Friday, October 24, 2014

It's Digital Citizenship Week!

Caution!  A ton of free resources ahead!

I knew Digital Citizenship Week was this week.  Then I forgot.  So it's possible that I'll be celebrating it next week.  So if you missed it this week as well, perhaps you can join me in the procrastinator's version of Digital Citizenship Week.

Even though this may not be part of your school or district's curriculum (we are required to teach a digital safety class in our school), it's still super important for kids.  If you use any technology in your classroom, or require the students to do the same, then it's important to teach how to use the internet, apps, etc. safely.

The great part is there are a TON of wonderful, FREE resources available for teaching digital citizenship to students.  I've compiled a few resources to explore now or bookmark for later (possibly next week...or next year?!).


Brain Pop Jr. Video
Brain Pop Jr. offers a great short video on internet safety for primary students.  No log in required, so check it out!


Netsmartz Workshop
Brought to you by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, this website is a great resource for teachers, parents, law enforcement and students of all ages (including tweens and teens!).  It offers teaching resources for teachers, already made presentations, webinars, and even a digital ethics comic for middle-high schoolers.


Safe Kids 
Safe Kids offers an ongoing blog and a bunch of links to help support digital literacy and safety.  Topics range from family cell phone use to photo sharing to cyber bullying.


Connect Safely
The sister site to Safe Kids, Connect Safely offers numerous links and information regarding online safety.  Another bonus- they're behind the "One Good Thing" campaign to spread kindness.  But speaking of online safety, be sure students check with parents before uploading any videos- even if they are in support of kindness!  Safety first!


Common Sense Education
My personal favorite is the Common Sense Education website.  It has complete classroom lessons for K-12 students.  You can access entire printable curriculum for your grade level, or access their online ibooks if your students have immediate access to computers or tablets.  Link up with them on Edmodo or sign up for their enewsletters for updates.  Also, click on the posters below to download and print a poster for your classroom.


Google also offers digital online safety curriculum for teachers.  This website is chalk full of resources for teachers as well.  Lessons include video, lesson plans, and student handouts for each lesson.  There's also an educator section that includes both elementary and middle/high school information.  For elementary students, iKeepSafe also offers four videos and four full color books (in pdf and flash format) starring "Faux Paw's" (the techno cat's) adventures in online safety.



And as usual, I've been curating my Technology Pinterest board with all kinds of digital citizenship and technology resources.  Check it out for even more good ideas and happy links to digital safety goodness.  



            

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