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Digital CitizenshipDigital Literacy

Five Free, Ready-to-Use Digital Citizenship Resources for PK-12 Lessons

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

Teaching Digital Citizenship isn’t just for Dig Cit Week so I’ve got a few resources to share with you! Whew. digital citizenship. It’s a biggie. Let me say that I have felt the weight of teaching digital citizenship. I’ve also had many discussions on this topic with teachers, administrators, and parents. A lot of us feel lost with where to start, what exactly to teach, and how to keep up with it all. It can feel daunting, but it doesn’t have to be!

How do we stay ahead of the game?

Let’s be honest, many students are light years ahead of adults when it comes to technology. As a result of their digital culture, they can seamlessly move between apps, programs, devices, operating systems, gaming systems, and more. They can do this easily and with relatively no learning curve. Many of them are fearless when it comes to exploring the world wide web and all the information, tools, and interaction it offers. In fact, some of them are creating the very tools we are using.

There is a Google answer for every question and a Google solution to every problem. For example, a former fourth-grade student wanted to play Fortnite, which was blocked by the school during class. He Googled: “How to get on Fortnite at school when it’s blocked.” Then he searched, “How to not get caught playing Fortnite by your teacher.” He learned how to create a decoy screen and enjoyed playing Fortnite during class, for a time. Then, a bit clumsily, he got caught. Pretty ingenious and resourceful, but also, what?? A fourth-grader?!

A more serious story is that of a fifth-grade girl. She set up a Facebook account using a fake birthday. Not knowing how to manage the privacy settings, she posted her cell phone number and location information for the world to see. This clearly opened her up to all kinds of risks. Very scary situation! I have many other stories, entailing everything from plagiarism to cyberbullying to misusing digital resources. But for each of these stories, I have others highlighting creativity, collaboration, kindness, ingenuity, and learning. How do we compete with Google, social media, and other technology to stay ahead of the game? How do we ensure that students are using technology appropriately and staying safe at all times?

What can we do?

Just like with any tool, we can’t ensure it’s being used appropriately all the time. And just like any situation or environment, we can’t ensure safety at all times. But what we can do is focus on teaching students the skills necessary for using digital tools appropriately and safely. This means focusing on digital citizenship as a preventative measure, starting with our youngest learners. We must talk openly about every aspect of digital citizenship, on a developmentally appropriate level, and we must talk about it often. But we can’t just talk. We also have to practice it, giving students guided opportunities and then offering independence.

Here is an excellent, research-based article, Digital Citizenship Starts with the Person Not the Tool! from ISTE’s blog. I can’t agree more. The author discusses prevention science in relationship to digital citizenship. While the article admits that more research and program integration need to be done, it provides several thought-provoking guiding questions for digital citizenship programs.

What exactly is digital citizenship?

According to edvolve’s Digital Citizenship Curricular Framework PK-12 by the Dig Cit Doctors Kristen Mattson and LeeAnn Lindsey, there are four important strands: Digital Safety, Media and Information Literacy, Digital Well-Being, and Social Responsibility. Take a look at how these are defined: 

Digital Citizenship Strands-at-a-glance

Depending on the program, curriculum, or framework you use, digital citizenship might be defined differently. However, it usually revolves around some mixture of safety, responsibility, digital literacy, and well-being. Let’s take a look at a few available resources that you might find helpful when addressing concepts surrounding digital citizenship with your students.

1. Digital Citizenship Curricular Framework PK-12

This 32-page, downloadable PDF, reviewed by our own Executive Director Lori Gracey, offers a free and simple approach to teaching digital citizenship. It is also aligned with several standards, including Common Core State Standards, CASEL (social-emotional learning), and ISTE (technology). As pictured above, the framework breaks digital citizenship into four strands. Each strand is associated with enduring understandings, overall indicators of success, grade level indicators, and sample guiding questions per grade level. There are also technology skills related to each strand and a list of aligned content standards.

Digital Citizenship sample framework
Samples pages from the edvolve Digital Citizenship Curricular Framework PK-12

2. Global Digital Citizen Foundation

This is one of my favorite websites outlining digital citizenship. Their five principles provide an excellent definition of what it means to be a “digital citizen.” And in addition, their six tenets for digital citizenship are fantastic practices for students. I have personally used these principles and tenets with elementary and middle school students when teaching digital citizenship. They also offer several digital citizenship agreements and a code of honor that I find to be fantastic tools. The primary and middle school agreements focus on three areas of responsibility: Looking After Yourself, Looking After Others, and Looking After Property. The high school agreement adds a bit more. My upper elementary students loved the “fancy” wording in the Code of Honor. It gave us the opportunity to discuss the vocabulary and meaning together in relation to the digital citizenship agreement.

