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Students teach parents about Social Media. 

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Students teach parents about Social Media. 

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I am passionate about student agency and student voice and believe very much in providing opportunities for kids to lead learning. So when our school decided to host a parent information session on social media recently, there was no question who would lead it: the students themselves.

In my role as head of educational technology at Stamford American International School in Singapore, I am responsible for tech integration schoolwide, which includes all stakeholders, from students to staff to the wider school community. That includes parents, who often contact the school with their questions, concerns and even fears about technology, particularly their children's use of social media.

One thing that's become clear to me is that most of our kids know more than their parents - and even more than their teachers - about how to add value to student learning with technology. That's why we decided to host a session on social media for parents and asked students to take the reins.

Here's how we did it:

Choosing the presenters. We explained our initiative to students and asked for volunteers from grades 6-12 and then narrowed it down to a group of 12 confident students (six middle schoolers and six high schoolers).

Laying out the task. We explained that this would be their chance to tell adults what makes teens tick and what they are really doing online. We wanted them to create a transparent learning community where they felt comfortable and confident talking about topics related to their use of devices and social media. We immediately had their buy-in.

Selecting the topics. The students were adamant that they wanted to choose topics they felt their parents needed to know. They wanted to clear up misconceptions they hear from parents and peers, and they wanted to be the voice of truth. The discussions were interesting because the middle school and high school students saw the topics very differently. Apps considered cool for one group, were not for the other. They ultimately narrowed it down to five categories:

Preparing their presentations. Common Sense Media is our go-to resource to support the teaching and learning process, and each group found resources that supported their topic.

Groups were made up of 1-2 middle schoolers and 1-2 high schoolers with no more than three students at any one station. We intentionally asked students not to write a script or rehearse because we wanted parents to lead by asking questions at each station. Students knew these topics so well that they didn't need to research or do any digging to find information. They could tell it from the heart, and we gave them the freedom to do so.

The overview of the night was as follows:

The presentation. The night came and was totally inspiring with more than 40 parents in attendance. The students led with confidence and passion for a subject that they were true experts in.

Parents asked good questions, such as:

Why do you use Snapchat and not just text messaging?

Why do you need your messages to disappear? Are you hiding something?

How can we help our kids when we don't know what they are doing?

What is the best advice for us to deal with social media use in our homes?

What rules do you have at home for mobile phone use?

At no stage was the conversation uncomfortable. Students had the option of passing on any questions (no one had to answer them, but most did), and we had a staff member with each group (who for 95 percent of the time sat silently as bystanders).

After parents had rotated around all five stations, we gave students an opportunity to share any additional thoughts, suggestions or comments as well as opening the floor to questions and comments from parents.

Takeaways from the evening:

Student agency is powerful! Give kids the chance to lead and they will amaze and inspire you!

Parents need to hear it from kids! They were so much more accepting and understanding hearing it this way.

The students in my school are inspiring and powerful. They inspired me to think about how we can create mini-TedX style talks on these topics and share it with the world.

Social media is a huge topic and 50 percent of the topics the students came up with, neither the educators or parents had any idea about.

Common Sense Media links and a follow-up blog with resources is critical so parents can go away and digest the information and pass it on to other family members.

Trust is key from the perspective of students. Try to micromanage and control them and they will push back. Trust gets you very far!

Students expressed that they learn best from being given space and being allowed the opportunity to explore and make mistakes.

Parents wanted to know how to "control" their children's devices. The students wanted parents to know that controling doesn't always work. Their suggestion was to set expectations related to the completion of tasks (finish this part of your homework) rather than related to time (do two hours of homework). The students said they were always more efficient when the expectation was task-oriented rather than time-oriented.

Our school, which educates 2,800 students age 2-18, recently rolled out a comprehensive digital learning model with the ISTE Standards at its core. The ISTE Standards for Students are focused on empowering student voice and ensuring that learning is a student-driven process. This experiment proved to me how powerful and effective that can be. I left the evening totally inspired and ready to expand the idea and give students more opportunities to lead the learning.

Craig Kemp is a New Zealand born educator with over 13 years experience in the classroom and in leadership. He is an enthusiastic 21st-century change agent who is passionate about every aspect of education. He is head of educational technology (N-12) at Stamford American International School in Singapore. He is also a professional development speaker. Follow him on Twitter @mrkempnz, read Craig's blog, and follow the school's hashtag #SAISrocks.

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Students teach parents about social media

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I am passionate about student agency and student voice and believe very much in providing opportunities for kids to lead learning. So when our school decided to host a parent information session on social media recently, there was no question who would lead it: the students themselves.

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Sign Up through Google +.
Go to the Educator Tab
Then the Digital Citizenship Tab

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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Digital Citizenship Nearpod Lessons | Common Sense Education

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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We're retiring Digital Passport in June 2024.

Heads up! Digital Passport will be retired on June 30, 2024. But don't worry-we still have you covered! Elementary school students can watch our Meet the Digital Citizens and Device Advice videos.

Until then, introduce students in grades 3-5 to Digital Passport™ by Common Sense Education. The award-winning suite of six interactive games addresses key issues kids face in today's digital world. Each engaging game teaches critical digital citizenship skills that help students learn to use technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate. Games are available in Spanish.

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Digital Passport by Common Sense Education

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Teach your students the ins and outs of online safety and communication with Digital Passport™, Common Sense's award-winning suite of digital citizenship learning games for elementary students.

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Introduce students in grades 6-8 to Digital Compass™ by Common Sense Education. The award-winning game is an innovative way to give students the freedom to explore how decisions made in their digital lives can affect their relationships and futures.

