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Schenectady City School District AUP-Staff and Students

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Schenectady City School District AUP-Staff and Students

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A real experience from a middle school: two eighth grade students (13-14yrs-old) were concerned about their friend and thankfully felt safe enough to come to a teacher to express their concerns. Their friend had been chatting online and on Snapchat with an older teenager, from what she had told her friends, he was claiming to be 17-years-old, but they had a bad feeling he was older than that, possibly in his 20s. She had told them that she was planning to meet up with him at a hotel, and as much as the girls begged and pleated her not to go through with it, not knowing what could possibly happen to their friend, she did not want to hear any of it and ignored her friends' advice. They felt they had no choice but to turn to a trusted adult with this information in hopes of stopping a dangerous situation. Administration was notified and thankfully was able to intervene with the girl's parents to ensure her safety.

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Basics of Cybersecurity

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5 Tips for Cybersecurity Safety brought to you by Mayim Bialik

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NetSafe Episode 11: Protect Your Personal Information (Grades 7-12)

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As a middle school teacher myself, I have heard of many different situations similar to the ones highlighted in the video.

These dangers are very real and very alarming, and can happen to any student at any time, if misinformed or uneducated on safe internet use. We must wake up to these harsh realities and learn from mistakes to protect this generation of students (as well as their futures).

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Why Is Teaching Online Safety Important?

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Diverse information about children's social media use and safety

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Lesson plans specific to grade level K-12!

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Educators' approach to internet safety in the classroom has changed as technology and our use of it continues to evolve. In the past, digital citizenship lessons on internet safety focused more on dos and don'ts, like create safe passwords and don't talk to strangers online. While secure passwords are certainly important for technology users of all ages, and stranger danger is nothing to take lightly, most internet safety dilemmas are much more nuanced.

The best internet safety lessons recognize the complexity of these topics and help students build the critical-thinking skills and habits of mind to navigate the dilemmas they encounter. Below are the best internet safety lesson plans for students in grades K-12. See the full Common Sense K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum for lesson plans on additional digital citizenship topics.

Kindergarten Internet Safety Lesson Plans

How do you go places safely online?
The power of the internet allows students to experience and visit places they might not be able to see in person. But, just like when traveling in the real world, it's important to be safe when traveling online. On this virtual field trip, kids can practice staying safe on online adventures.

First Grade Internet Safety Lesson Plans

How can we be safe, responsible, and respectful online?
From our head down to our toes, and our feet up to our nose, the Digital Citizens teach students how to be safe, responsible, and respectful online.

How do you stay safe when visiting a website or an app?
Staying safe online is a lot like staying safe in the real world. Using a fun traffic light activity, students learn how to identify "just right" content, giving them the green light to learn, play, and explore the internet safely.

Second Grade Internet Safety Lesson Plans

What kinds of information should I keep to myself when I use the internet?
Staying safe online is a lot like staying safe in the real world. By helping a Digital Citizen sign up for a new app, students learn about the kinds of information they should keep to themselves when they use the internet -- just as they would with a stranger in person.

How are we all part of an online community?
We are all connected on the internet! By learning the Rings of Responsibility, students explore how the internet connects us to people in our community and throughout the world. Help your students think critically about the different ways they connect with others, both in person and online.

Third Grade Internet Safety Lesson Plans

How can a strong password help protect your privacy?
Stronger, more secure online passwords are a good idea for everyone. But how can we help kids create better passwords and actually remember them? Use the tips in this lesson to help kids make passwords that are both secure and memorable.

What makes a strong online community?
Belonging to various communities is important for kids' development. But some online communities can be healthier than others. Show your students how they can strengthen both online and in-person communities by creating norms that everyone pledges to uphold.

Fourth Grade Internet Safety Lesson Plans

What information about you is OK to share online?
It's in our students' nature to share and connect with others. But sharing online comes with some risks. How can we help kids build strong, positive, and safe relationships online? Help your students learn the difference between what's OK to share and what's best left private.

How can I be positive and have fun while playing online games, and help others do the same?
Social interaction is part of what makes online gaming so popular and engaging for kids. Of course, online communication can come with some risks. Show your students how to keep their gaming experiences fun, healthy, and positive.