Digital citizenship code of honour
Sample from Global Digital Citizen Code of Hounour

Activity Idea: With upper elementary, I actually used the middle school agreement. I put together an activity where I separated and mixed up all the statements listed under each section (Looking After Myself, Looking After Others, Looking After Property) of the digital citizenship agreement. Then students were grouped and tasked with placing each statement under the correct heading. You can do this easily using a tool like Jamboard! Once students categorized them under the three headings, we went over each statement together. Some were incorrectly placed, and we were able to talk about why. The students loved this activity. They were excited to share examples from their own lives in relationship to the statements we studied. As a result, it was very enlightening for me. And it also let them know that these topics were okay for us to discuss.

Digital Citizenship Agreement
Sample from the Global Digital Citizen Middle School Agreement

3. Common Sense Education

Common Sense Education has some great resources for Digital Citizenship Week. There are daily activities, resources for promoting digital citizenship in the community, and training and learning events.

Common Sense Education Digital Citizenship Week
From the commonsense.org Digital Citizenship Week website

They also have a free K-12 curriculum broken up by grade level. Each grade level contains lesson plans with objectives, vocabulary, a list of what you’ll need, resources (videos, songs, etc.), and take-home resources. Lessons focus on the following topics:

6 topics for digital citizenship
From the commonsense.org Digital Citizenship Week website

In addition, you can download the lesson plans as PDFs. Don’t have time for a full lesson? No problem. They provide you with a condensed version! Check out their digital citizenship week activities for elementary, middle, and high school students for an activity each day.

4. The Social Institute

I love this article from The Social Institute’s blog about their seven social standards. These standards are fantastic, relevant, and excellent for students in grades 4-12. If you create a free login, they also have a downloadable School Playbook: Social Media’s Role in Social-Emotional Health. This handout proposes five steps to support students in using social media and provides some informative statistics. It also promotes their #WinAtSocial social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, which incorporates social media, SEL, and digital citizenship. This is a relatively new web-based and gamified curriculum aligned with CASEL standards. To find out the cost, you have to contact them through the website. Here is a snapshot of their program at-a-glance:

Social Institute Program
https://thesocialinstitute.com/solutions/students/

I would also recommend checking out their blog for many articles about social media, their Student Influencer Program, social-emotional learning, and more.

5. Nearpod Free Lessons

Nearpod has recently published a blog post with some great daily activities for Digital Citizenship Week 2021 in partnership with Flocabulary. The activities are linked directly into the post for you to add individually, or you can download the weekly plans. These include activities for grades K-12 on everything from the history of the internet to trustworthy sources to cyberbullying. If you use these lessons in your classroom, Nearpod asks for Tweets of pictures using the hashtag #DigCitwithNearpod.

Nearpod DigCitwithNearpod Lessons
Sample from Nearpod’s Digital Citizenship Week 2021 Blog Post

They’ve also included some really great free, downloadable posters. In addition, Nearpod does have a full Digital Citizenship and Literacy curriculum, and you can contact a representative for a quote.

Additional Resources

  • A Digital Citizenship Framework and Lessons is a TechNotes blog post by Lori Gracey providing several resources for digital citizenship lessons.
  • Digizen is a website that has tons of resources on digital citizenship, social networking, digital values, and more.
  • Google provides a Digital Citizenship and Safety Course for teachers and students. The course has five units, each with an introduction, lesson, and review, lasting a total of 23 minutes each. Topics covered include privacy, phishing and scams, online safety, searching, and online reputation.
  • DigCitCommit has a list of great resources. Not only that, but if you have created your own resources, you can submit them to share with others.
  • Google has some resources on their Be Internet Awesome site. They also list a few partners that are worth checking out. For example, PearDeck has created Be Internet Awesome interactive presentations to coordinate with Google’s lessons.
  • SeeSaw has more than 1,500 activities under the Digital Citizenship category in its Activity Library.
  • In addition to the suggested activities in Common Sense Education’s daily activities, Book Creator offers lessons and student activity books.
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Digital LiteracyWriting

Email Writing for Students

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Most of us have been using email for a large portion of our lives. So it’s natural to assume that everyone knows how to send a “good” email. But that’s definitely not true, especially for students. Just like any other skill, learning to send a meaningful, accurate, and polite email must be taught. Let’s look at how we as educators can do that.

