Digital literacy is extremely important to teach in the classroom. It is necessary to take the time to teach digital literacy explicitly, and it can also be embedded into other subjects.
There are many kid-friendly sources that help teach digital literacy in an engaging, interactive, and relatable way. Since utilizing Google’s, “Be Internet Awesome” in my classroom, one of the first pillars of digital literacy we focused on was being safe on the internet and protecting private information. The kids enjoyed learning about this through an interactive game, and a classroom discussion following the game. I thought the article entitled, “How Data Privacy Lessons in Alternative Reality Games Can Help Kids in Real Life” from Mindshift was very interesting. The idea of using an alternate reality game to teach students the importance online security and privacy practices sounds like a powerful approach to teach digital safety. The article said it helped students not only learn the how, but also the why of why they should be careful about what they post online. Within the article “What is Digital Literacy?” on Common Sense Media there is a helpful list of key digital literacy skills that kids should know for both home and school. This list includes teaching students to search effectively for information online, including teaching them about credibility and citing sources. A way to embed this lesson into already-existing curriculum would be to teach this skills surrounding an existing standard. For example, in fourth grade I can teach students how to look up the Gold Rush online through finding reputable sources, and how to find and cite information correctly when they find information they want to use. Another important skill discussed in the Common Sense Media article was to respect other’s ideas and opinions. This is so important to instill in kids starting at a young age. By relating internet social norms to real world social norms, students will gain a better understanding of the impact they make online with their words. A way to integrate this skill into already existing curriculum would be to do this during the Second Step lessons that are taught in elementary schools. These lessons include subjects like empathy, kindness, and standing up for others. It would be so easy to add in a conversation about how to do this online, as well as in person.
1 Comment
JP
2/25/2019 09:17:53 pm
Common sense media is so good. It is definitely one of those "where have you been all my life" kind of websites. I really like how you pointed out "By relating internet social norms to real world social norms, students will gain a better understanding of the impact they make online with their words." This is key because it seems like those real world social norms go out the door online!
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