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I chose this lesson because I think this kind of internet literacy is crucial not only for critical thinking skills when it comes to news sources and other media, but I think this is a great opportunity to introduce the idea of positive self-talk as well as encouraging students to be aware of unrealistic body standards that are displayed online via the use of photoshop and other editing processes. This lesson seems like it would be very fitting for students in upper elementary school especially since this is the age group that is typically starting to get cell phones and joining social media at this point.

Social Emotional Learning is something I feel we need to include in all lessons to some capacity. For a lesson surrounding technology, I think it's important that there is an emphasis on the humans involved in that process. This is definitely a challenge I feel like students have with technology as the object permanence of feelings and emotions is limited when looking at a computer screen, even to people my age.

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The web is full of photos, and even videos, that are digitally altered. And it's often hard to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake. Help your students ask critical questions about why someone might alter a photo or video in the first place.

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Is Seeing Believing? | Common Sense Education

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Why do people alter digital photos and videos? Check out Is Seeing Believing?, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 3 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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Explain why you chose this lesson and who would you teach it to?

I chose this lesson because I think it is important to teach children starting at a young age that although technology can be helpful, we sometimes should take a break from using it during our daily routines. In having a class discussion about how technology can be a distraction would allow students to see how they can go “device-free” for more tasks than they think. I think it’s interesting that this lesson is also brought to their families and home lives. Having them discuss “device-free” time with their parents/guardians can further the discussion from class of “why is it important to have device-free moments in our lives?” I would conduct this lesson in a 2nd grade class because I think they are old enough to understand that technology can be useful, however, sometimes, it is better to be device-free. I think I would incorporate device-free moments in my classroom after conducting this lesson to prove to students that in some cases we should be thinking critically, without the help of devices.

What does Social Emotional Learning mean to you? What are some SEL challenges you experience with technology?

I think social emotional learning is a crucial part of elementary students education. In this lesson about technology and the importance of being device-free, I think it’s important for the students to learn and understand that technology was not always as advanced as it is today. In explaining how people were able to live without smart phones, students will see that we do not need to rely on technology. Within SEL, students learn how to be respectful and empathetic to each other, I think in explaining how there are times, like school where we do not use our devices out of respect to their teachers and classmates.

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Technology use isn't always a distraction, but there are definitely times when it's best to keep devices away. Help students learn when it's appropriate to use technology and when it's not -- and practice making family rules for device-free time at home.

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Device-Free Moments | Common Sense Education

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Why is it important that we have device-free moments in our lives? Check out Device-Free Moments, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/the-power-of-words

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The Power of Words | Common Sense Education

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What should you do when someone uses mean or hurtful language on the internet? Check out The Power of Words, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 3 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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Explain why you chose this lesson and who would you teach it to?
This is a Grade 3-5 lesson. I would teach this to 3rd graders so they have ample time to develop their empathy. I chose this lesson because it helps to teach students about how impactful their words can be. It focuses on developing the skill of empathy and self-awareness. Additionally, students can look at the impact mean words through technology can have. Although the words are not said to someone's face, they can hurt just as much.

What does Social Emotional Learning mean to you?
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) means integrating social and emotional aspects into education. SEL focuses on the student and what they need to be able to learn. SEL is meant to provide ample opportunities for students and create a safe environment for them.

What are some SEL challenges you experience with technology?

There is no personal connection between a student and the computer. A teacher can read a student's emotions and adjust their lesson. However, the computer does not have this capability. Overall, computers can create a disconnect between the student and the teacher. Additionally, computers are not always available to students. If the student does not have a computer at home, they will be at a disadvantage to students who do. Lack of access can be a "Social Emotional Learning" challenge.

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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.

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Who Is in Your Online Community? | Common Sense Education

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How are we all part of an online community? Check out Who Is in Your Online Community?, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson because I think it's important to teach children this concept starting at a young age. I think that even though technology is a tool that we use in our daily lives children still might have feelings about it and be unable to express them. I would do this lesson in a kindergarten or first-grade classroom. This would teach students that it's okay to feel uncomfortable using technology. I think this lesson also incorporates what students should do if they are uncomfortable or if they see something online that makes them uncomfortable. I think this is a good lesson to use when first beginning to use technology in the classroom before starting to discuss how words have an impact on the people around them.
To me, social-emotional learning means incorporating the discussion of emotions and social skills into the classroom.
Some of my sel challenges with technology are that sometimes it can be very impersonal, especially when doing online classes. I think that this causes a disconnect between the material learned and real-life representations.