Age-Appropriate Email Strategies

Depending on the age of the student, the following tips are appropriate (from the article Email Etiquette for Students):

Elementary School:

  • Using proper sentence structure
  • Spell checking
  • Privacy for both the student and the recipient(s)

Middle School:

  • Thinking before clicking Send
  • What to share and what not to share
  • Basic courtesies in email and texting

High School:

  • When to email or text and when not to
  • Not all communications should be emoji or acronym based
  • How to clearly communicate with you mean

College:

  • How grammar and approach can leave an impression
  • How to use email for employment opportunities
  • Portraying a serious intent and professional tone

Start with the Basics of Writing an Email

As a former English teacher, I would begin helping students learn about emails by discussing that writing an email is a different type of writing than, say, writing a text message or a legal document or a joke. There are certain ways that it should be done. Then I would show them this easy-to-understand infographic.

The five steps above, if followed, would result in a polite, informative, email that is a call to action to resolve some problem or question. (Please note that, while this is formulaic writing, something I don’t normally believe in, I do feel that it would work well as an introduction to students on the art of composing an email. Once they’ve mastered it, they can branch off on their own more.)

I would go over this with the students and then pull up several example emails that I had created previously, having the whole class talk through how they could be improved. For each email, I would ask the students, sometimes in pair, sometimes alone, to think through the five steps to see if there were changes in any of them that needed to be made. For me, I would use these as my examples in this order (from simple to more complex):

  • An email with no greeting or closing
  • An email that doesn’t state the problem or question
  • An email that has too long or too short a subject line

Next, ask students what information they think would need to be added to the five steps to help a busy teacher. (Perhaps the class period of the student?) I would then talk about voice in writing and how, since this email is going to their teacher and not a friend, it needs to be grammatically correct. That’s a good time to show them the spell checker and how to use it. This is also a great time to show them how to create their own signature for an email, even several (one for more formal messages and also an informal one for their friends or family).

Finally, I would ask students when sending an email may not be a good idea. I would hope they would come up with when they are angry or when it’s an urgent matter that really needs a face-to-face (or Zoom to Zoom) discussion. They might also say that a student shouldn’t send an email if he/she can just ask the teacher the next day (for something minor).

Putting It into Practice

Before turning your students loose with email, it would be good to have them practice first. Here are two different ways to do that (taken from Classroom Activities: Email).

Class Email

Foster new friendships and help students practice their reading and writing skills. Pair students up in the classroom (or with students in other classrooms) and have them exchange email addresses. Ask one to write a message to the other and start an email change. You may want them to write about a specific topic, such as a response to an issue or a piece of writing, or you may want them to just share what happened that day. Once your students are comfortable with this, they could become e-pen pals with students in another city, state, or country!

Community Leaders

Many government and community leaders, such as the mayor, governor, and even President of the United States, have email addresses that people can write to and share their thoughts. Discuss different issues in the community with your students. What can be changed? What seems unfair? What issues should leaders be working on or improving? Brainstorm different ideas and then have students write emails to their community or government leaders. Remind them that in formal messages, they should refrain from abbreviations and emoticons.

Writing an Email Resources

To help your students learn more about the art of email creation, here are a few good resources:

An Additional Resource

Thanks to Lindsay Foster from Gainsville ISD who created two wonderful infographics to share with GISD students from the information in this blog. One of them is in English and the other is in Spanish. Perhaps you could use these as a starting point for an infographic for your students!

writing an email

*This blog post was updated with new content on August 19, 2021.

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social-emotional learning
Digital LiteracySocial-Emotional Learning

Empowering Students Through Digital Citizenship and Social-Emotional Learning

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

Society, including education, has significantly changed even from just five short years ago. Technology has infiltrated every aspect of our lives, and that affects how we interact with one another. With this in mind, how do we empower students for life as adults in this new paradigm?

    • First, students need to be socially aware of others, as well as their own behavior.
    • Second, they need to be accountable for their actions and learning in both the real and digital world.
    •  Third, they need to become technology savvy while learning to use it appropriately.

Has technology hindered students from understanding the impact their behavior has on others? Or have we simply relaxed as a culture regarding common courtesy?  Whatever the reason, school districts are turning to social-emotional learning hoping to empower students to be contributing members of society.

What Is Social-Emotional Learning?