Through the suite of popular choose-your-own-path games, students play through the perspective of one of eight main characters, each of whom is facing a different digital citizenship dilemma. The varied story paths and multiple decision points encourage students to play repeatedly in order to explore alternative courses of action. Games are also available in Spanish.

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Digital Compass by Common Sense Education

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Introduce students in grades 6-8 to Digital Compass™ by Common Sense Education. The award-winning game is an innovative way to give students the freedom to explore how decisions made in their digital lives can affect their relationships and futures.

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Interactive lessons and activities for all students!

Use digital citizenship lesson plans to address timely topics and prepare students to take ownership of their digital lives. Browse lessons by grade and topic below, or learn more about our approach to the curriculum.

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Digital Citizenship Curriculum | Common Sense Education

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New and improved digital citizenship lesson plans from Common Sense Education. The research-backed approach educators know and trust, with expanded teaching tools and student activities. Engage students with learning games and navigate tough topics, including cyberbullying, online safety, privacy, and media literacy.

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A Toolkit for Schools and Educators

Family Engagement Resources

For kids, digital life is real life. It's where they build friendships, take a stand on issues, and do so much more. Schools and educators with a commitment to digital citizenship can use this toolkit to find valuable tips and tools to share with families. With research-backed resources covering a range of topics -- from online safety and cyberbullying to media balance and learning with technology -- you can easily find and share articles, videos, printable handouts, ready-made presentations, and more in your classroom, on your school's website or social feed, or at your next parent night. To plan a school- or district-wide program for families, start with our Engaging Families in Digital Citizenship implementation guide.

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Resources for Engaging Parents and Families | Common Sense Education

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A Toolkit for Schools and Educators For kids, digital life is real life. It's where they build friendships, take a stand on issues, and do so much more. Schools and educators with a commitment to digital citizenship can use this toolkit to find valuable tips and tools to share with families.

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Free Classroom SWAG: Posters, video backgrounds & more! | Common Sense Education

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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How to sign students up to play online games

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How to sign students up to play online games

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-passport

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We're retiring Digital Passport in June 2024.

Heads up! Digital Passport will be retired on June 30, 2024. But don't worry-we still have you covered! Elementary school students can watch our Meet the Digital Citizens and Device Advice videos.

Until then, introduce students in grades 3-5 to Digital Passport™ by Common Sense Education. The award-winning suite of six interactive games addresses key issues kids face in today's digital world. Each engaging game teaches critical digital citizenship skills that help students learn to use technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate. Games are available in Spanish.

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Digital Passport by Common Sense Education

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Teach your students the ins and outs of online safety and communication with Digital Passport™, Common Sense's award-winning suite of digital citizenship learning games for elementary students.

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Digital citizenship

Authentic social justice or community service projects have the potential to engage kids in the subject matter teachers need them to learn and empower kids to participate in society and democracy.

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In a political climate where sharing fake news has become commonplace, it's more important than ever to rely on trustworthy and dogged fact-checking services to vet information.

Our job as citizens requires more than just being informed. We must also be vigilant about verifying information before posting it on social media. While taking a second look at claims made by politicians and even journalists is a start, we still can't outsource our brains and our judgment, says Tessa Jolls, president of the Center for Media Literacy. "In my view, we have to look as critically at the fact-checking sites as we do the news articles themselves," she says.

A good fact-checking site uses neutral wording, provides unbiased sources to support its claims and reliable links, says Frank Baker, author ofMedia Literacy in the K-12 Classroom and creator of the Media Literacy Clearinghouse. He adds, "Readers should apply the same critical thinking/questioning to fact-check sites."

Here's a rundown of 10 of the top fact- and bias-checking sites to share with your students.

AllSides. While not a fact-checking site, AllSides curates stories from right, center and left-leaning media so that readers can easily compare how bias influences reporting on each topic.

Fact Check. This nonpartisan, nonprofit project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by U.S. political players, including politicians, TV ads, debates, interviews and news releases.

Media Matters. This nonprofit and self-described liberal-leaning research center monitors and corrects conservative misinformation in the media.

NewsBusters. A project of the conservative Media Research Center, NewsBusters is focused on "documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias."

Open Secrets. This nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit website run by the Center for Responsive Politics tracks how much and where candidates get their money.

Politifact. This Pulitzer Prize winning website rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials. Run by editors and reporters from the independent newspaper Tampa Bay Times, Politicfact features the Truth-O-Meter that rates statements as "True," "Mostly True," "Half True," "False," and "Pants on Fire."

ProPublica. This independent, nonprofit newsroom has won several Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2016 Prize for Explanatory Reporting. ProPublica produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

Snopes. This independent, nonpartisan website run by professional researcher and writer David Mikkelson researches urban legends and other rumors. It is often the first to set the facts straight on wild fake news claims.

The Sunlight Foundation. This nonpartisan, nonprofit organization uses public policy data-based journalism to make politics more transparent and accountable.

Washington Post Fact Checker. Although the Washington Post has a left-center bias, its checks are excellent and sourced. The bias shows up because they fact check conservative claims more than liberal ones.
Jennifer Snelling is a freelance writer based in Eugene, Oregon, and mom to two digital natives.

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Top 10 sites to help students check their facts

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In a political climate where sharing fake news has become commonplace, it's more important than ever to rely on trustworthy and dogged fact-checking services to vet information. Our job as citizens requires more than just being informed. We must also be vigilant about verifying information before posting it on social media.

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Can get a free demo

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GCSD uses the teacher and admin. Heavily used in grades 3-12. Used to block websites lower elementary. Link

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Online Safety Resource for Parents from Markie Hooper

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Online Safety Resource for Parents from Markie Hooper