Fifth Grade Internet Safety Lesson Plans

What is clickbait, and how can you avoid it?
The internet is full of catchy headlines and outrageous images, all to make us curious and get our attention. But kids don't usually realize: What you click on isn't always what you get. Show your students the best ways to avoid clickbait online.

How do you keep online friendships safe?
Kids make friends everywhere they go -- including online. But are all these friendships the same? How can kids start online friendships and learn ways to stay safe? Help your students understand both the benefits and the risks of online-only friendships.

Sixth Grade Internet Safety Lesson Plans

How can you protect yourself from phishing?
Internet scams are part of being online today, but many kids might not be aware of them. How do we help our students avoid being tricked into clicking malicious links or giving out private information? Use this lesson to help kids avoid online identity theft and phishing schemes.

How do you chat safely with people you meet online?
Games, social media, and other online spaces give kids opportunities to meet and chat with others outside the confines of their real-life communities. But how well do kids actually know the people they're meeting and interacting with? Help students consider whom they're talking to and the types of information they're sharing online.

Seventh Grade Internet Safety Lesson Plans

How do companies collect and use data about you?
Every time we go online, we're giving away information about ourselves. But just how much data are companies collecting from us? Hint: It's probably a lot more than we realize. Show your students these three tips on how to limit the data that companies collect.

How does social media affect our relationships?
For most middle schoolers, being on social media can mean connecting with friends, sharing pictures, and keeping up to date. But it can also mean big-time distractions, social pressures, and more. Help students navigate the different feelings they may already be experiencing on social media.

Eighth Grade Internet Safety Lesson Plans

How can you protect your privacy when you're online?
Kids share a lot of information whenever they go online -- sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. But do they understand that online privacy isn't just what they say and post? Help your students learn about their digital footprints and the steps they can take to shape what others find and see about them.

What are the risks and potential consequences of sexting?
It's natural for teens to be curious about their emerging sexuality. But most middle schoolers aren't prepared for the risks of exploring this in the digital age. Help students think critically about self-disclosure in relationships and practice how they'd respond to a situation where sexting -- or a request for sexting -- might happen.

Ninth Grade Internet Safety Lessons

What are the benefits and drawbacks of online tracking?
Many of us are aware that we're being tracked when we go online. It's one of the ways our favorite websites and apps know how to recommend content just for us. But how much information are companies actually collecting? And what are they doing with it? Digging into the details can help us make smart decisions about our online privacy and how to protect it.

How can you tell when an online relationship is risky?
Getting to know someone online, without nonverbal cues or being able to see them, can be risky -- from simple misunderstandings to manipulation. Help students navigate and avoid these situations before they go too far.

Tenth Grade Internet Safety Lessons

What privacy risks do new technologies present, and how do we decide if they're worth it?
New tech, like location services and smart devices, helps make our lives easier and opens opportunities that didn't exist before. But these innovations also come with a cost -- especially to our privacy. Help students consider the benefits and drawbacks of these new technologies -- and decide whether they're ultimately worth it.

How can I make sure my relationships are positive and healthy?
"It's complicated" can describe many of our relationships with others, both romantic and otherwise. Add digital devices and social media to the mix, and things get complicated even further. Help students take the first step toward building healthy and rewarding friendships and romantic relationships, both online and off.

Eleventh Grade Internet Safety Lessons

At what age should people be allowed to use social media?
Kids have to be at least 13 to sign up for most social media platforms. But we know that many tweens work around the restriction. In doing so they can connect with peers and have fun, but they're also vulnerable to a number of risks -- mainly overuse and challenges to their social-emotional health. Reflecting on age-appropriate content and behaviors can help students think through social media's effects on all of us, regardless of our age.

Twelfth Grade Internet Safety Lessons

Should the government have access to all your social media and cellphone data?
Often, the more information we have, the better decisions we're able to make. The power of data can benefit both individuals and governments. But who can be trusted with the responsibility of having all this data? Can governments collect and use it fairly and without violating our privacy? Help students think through this question and become thoughtful influencers of data policy and practice.