Respect yourself.org defines social awareness as the ability to understand the emotions and needs of others while using emotional cues. Many students today are struggling socially and emotionally. Some are becoming self-focused and lack empathy and compassion towards others.  These skills were once taught at home.  Now it appears the school system is becoming more involved in helping students navigate their emotions and learn from social cues.  Social-Emotional Learning educates the whole child using a systematic approach to teach students how to understand and control their emotions, build empathy, and foster relationships (Clayton, 2017). In order to become a contributing member of society and a positively engaged citizen, it is important to possess these skills.

Developing Digital Citizens

Being a responsible citizen also includes being a responsible digital citizen. Mike Ribble defines digital citizenship as “the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use.” He further states there are nine elements of digital citizenship including:

  • Digital Access
  • Digital Commerce
  • Digital Communication
  • Digital Literacy
  • Digital Etiquette
  • Digital Law
  • Digital Rights and Responsibilities
  • Digital Health and Wellness
  • Digital Security.

Each one is important, but I feel in order to best teach appropriate online behavior while developing appropriate social skills, it is important to focus on Digital Etiquette and Digital Rights and Responsibilities.

In order to understand the ramifications of how their behavior can impact others, students first need to understand their rights and responsibilities as both a real-world and a digital citizen. Rights and responsibilities include the privileges, rules, and expectations we have as citizens. Unfortunately, many people act differently online due to the anonymity provided by their computer screen and the internet. We may say and do things online we would not do when speaking with someone face to face. In fact, it appears we have become desensitized to the effect our behavior has on others.

Technology-Based Solutions

Digital curriculum, such as that available through Common Sense, empowers students to behave appropriately online. Another solution, Ripple Effects, is a technology-based, social-emotional learning program that can be personalized to the needs of your campus and students. It is a tiered intervention program. Tier 1, Universal, includes charter education and life skills teaching all students how to be more aware of themselves and empathetic towards others. Tier 2, Targeted Prevention, provides targeted intervention to students with some risk factors, giving individualized mental health supports and consequences for negative actions. Tier 3, Indicated Intervention, provides intensive intervention behavior support for students at risk. The tutorials address the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of students. For this reason, using social-emotional learning programs lets students handle their emotions more effectively and become more compassionate and empathetic towards others. The fact is a technology-based curriculum will most likely help hold the attention of students and keep them engaged.

Providing Voice and Choice

Regardless of our own personal technology proficiency, teachers must embrace and utilize technology proficiently themselves if they are going to empower their students. Students need to master basic computer skills such as creating a word document, slide presentations, and spreadsheets, but they also need advanced skills such as video design, social media integration, gaming, etc. It is also important to use a learner-centered approach that provides active learning opportunities involving choice, ownership, voice, and authentic learning, otherwise known as COVA (Harapnuik, 2018).

Choice provides personalized learning through guided discovery. In essence, students are free to choose how they want to develop, create, and present their evidence of learning. By doing so, students have ownership over their learning, which typically leads to an increase in engagement. When students are encouraged to use their own voice, their level of understanding and mastery deepens. All things considered, authentic learning experiences provide students with the power to utilize resources and tools that engage and motivate them, which ultimately makes learning more relevant.

Empowering the Next Generation

Education today is so much more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Today’s educators need to be equipped with the means to grow our students academically, socially, and emotionally by utilizing digital tools and advances in technology to assist them. Digital citizenship, social awareness, and technological proficiency are key to empowering students to grow into productive and contributing members of our society.  Above all, it is time to acknowledge the current challenges facing education, our students, teachers, administrators, and society as a whole and begin an open and honest dialogue on the changes needed in education.  Failure to do so may be detrimental to future generations.

References:

Clayton, V. (2017). The psychological approach to educating kids.  The Atlantic Retrieved on April 25, 2018 from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/the-social-emotional-learning-effect/521220/

EdTech. (2018). The digital citizenship curriculum: digital literacy, cyber hygiene and more. Retrieved on April 19, 2018 from https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2018/04/The-Digital-Citizenship-Curriculum-Digital-Literacy-Cyber-Hygiene-and-More-perfcon

It’s All About the Learning. (2018). COVA. Retrieved on April 26, 2018 from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education

Ripple Effects. (2018). Retrieved on April 26, 2018 from https://rippleeffects.com/

Thibodeaux, T. N., Harapnuik, D. K, & Cummings, C. D. (2017). Factors that contribute to ePortfolio persistence. International Journal of ePortfolio, 7(1), p. 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP257.pdf

This is a guest blog by Dina Perez. Dina is a history teacher at Cockrill Middle School in Mckinney ISD.

 

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