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This foundational digital citizenship lesson challenges kids to pay attention to their feelings while using tech. With an engaging emoji game, students learn practical strategies for managing their feelings -- good, bad, and everything in between.

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How Technology Makes You Feel | Common Sense Education

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Why is it important to listen to your feelings when using technology? Check out How Technology Makes You Feel, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 1 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose to reflect on the lesson plan “Media balance is important.” This lesson is for first graders and focuses on how we find a happy balance between our online and offline activities. The learning objective for this lesson is that students will know when and why they should take breaks from being on their devices and to consider the feelings of people around them when engaging in fun online activities. The introduction starts with the teaching engaging the students by asking them questions about when they are on their devices. Students watch a 10-minute song video that the teacher encourages students to follow and sing along too. The teacher then holds a guided discussion with her students; students split up into groups and discuss questions related to why it's important to have a balance between being online and offline. The lesson ends with a reflection. Students will complete an exit ticket independently called “pause and think moment student handout” and hand it in before leaving. Students will be sent home with an information sheet to share and go over with guardians at home.

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How do we find a happy balance between our online and offline activities?

Vocabulary Show definitions

balance - having equal weight or importance of something

device - an electronic piece of equipment like a phone, tablet, or laptop

This lesson meets standards for Common Core ELA , ISTE , CASEL , and AASL . See standards

Sign in or join to unlock this free lesson.

Print or save as PDF Expand all

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Media Balance Is Important | Common Sense Education

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How do we find a happy balance between our online and offline activities? Check out Media Balance Is Important, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your kindergarten students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/putting-a-stop-to-online-meanness

I chose this lesson because it discusses topics that are crucial for young students to understand, that being the importance of being kind to one another and the negative effects of cyberbullying. I would teach this lesson to 2nd graders. As these students get older, the more likely they may form close-knit and small friend groups, which can tie into cliques and exclusion. Students may also start to recognize their peers' appearances/clothes/etc more often which can possibly lead to bullying both in school and online. It is important for students to understand that their actions can have consequences and that it is never okay to be mean to another student or friend. This lesson also encourages students to use the STOP acronym, that being to step away, tell a trusted adult, okay sights only, and pause and think. When students have a deeper understanding of the repercussions of cyberbullying, they may be more inspired to take action and be kind.

To me, Social Emotional Learning is the process of developing social and emotional skills, including self- awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and social awareness. SEL is so important for students to learn about and understand because they can translate into every part of their life.  In connection to my chosen lesson, it is important for students to make responsible decisions when they are online because one negative comment or post about someone else can cause a great deal of harm and consequences. When we incorporate social and emotional learning in the classroom, it gives students an opportunity to reflect and build character, ultimately leading to a safe and enriching classroom environment. A specific SEL challenge that I have experienced that regards technology is that often times people are just "glued to their screen". This limits the creation of meaningful in-person relationships if certain individuals are more so focused on technology. It can cause many disconnects and students may not be using their technology responsibly or appropriately.

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The internet is filled with all kinds of interesting people, but sometimes, some of them can be mean to each other. With this role play, help your students understand why it's often easier to be mean online than in person, and how to deal with online meanness when they see it.

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Putting a STOP to Online Meanness | Common Sense Education

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What should you do if someone is mean to you online? Check out Putting a STOP to Online Meanness, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson because as we focus on making the classroom a safe space for students it is important to think about the communities that the same students are in outside of the classroom. I would teach this lesson to 3rd graders because at this age I believe they may be going online more independently which means that they are more susceptible to cyberbullying and coming across toxic online communities. I also chose this lesson because social media has added a totally different perspective on what a community is and a lot of children can be in toxic communities online. It is important for students to define what a community is and how norms lay the foundation of the environment within a community. I have seen a couple of classroom pledges similar to the digital citizenship pledge and I think it is a great thing for students to have in the classroom. It shows that they are their own community and discuss the norm expectations.