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23 Great Lesson Plans for Internet Safety | Common Sense Education

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Help kids practice smart internet habits and stay safe online.

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Teachers, this is a great place to start building internet safety into your curriculum. There are many great resources, including free technology and internet safety curriculum pdfs, and so much more. Even better, many of these digital safety tools include a seal of alignment with the ISTE Standards!

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The Be Internet Awesome curriculum gives educators the tools and methods they need to teach digital safety fundamentals. The materials developed by Google in partnership with iKeepSafe enable educators to bring the most critical teachings-and the excitement of Interland-into the classroom.

Included in the curriculum are lesson plans for the five topics, with activities and worksheets that were designed to complement Interland.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Align with ISTE Standards

Don't require any personal information or login

Can be used across devices

Are free for everyone

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We've created internet safety resources to make it easier for educators and students to incorporate and practice good digital habits in the classroom.

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What More Can We Do: Parents/Guardians!!

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What More Can We Do: Parents/Guardians!!

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The most important place to start protecting your child on the internet is to first inform yourself! Technology is ever evolving and different social media platforms and various websites include independent and unique features that give us access to many different forms of communication with the outside world (strangers). These features also give us the creative ability to express our selves. Here is a great resource about the various pros and cons of internet use. Please have an open mind :)

Provide a safe talking space for your child and discuss your concerns about internet use. This will go a long way and will help you and your child to have an understanding of safe internet usage should they be exploring social media and the web.

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Teens and social media use: What's the impact?

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Find out how to help limit the negative impact of these popular apps on your teenager.

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As educators, we have a duty to teach our students the importance of being safe online and protecting themselves. There is no such thing as teaching students too early (elementary age and beyond). We are living in a generation where children have fairly open access to the internet, whether or not they have cellphones yet, and therefore they must be made aware of the dangers the internet can pose. Though we want to be there for our students as much as possible, we may not always be able to provide supervision while students use the internet. The more they know, the better!

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The internet safety facts below are simple truths that you may or may not know.

Internet Safety Facts - Photographs and images.

Photographs shared on the internet can never be deleted, once they are shared on the internet you lose all control over what happens to them.

Some devices that can take photos will embed the precise geographic location, time and date the photograph was taken. If you do plan on sharing a photograph on the internet make sure this information is removed.

Other people may share photographs that you or your children are in, these can also contain embedded information about the time, date and location the photograph was taken.

Young people sometimes don't realise the above and send pictures to friends, only for those friends to post those pictures on to the internet, those friends have unknowingly posted information about location, time and date on your behalf.

Pictures posted to social media sites such as Facebook can be tagged by others. Tagging means identifying someone on a photograph.

Once you lose control of a photograph, it can crop up at any time in the future when you least expect it. Something that was OK at one time in your life might not be OK many years down the line. Think carefully before posting any picture that might compromise you in any way.

Don't post pictures of certificates or achievements that can be linked to places, times and events. These can be used to locate or impersonate in the wrong hands.. Similarly think carefully before allowing kids to post pictures that show sports uniforms - these can be used to identify schools or clubs they belong to.

In some cases pictures that are sexually explicit are sent to boyfriends/girlfriends only for those pictures to end up on the internet before, during, or long after the relationship has broken down. This is known as "Sexting", a distortion of the word "Texting".

Children who "Sext" can in some cases be charged with creation and distribution of child pornography.

In many cases once a person has sent a sexually explicit image to someone that same image is then used at a later date by the recipient to blackmail further sexual images from the victims, this is know as "Sextortion". In many cases of Cyber bullying pictures obtained by others are involved (e.g. child takes picture of another child in the changing room).

A picture taken on a phone can be sent to anyone else in a matter of seconds. Control of that image os lost the minute send is pressed.

Internet Safety Facts - People and Friends

Anyone "met" on the internet can pretend to be anything they like. They can pretend to be female, they can pretend to be 10 years old, they can pretend to be a talking dog. There are people out there as you are reading this trying to snare children by pretending to be children.

Online predators are clever, manipulative and devious, and there are more of them online than you can possibly imagine.

