https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4 What strategies can educators use with grade 9 students in order to ensure they are acting as responsible digital citizens, and engrain that citizenship into their lives? en-us 2020-02-29 20:19:04 UTC 2020-03-01 19:59:37 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f50d.png abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444666 The Thunder Bay Police Service has a variety of resources that can aid in helping grade 9 students understand the severity of not acting within digital citizenship, and how a negative portrayal of this can affect their persona for life. These resources can show students that what you do digitally can affect your online presence, but also can have serious implications for the real world. The following links contain (or will soon contain) information that teachers can use in their classrooms to teach students about their actions, with a digital spin. ]]> 2020-02-29 20:20:00 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444666 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444750 2020-02-29 20:20:43 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444750 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444807 2020-02-29 20:21:06 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444807 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444821 2020-02-29 20:21:16 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444821 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444853 2020-02-29 20:21:33 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452444853 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452445013 A presentation by the Thunder Bay police to just the class gives a better environment for taking in the material. The fact that it is in the safe and comfortable classroom environment, with just the peer group formed in that class creates a more intimate and low steaks presentation than an assembly presented to an entire grade. This gives more opportunity for students to engage in the learning, as opposed to checking out, and leaves more comfortability for students to ask questions. Many schools will bring officers in for large assemblies on various topics, I myself witnessed a presentation on online safety in this last placement. I believe, however, that establishing a more personal connection to the officer, and having a smaller presentation that feels more like a conversation will be more impactful to the students, and the information will stick with them longer.  The caveat here is that we need to be conscious, as educators, that some groups of students might be uncomfortable and uneasy around law enforcement. We need to make sure that the presentation is informative and inspires positive action, without making students uneasy. 

From the past presentation I've seen, I know that the officers are able to bring a more serious note to the issue of digital citizenship and how it impacts the lives of students. The officers have access to information on past cases the police have had to be involved with that touch on several of the issues presented when a student has poor digital citizenship. By presenting these cases, from a law enforcement official, the students can hear about REAL students who created REAL problems that has consequences. As well, because Thunder Bay Police officers consistently enter schools in the area, and have a connection to the community, the officers will be bale to gauge their presentation and conversations around the age of the students. While grade 9 students are in the peak of adolescence, they are still children and any information given to them needs to be realistic, but in-line with expectations of school boards and parents. The Thunder Bay Police Service is the most appropriate body to talk with the students about digital law, and especially law related to sending things that would be considered child pornography. As this body has, unfortunately, had to deal with the legal implication when these situation arise from high school students, they will have the most accurate and appropriate information for the students. This was a subject brought up in the assembly I witnessed, and many students were shocked to hear of cases that reached the police involving, for example, photos sent around the school that were meant only for a significant other. Hearing real life situations and the full effect of them will give the students a lasting impression of the weight their actions carry. ]]> 2020-02-29 20:22:51 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452445013 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453227 The three types of digital citizenship that I want to introduce and engrain in grade 9 students are as follows:]]> 2020-02-29 21:23:39 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453227 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453315 Digital law can be defined as the legal rights, restrictions, and ethics governing technology and digital environments. In the world we live in today, this category is especially important. These students are approaching adulthood, but are still children. They need to understand how their age plays into the law when it comes to their online actions. We also need to focus on what is appropriate and inappropriate use, privacy, and intention. A huge piece here is to get students to understand that online actions, whether anonymous or not, can have legal implications that impact their real life. It's well known that students feel that the anonymity  and distance of the online world protects them, but that is a misconception. An uncomfortable topic, but a realistic one, is to address sexting and sending nude photos, which by law would be considered child pornography.  Grade 9 students are entering relationships that may or may not be sexual, and they need to be safe in many ways, but being safe online might not occur to them. ]]> 2020-02-29 21:24:26 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453315 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453338 Digital rights and responsibilities are the privileges and freedoms extended to all digital technology users (and the right to use the technology) and the expectations that come with them. Here again we see the idea of what is acceptable and appropriate behavior. By recognizing what fits into that category, we can establish what responsibility we have to act in certain ways. Another aspect is respecting others and others respecting yourself; students are taught about respect from a young age, but they seem to forgot that it also applies to the digital world. Middle school is a time when bullying increases, and high school brings so many new challenges. Grade 9 students need to focus on respect and appropriateness. We also need to teach students that their actions have consequences, and that they have a responsibility to take ownership of these actions, regardless of consequence. Finally, we want students to understand that in the digital world and in the real world, they have a responsibility to stand up for others. ]]> 2020-02-29 21:24:37 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453338 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453341 Digital etiquette is a basic set of rules that ensure digital spaces are safe and positive for yourself and others. It involves self-management and a responsibility for your own actions and words. When it comes to teaching this to grade nine students, we want to focus on qualities such as truth, respect, safety, and appropriateness. These students are maturing, but are going to be varied in this process. We want to make sure the basics are covered, but we are still getting them thinking about their future and their actions, and how this affects others. While they are digitally literate on how to navigate, use, and create in digital spaces, they should be learning how to be respectful and responsible, and how to put an image into the digital world that is appropriate and kind. We want to establish a set of norms that exist within digital spaces, similar to the manners and rules that students follow in the real world.]]> 2020-02-29 21:24:38 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453341 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453699 2020-02-29 21:27:27 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453699 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453890 2020-02-29 21:28:35 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452453890 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452454103 Persona relates to how we display ourselves in the digital world, how we participate in it, and how we maintain an image in those spaces. As relating to critical digital literacy, this category is important to students because grade 9s are so caught up in the social aspects of their lives, and they rely a lot on their peer groups for assurance and self-esteem. At this age they are starting to enter that identity crisis where they are trying to figure out exactly who they are and what they like or don't like. Their experimentation might carry on into the digital world, as they are digital natives, and this could have implications in the persona category. They can use this space to build their identity as well, and change it frequently as they see fit. The participation aspect of persona involves student communication in online spaces, as well as the communities they are part of, and the implications of those things. There are a lot of choices here that the student is required to make which will establish who they are and how they live as a digital citizen. In the identity building category there is also a huge amount of choice; students can chose what they post, say, or create in online spaces, and thus there persona will change based on those choices. Students here can decide what they put into the digital world and who their audience for that content is. There is a distinction between the real world and online world, and with the massive role that social media plays in their lives, there really is a divide between the two.

