Digital Citizenship Action Plan Developed by Rachel Doty Who?

Introduced to Delaware Elementary Administration, Faculty, and Staff K-6 Spring 2011 to be implemented beginning Fall 2012 What? Since Delaware Elementary has access to netbooks, iPod touches, and iPads, we have to ensure that our students are obtaining an admirable sense of digital citizenship. Digital citizenship can be explained as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology (Ribble, 2008). While many of our students have had access to the internet at home, the majority do not. It is our job to ensure they know the best was to be safe and effective online. Why? The challenges that we have at Delaware with technology and digital citizenship usually stem from the lack of prior knowledge our students have on proper use of the internet. We will need to take specific steps in order to teach them the expectations for digital citizenship. We have encountered students with off task behavior by exploring unrelated websites that are not appropriate for the work being done. We need to make sure that our students are being safe, ethical, and appropriate while using digital resources for our projects. In addition, we need to teach the best ways of finding information for the research needing to be done. Common Sense Media conducted a study in the fall of 2011 that focused on the use of media by children ages zero through eight. One of the findings of this study was that the digital divide is still very much alive. while 55% of children from higher-income families have used a cell phone, iPod, iPad, or similar device for playing games, watching videos, or using apps, just 22% from lower-income families have done so (Rideout, 2001, p.10). Our students are expected to use technology tools that most have not ever seen before stepping foot in our school. We have to use lessons and training before we expect them to be literate in these technology tools. The majority of the lower income students we see also do not have a computer at home. This aspect of the digital divide is also still a huge factor in areas like Delawares district, which is 95% poverty. The study by Common Sense Media stated, To the extent that early learning on computers is important for childrens later success in school, this divide could be important. It is also informative to those who are trying to reach young people with educational content, especially children who may be most in need of support for learning (Rideout, 2011, p. 20). To the extent that our students

have not had exposure to technology, we have to work that much more to teach them the ins and outs of learning and working online. Objectives: Objective 1 Teachers will be educated on the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) set forth for teachers and students by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Objective 2 Students will be safe and ethical in their research and communication while using digital resources. Students will also stay on task while working on research or project based learning activities while using technology. When? Starting in Fall 2012, teachers will spend the first 2 weeks of school during PLC time focusing on NETS and the Common Sense Media Curriculum guide. During the first data day, grade level teams will partner with the technology teacher to determine the schedule for teaching per week. Students will begin technology lessons from the Common Sense Media curriculum the third week of school and they will have no fewer than two technology lessons per week for the remainder of the school year. Once teachers have completed the specific lessons from the C.S.M. curriculum, they will use their own knowledge and planning to add lessons to the areas that need more focus. How? Objective 1: How do we educate ourselves? I propose that the teachers at Delaware first investigate the NETS for teachers during grade level PLC times with the effort to complete the overview in order to start student lessons the third week of school. Teams should also examine the NETS for students during PLC. When planning lessons, teachers should reference the teacher standards to create ways to model expected digital citizenship when using technology. The student standards should also be referenced for ideas on how to incorporate higher level thinking in the digital field. ISTE NETS-Teachers ISTE NETS-Students In addition to using PLC time to examine ISTEs standards for both teachers and students, teachers will also complete online training from Common Sense Media during the first two weeks of school. We will all be implementing digital literacy and citizenship

lessons from the Common Sense Media resources and the training will help us to reach our goals. Common Sense Media Professional Development - Curriculum Training By utilizing the resources linked above, we will be teaching ourselves the knowledge necessary to educate our students on the uses of technology and the importance of digital citizenship. We will use our grade level team members and PLC as a way to ensure that we are all staying focused on implementing the standards expected of us as teachers and encouraging the students to do so, as well. Objective 2: How do we educate our students? In the same way that we share with our students the Indiana state standards that we are working on in class, we will be sharing the ISTE NETS for students, as well. We already utilize technology daily in our classrooms, but we sometimes have issues with students not using effective research methods, they are unsure of commands for the computer/iPad, or they are off task because they lack the confidence in their digital literacy. For each lesson, we will highlight the technology standard(s) that we are focusing on so that students know the expectation. We will circulate to determine whether the standard is being met by all students. ISTE NETS-Students Additionally, starting the third week of the school year, every grade level will implement the Common Sense Media curriculum for digital literacy and citizenship. We will map the lessons for each grade level to be split between homeroom teachers and the technology teacher. Students will have no less than two technology lessons per week. It is imperative that we teach the students the how to before jumping into utilizing the technology for subject based lessons. This will be a team effort and everyone in the school will be involved. Just as our positive behavior support initiative requires us to reteach the behaviors expected each nine week grading period, these lessons will likely need to be revisited as necessary for units that did not connect and stick the first time around. The units include Safety, Security, Digital Life, Privacy and Digital Footprints, Connected Culture, Self-Expression and Identity, Respecting Creative Work, Searching, and Research and Evaluation. Each unit contains lesson plans that are appropriate for grade levels and some contain links for videos and have work pages as supplements to the lessons. Lessons for all grade levels can be found at the links below. Curriculum Units Overview Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum Grades K-5

Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum Grades 6-8 To ensure that our students have grasped the information from each lesson, we will discuss the lessons that need to be taught again and build that into our curriculum. As a secondary method of determining success of the lessons, I propose that we keep a tally of instances where students are unsafe/unethical, off task, or a basic lack of digital integrity and compared at each staff meeting to see if there is a decrease in these occurrences.

Works Cited: Ribble, M. (2008). Passport to Digital Citizenship: Journey Toward Appropriate Technology Use at School and at Home. Learning and Leading with Technology. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/LL2008DCArt.pdf Rideout, V. (2011). Zero to Eight, Childrens Media Use in America. A Common Sense Media Research Study. Retrieved from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/zerotoeightfinal2011.pdf Media and Technology Resources for Educators | Common Sense Media. (n.d.). Reviews and Ratings for Family Movies, TV Shows, Websites, Video Games, Books and Music. Retrieved from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators ISTE. (n.d.). ISTE | NETS Standards. ISTE | Membership, NETS Standards, Books, Journals and Professional Development for Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx