First, if you haven’t read my post on why digital citizenship is important check that out here. Our elementary students are the most vulnerable age group to internet bad guys which is why it is imperative we begin planning for digital citizenship lessons for elementary students. They are just dipping their toes in the digital world and they don’t know all of the rules yet. Some may not have had any guidance yet regarding privacy, scamming, phishing, hacking, etc. If we begin specifically teaching digital citizenship lessons for elementary students we begin to build the foundation our students will need to be successful digital citizens. By teaching digital citizenship and the importance of their digital footprint, we can also prevent cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a leading cause in teenage suicide. This is serious. As educators, we can protect them, we can give them a voice, and we can prevent the unimaginable.
So, how do I do it?
When planning to teach digital citizenship there are some key vocabulary words that students need to know, at any age. These key vocabulary are what make the outline of your unit.
- Digital Presence
- Digital World
- Digital Citizen
- Digital Footprint
- Cyberbully
At the minimum, you should plan to teach one lesson per vocabulary word. Totaling, 5 digital citizenship lessons. I would challenge you to do at least 10 lessons as the digital world is taking more of a toll on our youth.
What does a digital citizenship unit for elementary students look like?
It all starts with a conversation. Establish an honest and safe space for your students to talk about their online presence. Lead the discussion by asking thought provoking questions and then let the students take it away. Every group you teach digital citizenship too will need different discussions. Some years, you may have many students with an online presence. Others, you will have very few. Regardless, you need to be teaching digital citizenship. It is inevitable that your students if not today, one day, will be online.
Your lessons do not need to be anything fancy, usually I plan for a 10-15 minute lesson. I tend to incorporate these lessons into my morning meetings because like you, I need more time for reading, math, and writing.
My lessons usually look like:
1. Opening discussion- I ask thought provoking questions regarding the daily objective (usually a vocabulary word)
2. Define the vocabulary for students and display the definition
3. An activity that gives students a visual understanding of the daily objective
4. Wrap up discussion and lead into our next lesson
Example:
Daily Objective: To understand what it means to be a digital citizen
- Opening discussion- By a show of hands, show me if you have ever watched YouTube before? Or searched on Google? If you raised your hand, this means you are a digital citizen? Hm, I want you to turn and talk and see if you can figure out what it might mean to be a digital citizen. Then, I will allow students to share after a good conversation I will lead into…
- Defining Digital Citizen and displaying the vocabulary card either on the board or on our wall display in the classroom. Give me a thumbs up if you had a similar thought about what it means to be a digital citizen.
- Today, we are going to get a paper computer (printed image of a computer) and I want you to fill in your computer things with different things you do online. This is your digital presence. It could be watching videos, playing online games, texting your friends, etc.
- Closing- Today we talked about being a digital citizen and we thought about all the ways we have a digital presence. Tomorrow we are going to talk about our digital footprint and how we can protect ourselves online.
Boom! That’s it, short and sweet.
What if I don’t want to plan an entire digital citizenship unit on my own??
If your school doesn’t already have a digital citizenship curriculum or scope and sequence and you don’t have the time to create your own, I have you covered! Check out my 10 Digital Citizenship Lessons for Elementary Students on Teachers Pay Teachers.
It is a complete guide to teaching digital citizenship in elementary school. It includes 10 complete lessons including a lesson plan, discussion questions, activities, anchor charts and more! Each lesson hits the 10-15 minute mark and need minimal prep.
As always, I am here to help! Let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you in teaching digital citizenship in your classroom. Be sure to head over to instagram to check out Tech Tip Tuesday. Each Tuesday in September, I am talking about teaching digital citizenship!
See you soon!