Students, through their interaction with the digital world, develop a persona. Social media allows students to pick and choose, down to the smallest detail, what they decide to display of themselves and their life. Although social media is not what makes up a digital persona, it plays a huge role. The persona also takes into account their participation in different groups, and comments they might make. Even a 'like' on a picture or article can say a lot about someone. Students need to understand the impact that their actions have on their persona, and really engrain the idea that what they out out into the digital world is permanent and can affect them for their entire lives. When a student posts something negative or hurtful, that will remain in the digital world forever, and can negatively effect their persona for years, despite any personal growth that might occur external to it. Despite all their knowledge on the digital world, young teens don't always realize how much of an impact having poor digital citizenship can have on their life and the lives of others. By following the three types of digital citizenship listed above, students will inherently build a positive persona, and will limit the negative experiences they have within digital spaces. ]]> 2020-02-29 21:30:09 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452454103 abigailviers https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452458418 One part of this teaching experience should feature a critical thinking activity that engages the students in introspective thought. Grade 9 students are becoming more independent and want to be treated differently, compared to their younger counterparts. They are entering adolescence, though at different rates, and they are gaining more skills relating to critical thinking and abstract thinking. A more 'student centered' activity that gets them to think bigger is a great tool, and one that can bring a personal touch to the class. As a primer to this assignment, students need to be taught about digital citizenship. This could be done through the police presentation, by the teacher, or through a student-centered activity where students are given the types of digital citizenship, and need to research them to come up with definitions that fit each. 

This activity could be a writing assignment about what image they believe they put into the digital world, which would be completed prior to the Thunder Bay Police Services visit. What are the implications of that image? How would they describe their own digital citizenship? The focus of these assignments would be to get them thinking, NOT to judge students or get students in trouble if they recognize negative or disrespectful behaviors in their own citizenship. This activity gets the students to think critically about digital literacy and examine a side they might not have thought about yet. The teacher can preface this assignment by showing pictures of posts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) that would portray negative or positive persona. The students can discuss what image they link the post puts into the world, and what the implications are of that post. Something that would make this assignment more impactful for the students, and thus make it more likely to stick with them into adulthood, is to clearly outline the purpose of the assignment. As an educator, I know why each assignment I give is important, but the students might make make that assumption. If I can articulate why this introspection is important and what the assignment accomplishes, it will give the students more understanding and thus more appreciation. Outlining the motivations and goals behind it will give them more motivation to complete the assignment thoughtfully, and thus gain more from it. 

Students can share with the class what persona they believe they have built, if no students volunteer the teacher can have prepared cases that prompt discussion. These cases can be examined and broken down with the class to see how the digital citizenship is lacking and what the scenario holder could do to improve it. They can be presented to the class as a paragraph read aloud and then discussed. When a student shares or when a case is presented that has some form of negativity, the situation should be approached respectfully, but the students can offer up suggestions on how that student or example can improve their persona. Suggestions should not be shallow ones, but ones that follow the principles of digital citizenship. Again, there needs to be a safe and comfortable environment in place for this discussion to work. 

The hope is that after hearing about other students have to say about their identities and personas, and with the examination of the different cases, students will walk away continuing to think about their own persona. They will be forced to think about it in class as well, and key into that 'crisis' happening in the adolescent stage of life where teens are trying to discover their own identity, or create an identity for themselves. If we can have these conversations and provoke the deeper, critical thinking in grade 9, we might reach students before their identities are closer to being solidified. This factor could be huge in ensuring that the ideas talked about with the police officer and with the class will be carried with them through life. The hope is that students will learn about digital citizenship and persona, and work that into their identity building as they progress through adolescence into adulthood. ]]> 2020-02-29 22:01:45 UTC https://padlet.com/abigailviers/ln6yvap3cvj4/wish/452458418