I believe that social-emotional learning is crucial. Students that do not develop their social-emotional learning skills will inevitably fall behind as they get older. From a young age, students need to have experience recognizing and acknowledging their emotions. In times of a pandemic, it is important for students to socialize with their peers because that is a critical part of their development that can impact their learning experience. It is really hard to engage with students virtually especially when trying to teach them about social-emotional learning. Part of SEL is talking to students and learning more about them and what their life at home is like. This cannot be done online through a computer.

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Our Digital Citizenship Pledge | Common Sense Education

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What makes a strong online community? Check out Our Digital Citizenship Pledge, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 3 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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Explain why you chose this lesson and who would you teach it to.

I would teach this lesson to 2nd graders. This is around the time they begin to have their own iPads or become fixated on a game, tv-show, or app. Looking back at my childhood, I had always appreciated having my device-free memories of playing outside with the neighborhood kids or board game nights with my family. We live in a world today that is centered around technology. Kids are being introduced to technology at such a young age it becomes a huge part of their lives while they are so young. I value my time as a kid spent being a kid out on the playground and I want to encourage my students to put their devices down for a little while. I would emphasize the value of decide-free moments and the importance of them. There is no doubt technology is a great tool, but it must be used in moderation.

What does Social Emotional Learning mean to you? What are some SEL challenges you experience with technology?

Social Emotional Learning is building skills to develop healthy identities, process emotions, show empathy, form relationships achieve goals as a class and as individuals, etc. It is very important to establish this in your classroom. Throughout online learning, during COVID it was hard to bring in SEL. It is hard for a teacher to connect with students through a screen, especially with younger students. Not only is it hard for a teacher to connect with their students, but students are unable to connect with each other. I have experienced the awkwardness of breakout rooms on Zoom firsthand, it is nothing compared to collaborating with your peers in the classroom. Students must have these in-person interactions in order to feel comfortable with their class. Once they do that, real learning can begin.

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Technology use isn't always a distraction, but there are definitely times when it's best to keep devices away. Help students learn when it's appropriate to use technology and when it's not -- and practice making family rules for device-free time at home.

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Device-Free Moments | Common Sense Education

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Why is it important that we have device-free moments in our lives? Check out Device-Free Moments, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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This lesson is designed for grades 3-5. I would teach it to all 3, it is important to start early for students to become aware of cyberbullying. I chose this lesson because this is such an important topic to talk about with young students- and it is not talked about enough. I loved the portion of the lesson, "Identify ways to respond to mean words online, using S-T-O-P". This was a big reason to why I chose this lesson- that it not only is making students aware of cyberbullying, but, this lesson is also designed to teach students how to react to cyberbullies and what is the appropriate ways to address it.
Social emotional learning is a learning process including students' behavior and feelings. It is a way of teaching, where teachers aren't just behaviors the material, but also focusing in on the students behaviors, changing lessons to fit their needs, keeping a positive vibe in the classroom, because school is hard for students, so when teachers focus on there students happiness and attention, they feel listened to.
Technology is a scary world- especially the media. People can say anything they want to behind the screen, especially emails, and even over zoom- you do not fear to say things, because you are not physically in front of another human. This goes hand in hand with cyberbullies at a young age- they are immature and do not know how to act knowing that they can be anonymously expressing their thoughts behind a screen.

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The Power of Words | Common Sense Education

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What should you do when someone uses mean or hurtful language on the internet? Check out The Power of Words, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 3 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/the-power-of-words

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The Power of Words | Common Sense Education

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What should you do when someone uses mean or hurtful language on the internet? Check out The Power of Words, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 3 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson because connecting technology to social media is very popular in my generation and the younger generations. This lesson can be implemented for 3-5th graders but the value of the lesson is knowledge for us all. I chose this lesson to be able to teach my students the power of their words and how impacted their fellow students and friends can be from them. To make sure young kids and young learners know how important this topic is as an early age is crucial. In this lesson I love how much time was given for student response. The lesson focused around empathy. Students need to be aware that no matter where they are saying mean words they hurt. Saying something unkind to someone online is just as hurtful and wrong as doing it to someone in person. Cyberbullying is unfortunately very common, so showing the students what not to do and acceptable and respectable ways to address cyberbullying is something they need to be exposed to early on.

