Thursday, September 27, 2012

GAME Plan Update


As I begin to work through my GAME plan, I decided to focus on Indicator 4 specifically this week.  I went through several of the resources I found, and began thinking of what our school has in place for students to guide them in their internet usage.  Sadly, my school is lacking in this department.  My principal showed me our parent permission slip, and I realized it's just a modified form of a "Can we take your child's picture?" form for use on the website.  Further digging, and I can't find any documents that do more than tell our kids it's against the rules to steal or break the technology (although somewhere there's a Facebook addition that allows kids to be punished at school for inappropriate behavior on Facebook at home).  Personally, I was shocked that in all the paperwork that goes home to be signed at the beginning of the year there isn't a student or parent contract outlining how to behave online as a Digital Citizen.  My principal and I are looking into changing this and I have a great starting point!:
Kid's Pledge
Parents' Pledge
I could use help in coming up with ways to promote digital etiquette to other teachers in my school.  I certainly don't want to add more to their plates, but I feel it's important for students to learn to be digital citizens from their teachers.  What ways can I encourage our faculty to make an effort, and what could I do to get my kids excited about it?

5 comments:

  1. It sounds like your principal and you have a lot of work ahead of you! A blog that I belong to is someone I found on Edutopia. It is called Langwitches blog by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano. Below is a unit that she created for elementary school teachers wanting to blog with their students. Even if you do not plan to blog, this is a great unit for any teacher about online safety, commenting, and writing. There are videos, links to other classroom blogs, and great examples.
    http://langwitches.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/blogging-unit.pdf

    References:
    Tolisano, S.( 2012). Blogging with elementary students. Retrieved from http://langwitches.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/blogging-unit.pdf

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    1. Thanks so much! I actually enjoy blogging (if only there was more time) and would like to do a blog for my school about technology that's available. Thanks so much to this link, I will definitely add it to my technology resources!

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  2. Hi Mrs. Claypool,

    Here are some starter ideas for digital etiquette:

    The students should not include their name –use student number/class code.
    Do not write about anyone else without his/ her permission.
    Do not use inappropriate language
    Do not write comments that could hurt another’s feelings.
    Never touch anyone else's blog, etc.
    Finally and most important, the teacher should communicate clear expectations, rules and consequences for the class.

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    1. Thanks Dennis. Do you have any suggestions on how to promote internet etiquette in my building? I really want to get everyone on board from students and parents to teachers and administration. So many kids get hurt from comments they read at home because of cyber-bullying which will really come into play when they get to middle school. There are some adults that I feel are unaware of just how easy it is to find old comments online and how they can come back to hurt you. I have considered talking to our Character Counts committee to see if they can incorporate it into a school-wide program, but I want to have a good idea ready to go to them with before I do.

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  3. Thought of you when I saw this. Hope it is something you can use. http://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/fma-elementary.pdf

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