Category: Lesson plans
Now Available: K-8 Digital Citizenship Curriculum
Digital Citizenship Curriculum for K-8 (print or digital)
Why do teachers need to teach Digital Citizenship?
Education has changed. No longer is it contained within four classroom walls or the physical site of a school building. Students aren’t confined by the eight hours between the school bell’s chimes or the struggling budget of an underfunded program.
Now, education can be found anywhere, by collaborating with students in Kenya or Skyping with an author in Sweden or chatting with an astrophysicist on the International Space Station. Students can use Google Earth to take a virtual tour of a zoo or a blog to collaborate on a class project. Learning has no temporal or geographic borders, available 24/7 from wherever students and teachers find an internet connection.
This vast landscape of resources is available digitally, freely, and equitably, but before children begin the cerebral trek through the online world, they must learn to do it safely, securely, and responsibly. This conversation used to focus on limiting access to the internet, blocking websites, and layering rules upon rules hoping (vainly) that students would be discouraged from using this infinite and fascinating resource.
It didn’t work.
Best practices now suggest that instead of protecting students, we teach them to be good digital citizens, confident and competent in the use of the internet.
What’s included in K-8 Digital Citizenship Curriculum?
This 70-page text is your guide to what our children must know at what age to thrive in the community called the internet. It’s a roadmap for blending all the pieces into a cohesive, effective student-directed cyber-learning experience that accomplishes ISTE’s general goals to:
Subscribers: Your Special is Available
Every month, subscribers to Ask a Tech Teacher get a free/discounted something to help them with their tech teaching.
This month:
760 Websites Integrated with K-5 Classes
This 36-page list includes over 760 K-5 tech ed websites organized by grade level and subject that will connect tech to every subject in your school. They’re sites that the Ask a Tech Teacher crew uses every year in every class they teach. If you’re the IT coordinator or tech ed specialist or the technology teacher, you’ll want this.
Regular price: $14.95 (+p&h)
Your price: $7.95 (+p&h)
How to Teach Digital Citizenship in 6th Grade
Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.
But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. There are several great programs available to guide students through this process (Common Sense’s Digital Passport, Carnegie CyberAcademy, Netsmart Kids). I’ve collected them as resources and developed a path to follow that includes the best of everything.
Here’s Sixth Grade (all of these links may not work. Check here for updates):
How to Teach Digital Citizenship in 5th Grade
Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.
But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. There are several great programs available to guide students through this process (Common Sense’s Digital Passport, Carnegie CyberAcademy, Netsmart Kids). I’ve collected them as resources and developed a path to follow that includes the best of everything.
Here’s Fifth Grade:
Overview/Big Ideas
How do fifth graders work safely in a digital world they don’t wholly understand?
Essential Questions
How to Teach Digital Citizenship in 4th Grade
Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.
But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. There are several great programs available to guide students through this process (Common Sense’s Digital Passport, Carnegie CyberAcademy, Netsmart Kids). I’ve collected them as resources and developed a path to follow that includes the best of everything.
Here’s Fourth Grade:
How to Teach Digital Citizenship in 3rd Grade
Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.
But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. There are several great programs available to guide students through this process (Common Sense’s Digital Passport, Carnegie CyberAcademy, Netsmart Kids). I’ve collected them as resources and developed a path to follow that includes the best of everything.
Here’s Third Grade:
Overview/Big Ideas
Why is it important to be a good digital citizen? How can students do this?
Essential Questions
- What is a ‘digital citizen’?
- What are my rights and responsibilities as Digital Citizens?
- How is being a citizen of the internet the same/different than my home town?
- What are the implications of digital citizenship in today’s world?
Book Review: 16 Holiday Projects
16 Holiday Projects (Structured Learning 2011) is a 45-page student-tested collection of year-round holiday-themed projects for kindergarten through eighth grade using Word, Excel, Publisher, KidPix, TuxPaint, Web 2.0 tools and more. They’re from the team of Ask a Tech Teacher technology teachers, designed to be fun and festive while teaching important tech skills.
Use them for any holiday. They’ll fill your year with pictures, calendars, wallpaper that kids will love making and want to give to family as gifts.
Where to purchase:
- Teachers Pay Teachers (ebooks)
- Publisher’s website (print, ebooks, specials, sets)
How to Teach Digital Citizenship in 2nd Grade
Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.
But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. There are several great programs available to guide students through this process (Common Sense’s Digital Passport, Carnegie CyberAcademy, Netsmart Kids). I’ve collected them as resources and developed a path to follow that includes the best of everything.
Here’s Second Grade:
Overview/Big Ideas
Students learn how to live in the digital world of internet websites, copy-righted images, and virtual friends who may be something different.
Essential Questions
- What is a ‘digital citizen’?
- What are my rights and responsibilities as Digital Citizens?
- How is being a citizen of the internet the same/different than my home town?
- What are the implications of digital citizenship in today’s world?
- Why is it important to be a good digital citizen
Objectives and Steps
How to Teach Digital Citizenship in Kindergarten
Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vasy landscape of resources available on the internet.
But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. There are several great programs available to guide students through this process (Common Sense’s Digital Passport, Carnegie CyberAcademy, Netsmart Kids). I’ve collected them as resources and developed a path to follow that includes the best of everything.
Here’s Kindergarten:
Overview/Big Ideas
Students learn how to live in the digital world of internet websites, copy-righted images, and virtual friends who may be something different.
Essential Questions
- What is a ‘digital citizen’?
- How is being a citizen of the internet the same/different than my home town?
- What are the implications of digital citizenship in today’s world?
Objectives and Steps
The objectives of this lesson are:
Weekend Website #107: Google Search Education
Every Friday, I share a website (or app) that I’ve heard about, checked into, and become excited to use. This one is tools available for teachers to help their students maneuver the often-tricky machinations of the internet.
[caption id="attachment_9718" align="aligncenter" width="614"]
A complete course in how to search using Google[/caption]