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Social emotional learning is extremely important and is something that needs to be implemented in all lessons someway, somehow. Social emotional learning helps students grow and benefit inside and outside of the classroom. Social emotional learning does so much good for students. It allows them to address and understand their emotions, develop relationships, learn empathy and so much more. Technology causes some challenges when it comes to social emotional learning. SEL is about connections and using technology takes away that social aspect of a lesson. The computer doesn't really give a student access to show their emotions as well as contact with peers and their teacher would provide them with.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/pause-for-people

This lesson teaches students to manage online activity and digital technology with not being online, and the transition between this. As much as kids love to watch TV or play on a tablet or other form of tech, it is important to be aware and respectful of other people when using these devices, and have a good routine / strategy when switching from technology to face to face interactions. Students learn to "Pause, Breathe, Finish Up" to be good Digital Citizens while respecting those actually around them. I think it is important to have a balance with technology/media, and being able to say "bye" to it to go and play outside or interact with others face to face as some examples. I especially liked how the lesson valued technology, but noted how to move from using technology to paying attention to people around you is also important. This lesson would be great for any class that uses some form of technology, from 1st to 5th grade and beyond.
Social Emotional Learning to me means teaching students how to manage their emotions, achieve personal goals, have empathy for others, have healthy relationships with others and themselves, make responsible decisions, and other social skills. It means having self-awareness and self-management and feelings.
There are many SEL challenges associated with technology, and this lesson address one important challenge. Having technology often sets us away from the rest of the world, and puts us in our own bubble. While this can be beneficial, it can often have downsides like not being able to interact with others face to face or having a hard time navigating through switching from devices to offline interactions, etc.

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Whether it's watching TV or playing on a tablet, using tech can be super fun! Often, kids find it hard to transition from an online activity to an offline one. Teach your students a simple routine for how to manage those inevitable digital interruptions that are part of everyone's lives in the digital age.

Learn why it's important to be aware and respectful of people while using devices.

Learn the Pause, Breathe, Finish Up routine as a self-regulation strategy for transitioning from technology to face-to-face interactions.

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Pause for People | Common Sense Education

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How do you say goodbye to technology when you don't want to? Check out Pause for People, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your kindergarten students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson as it addresses an immensely important concept for students to be exposed to. That is, this lesson would introduce them to how crucial it is to be kind and also be mindful that their words and actions can have an influence on others. It has them reflect on potential causes of cyberbullying as well as presents them with potential ways to handle an instance of cyberbullying. Overall, this lesson would be a great way to have a conversation with students surrounding the importance of being kind to one another. However, it also presents them with the idea that cyberbullying does occur online, but there are effective solutions if they should experience it. I would teach this lesson to students in 2nd grade. This is an age where students begin to form connections with their peers. Thus, this could result in cliques being formed. Negative consequences might be noted do to such groups. Therefore, through engaging in this lesson, students would understand that not being kind could negatively impact others as their actions do have consequences. Overall, this might discourage them from being mean to others and cause them to think before acting against someone else.

Social Emotional Learning is when students have the opportunity to build on their social and emotional skills in the classroom. It allows them to connect with themselves and understand how they are feeling. Overall, social emotional learning is extremely important to implement within the classroom as it provides opportunities for students to grow as individuals. This is a form of learning that is directly related to their lives outside of the classroom. It is also a great way for an educator to better understand their students and helps students build deeper connections with their peers. Thus, this creates a safe learning environment where students feel comfortable with one another. One social emotional learning challenge that I have experienced with technology is that technology limits the connections that people form. Technology is often used as a form of communication. However, this tends to reduce the face-to-face interactions that one experiences. Thus, this might lead to a disconnect from others. Therefore, it is vital to highlight the importance of in-person interactions and discourage individuals from being dependent on technology.

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The internet is filled with all kinds of interesting people, but sometimes, some of them can be mean to each other. With this role play, help your students understand why it's often easier to be mean online than in person, and how to deal with online meanness when they see it.

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Putting a STOP to Online Meanness | Common Sense Education

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What should you do if someone is mean to you online? Check out Putting a STOP to Online Meanness, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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How do we find a happy balance between our online and offline activities?

Vocabulary Show definitions

balance - having equal weight or importance of something

device - an electronic piece of equipment like a phone, tablet, or laptop

This lesson meets standards for Common Core ELA , ISTE , CASEL , and AASL . See standards

Sign in or join to unlock this free lesson.

