Tool #10

In their book, "Digital Citizenship in Schools" Mike Ribble and Gerald Bailey discuss nine elements of digital citizenship. While all nine elements are equally important, I want to make certain that my students understand digital security, digital etiquette, and digital law.

I have utilized the "Digital Citizenship" text in my classes for several years. As we progress through the semester, I integrate lessons from the book. The first lesson I teach is on etiquette. I teach the students the proper way to address others online; our first practice is through commenting on blogs. Vicki Davis has a wonderful post on "how to comment like a king (or queen)". I use elements of her post to teach the students how to "verbalize" in a positive way through their commenting. From there, I progress to lessons on law (like creative commons and copyright), and security (how to remain safe on the Internet).

As for parents, I share my digital citizenship lessons with them during back-to-school night. I let them know what digital citizenship is and why it is important. Some of them ask for copies of my lessons...I gladly oblige!