Understand that there are many ways to "meet" people on the internet, and predators know and use them all. "Meeting" people online is not something that can only happen in chat rooms or on social media.

Anyone can build up many false profiles, and these can be used to build credibility or fake internet identities, these tactics are used by paedophiles, criminals and others.

There are many more dangers than internet sexual predators alone, the internet is a little like a large city, full of all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds and from all parts of the world. The only difference is you can't see the other people in the internet city and they can hide behind any identity they choose.

There are some nasty people out there who take great pleasure in leaving insulting, offensive or defamatory comments - their only goal is to get a response from innocent people. These are called trolls. You will find them all over the internet, they get a kick from making derogatory, rude, nasty comments about anything and everything - ignore them.

Employers, universities, and other organisations are known to use social media, and other internet sites when researching prospective candidates. Anything public on the internet can be found by anyone who wants to learn more about you.

Internet Safety Facts - Connected Devices

Many types of device can access the internet, and you should be aware of the capabilities of all devices in your home. The roles of devices are now blurred, you can make telephone calls on your laptop, browse the web on your phone, and talk to people on the other side of the world whilst playing a game on a games console.

Portable devices such as mobile phones,tablet devices (iPad,iPod Touch, Nexus 7, Kindle Fire) and some games consoles can be used just as easily as the computer in your home to "meet" people on the internet.

Some types of device contain components that can identify where the user of that device is when the device is in use or used for certain activities.

Whilst devices and applications are improving letting people know what they divulge and to where, it is ultimately your responsibility to make sure you understand how your devices work, and if caring for children, also how their devices work and are used.

Many applications available on tablet and smartphone platforms have access to other personal information stored on a device, such as contacts.

Even applications that inform you and allow you to turn of certain information sharing can contain flaws that inadvertently share your information without your knowledge. This has happened in the past and will undoubtedly happen in the future.

Internet Safety Facts - Communicating Online

Anything you say or do in public places on the internet can be recorded, monitored, searched, indexed and archived. In the same way large organisations will research people on Facebook to try to understand their character, other organisations will research in other places ranging from forum posts, to newspaper articles to twitter.

It can be very easy to divulge personal information without even realising you are doing it, clever criminals and predators can build up a picture of potential victims over many months often by gathering a little piece of information at a time. Sophisticated gangs of predators will often have many people each trying to elicit a single piece of information from a child, they then put things together like a jigsaw to work other more complicated information out.

Internet communication makes it difficult to get away from things, so called Cyber-bullying amplifies the impact of "normal" bullying because it can seem like there is no escape, particularly when young people are always connected via smartphones or other portable devices.

Internet Safety Facts - Digital Persona Or Profile

Every activity you participate in on the internet has the potential to add to your "Digital Persona", this applies to children in your care as well.

A very simple way to determine what public information is available on the internet is to do some so called "Ego-Surfing". Simply search for yourself on Google or any other search engine and see what kind of results you get. If you have a very common name you might want to search for yourself in combination with other words thrown in such as the town in which you live or the school you attended.

If you are an adult responsible for children you can can also try to search for your children online in the same way and this will give you an idea of their digital persona/profile.

By engaging in Ego surfing you are effectively engaging in what a potential employer, partner, stalker, or anyone with a mind to research you or even your kids would do.

Internet Facts - Interesting Reading

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Internet Safety Facts - SafeKidsOnline.co.uk

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Internet safety facts - All about devices used to access the internet, images posted online, sexting, online communication, keep informed, keep kids safe.

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Adolescent Cellphone and Social Media Use...Beware!

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Adolescent Cellphone and Social Media Use...Beware!

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A difficult discussion: our children and students are often misled and lured into dangerous situations because they were never taught how to be safe and protect their identities online. Many students will be targeted and taken advantage of by older teens and adults, and this can have very scary consequences.

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What is Internet Safety and Why is it Important?

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What is Internet Safety and Why is it Important?

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Internet safety is the practice of following actionable guidelines, understanding modern technology, and protecting your digital devices so you can defend against malicious parts of the online world.

Internet safety has become increasingly important as technology and social media continue to grow and evolve, with the main target audience being our young children and students.