Print or save as PDF Expand all

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Media Balance Is Important | Common Sense Education

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How do we find a happy balance between our online and offline activities? Check out Media Balance Is Important, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your kindergarten students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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Media balance is something that I'm still learning myself and the sooner you introduce such skills to younger generations the more critical they can become when they consume media day-in-day out. A kindergarten lesson plan will allow students, who see computers in their classes almost every day, that there are boundaries to be had!

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SEL fosters empathetic, considerate members of society. It should be considered a very important cornerstone in education- especially when it coms to digital citizenship, where tone is not so easily deciphered. A simple text message could be taken in many different ways and lead to a whole slew of trouble for the original sender.

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I chose this lesson because as the internet keeps growing and becoming more accessible especially to children I think it's important for students to know what information they should not be sharing on their internet for their safety. I would be teaching this lesson to second graders. I think social and emotional learning's very important in the classroom. SEL allows students to work on their social skills and how to collaborate and cooperate with others especially their peers. It also allows them to understand their emotions and that how they feel is okay and how to deal with their feelings in healthy ways. It also teaches them empathy in knowing that their peers, teachers, and others have emotions and to treat them. Technology can take away from face to face interaction which can alter a child socially and emotionally. If they spend too much time looking at a screen and not interacting with others it can take away from important skills that they can be learning on how to interact with other people in a healthy way.

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That's Private! | Common Sense Education

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What kinds of information should I keep to myself when I use the internet? Check out That's Private!, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson because I think it is very important that students learn how to give credit for other people’s work. I think this concept is important to teach in today’s world, being that a good portion of a student's work (research, online learning tools, etc;) is done on a computer. It is also important that students learn that stealing other people’s work is wrong, and it can get them into a lot of trouble, especially as they progress to older grades. To add, becoming familiar with citing or making reference pages would be very beneficial for students as they are introduced to doing their own research.

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With so much information at our fingertips, students learn what it means to "give credit" when using content they find online. Taking on the role of a detective, students learn why it's important to give credit and the right ways to do it when they use words, images, or ideas that belong to others.

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Let's Give Credit! | Common Sense Education

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How can you give credit for other people's work? Check out Let's Give Credit!, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/device-free-moments

This lesson plan stood out to me because among elementary schoolers these days, a lot of kids enjoy playing video games, phone games, and they eventually go into social media. There are many other lessons and ways for teachers to teach students how to properly use devices and social media. But it is also important for students to be aware of the importance of having device free moments as well. In our generation today, a lot of people depend on their devices for communication, scheduling, and other every day activities. Some people rely too much on it and it is very beneficial for students to understand that they don’t always have to be on a device. This lesson plan can work for a lot of different age groups in elementary school and even middle school. But, I would teach it to students in third or fourth grade. I would teach this for these students because that is around the time where students tend to get their own devices or use household devices more often. in this lesson, students will have to create their own device free rules for their household which is for them and their other family members. This is a fun activity for students to reflect on their own personal lives and find ways to have and enjoy device free moments.
To me, social emotional learning is the skill of having a healthy way to deal with social and emotional challenges that they face professionally, academically, and socially within their every day environment. It is important to incorporate social emotional learning in the classroom in order to strengthen the students confidence in both school and outside of school. By teaching students the importance of social emotional learning, it’ll help them become more confident in themselves to want to push themselves and continue learning to reach their goals. this technique can help build a students self-awareness and self control. These skills will help the students interact with other students in a healthy way.
A challenge that I have noticed with the technology that students are addicted to their phones, video games, iPads, and computers. And this addiction takes away from their real life experiences in the outside world beyond just a screen. I even personally notice that I depend a lot on my phone and I wish that I didn’t. This challenge also goes along with the lesson plan that I chose which teacher students the importance of enjoying those moments without a device. Another challenge that I’ve noticed with technology is that there are a lot of parts of social media that give individuals false ideas about another persons life, look, and experiences. There are a lot of ways that social media can damage a persons confidence and social skills. Overall, there are many negatives and positives to technology. And as future teachers, it is important to teach students how to use their devices in a healthy way that doesn’t consume their whole life .

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Technology use isn't always a distraction, but there are definitely times when it's best to keep devices away. Help students learn when it's appropriate to use technology and when it's not -- and practice making family rules for device-free time at home.

