filter of content and websites.  Students could take pictures of student’s right in our classrooms or of use and post to social media sites right then.  These actions could contribute to bullying or even but our students and us in danger in allowing the public to be aware of what is going on in our classrooms.

We as leaders we must model to our student’s proper usage and safety in the digital world.  We can do this by ensuring in our classrooms we guide our students to be digitally responsible.

Edmodo. (2013). Retrieved from www.edmodo.com

Ribble, M., & Ribble, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://digitalcitizenship.net/

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.safeschools.info/internet-safety

James Steyer. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/internet-safety-tips-middle-school-kids