One of the very important things I need to teach my students about is digital citizenship. This is something that needs to be taught at a very young age. Students are getting online at a much younger age than ever before. At the same time these students do not understand the repercussions of posting different things online. They do not have a clear understanding of what they put online now, will always be there for anyone to see. With my students it is very important for me to start teaching them how to behave in an online community.
As I continued to read I love how the Author stresses how important it is to set guidelines for yourself of when and for how long you are online. Like the author stated "we can be intellectually close to people who are three thousand miles away, while in the same respect, we may be far away from those sitting right next to us" (p 17) Nothing is more frustrating to me than going out with someone and they are constantly playing on their phone. There is a time and place for technology and another job that needs to be taught is when it is appropriate.
As I continued to read on to chapter 2 I am very excited to use Twitter and Delicious more. I started using them in one of my classes but never really followed through with it. My goal is to really get used to using both of these wonderful tools to help me to be a better teacher. I have never used or really heard much about Google Reader. I am hoping to add this to my list of things that I want to learn more about.
I completely agree with you about teaching young students about digital citizenship. Although most people are very concerned with children's safety online, I think we have the opportunity to help students be safer than ever as we realize how important teaching digital citizenship is. I know when I started using the internet in elementary and middle school, no one taught me about being safe. Teachers need to understand the important role they play along with parents in digital citizenship awareness. I think since we work with very young students it is especially important to start the foundation now.
ReplyDeleteYour right, it is very difficult to teach Kindergarten how to use the computer and search for things when they are just learning the basic functions. At this age and lower I have seen the computer being taught to pretty much play games on or do guide very guided lessons. Not a whole lot is done at this level to introduce things, but I think like Stephanie said digital citizenship is extremely important to be teaching at this age. Well any age to ensure proper use of the computer and the programs on it.
ReplyDeleteI love Twitter but do not think a Kindergarten class can use it alone. The spelling alone is a problem, but still an awesome tool to use.
I noticed you mentioned Google Reader in your post above. Google shut this program down at the end of last year. We will be using a program called Feedly in our course instead of Google Reader.
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