3. Citizen

Educators inspire students to positively contribute and responsibly participate in the digital world. The program shall prepare candidates who:

• Create experiences for learners to make positive, socially responsible contributions and exhibit empathetic behavior online that build relationships and community;

• Establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency;

• Mentor students in the safe, ethical, and legal practice with digital tools and protection of intellectual rights and property; and

• Model and promote management of personal data and digital identity, and protect student data privacy.

To inspire students to participate responsibly in the digital world, I developed an instructional unit of three lessons. These lessons helped students define digital citizenship, learn how to safely conduct themselves when online, and the importance of media balance in their everyday lives.  Further, to promote students' interest digital and media literacy, I created and shared a curated collection of resources with Padlet. 

I have included work samples from my fourth grade students learning about Digital Citizenship. This activity was used to assess the students' knowledge of digital citizenship. Options provided for response were text, image, or free hand drawing. The names were omitted on their responses. As the teacher, I am able to view their responses in real time. This form of an assessment promotes student voice and again, provides choice.

It is imperative that we teach our youth (and some adults), digital responsibility. First, we want to ensure that students understand that safety is their first priority when venturing into the world wide web. Here you will see my efforts, as part of a collaborative team, to create a unit of work covering digital responsibility, online safety, and healthy media balance.  It is geared towards students in grade 4 but may be easily modified for students in grades 3 -5. Following the instructional design process, I was able to identify target areas around with which I formed my instruction. As a digital citizen, I recognize the great responsibility of modeling appropriate online behaviors and creating opportunities for students to engage accordingly.