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Device-Free Moments | Common Sense Education

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Why is it important that we have device-free moments in our lives? Check out Device-Free Moments, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I really liked looking at this lesson. It talked about who is in our online "community." This lesson compared and contrasted how we are connected to different people and places, whether that means in real life or on the internet, and it was meant to demonstrare to the students how people can connect and interact on the internet. This is important for the students to learn early on because it shows them how to be safe and responsible on the internet regardless of their age.

Social Emotional Learning means teaching students different social and emotional skills that they will have to deal with whether that may be in their everyday life or in school. One SEL challenge that I have seen recurring is children and students being addicted to technology. This could be iPads, phones, tablets, computers, TVs, etc. It has become a lot more of an issue now that technology is becoming more and more prevalent and everyone has become more dependent on it. When I was younger, I would always be outside with my friends after school until it was dark out. Now, I feel that kids come home from school and instead of going out to play with their friends they are staying in and asking their parent if they can either watch TV or play on their iPad.

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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.

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Who Is in Your Online Community? | Common Sense Education

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How are we all part of an online community? Check out Who Is in Your Online Community?, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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Social emotional learning is important to incorporate into our lessons because it teaches students important skills in order to deal with social and emotional challenges they may endure. One SEL challenge have observed while working with students is that they are exposed to a lot of information on the internet that may be inappropriate or disturbing for children their age. The fact that technology is so prevalent in todays world does not help prevent this issue.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/who-are-you-online

I chose this lesson because it is important to teach students to be aware of what they post on social media. This is a 6th grade lesson--which is perfect because many students are going through/starting puberty-- so they may be into the oversharing phase of their lives. A question on the lesson is, "What does it actually mean to 'be yourself' or to 'be real'?" This question is extremely important as many students are confused about who they truly are. This lesson can help answer some questions students may be afraid to ask their parents or even some of their peers. This lesson can also help students understand why people create alternate (or different)versions of themselves of the internet.

SEL to me means that my students have the opportunity to tap into their social and emotional learning skills-- skills that are often overlooked due to the widespread pressure on academics. A focus on SEL also helps the students know that their teachers care about them as people and not just as numbers in a classroom; it's a time for them to learn about important topics that are not touched upon in regular subjects.

A challenge that I noticed with SEL technology is that some students don't have the access to the devices that their peers do. However, after Covid, many schools provided their students with laptops to help with their learning (especially since most learning became technology-focused). Unfortunately, when the school year is over, the students won't have this access. While it is good to limit their technology usage, not having access at all is very saddening.   It's also incredibly saddening when students are made fun of for their socioeconomic status.

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What does it actually mean to "be yourself" or to "be "real"? Those are deep thoughts for any middle schooler. For kids today, these questions matter online, too. Help your students explore why some people create different or alternate personas for themselves online and on social media.

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Who Are You Online? | Common Sense Education

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What are the benefits and drawbacks of presenting yourself in different ways online? Check out Who Are You Online?, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 6 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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From selfies to social media, many of us create unique online identities for ourselves, and our students are no different. But do kids always understand how others might perceive what they post? Help your students think critically about the online identities they're creating.

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How does what I post online affect my identity? Check out This Is Me, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 3 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson since it helps kids understand their identity. Many kids and even adults struggle with their identity and how they see themselves and therefore don't know how they want to be viewed by others. This lets students start with what they know and are comfortable with then challenges them to think outside of the box and what indeed identifies them that they want others to see and understand. I think this lesson would be good for right in the middle of elementary school. This seems to be right around the time that students tend to explore online and find social media and are tempted to post things. This could technically be good for all ages and still be effective, it's just a matter of what would be most effective for the group. Social-emotional learning is important and probably one of the most important aspects of learning. Social-emotional learning helps you be aware of others, learn what topics can be sensitive and what should be avoided or approached carefully, and help you better understand yourself and others. SEL is becoming more widespread through school which is great to see. I was I had to opportunity to learn some SEL skills while I was in elementary school so I could have been more aware and careful when it comes to certain situations and other people. Some challenge that comes with SEL is that some people just aren't open to the idea and what it represents. Both kids and adults can have a hard time and struggle to see things from others' perspectives and therefore not share as much empathy as others. Some kids have a hard time grasping the concepts as well and will push back about having to worry about others (essentially "why should I care about them and not just myself" mindset) getting all students engaged and to a point of understanding can be tricky but rewarding in the long run since these skills are essential in their future to present one's self well to others.