How can I model and teach being an ethical and responsible digital citizen?

I found many different types of resources to help me answer my trigger question for ISTE 4, so I focused on modelling responsible social media use in the classroom.  In my search I found opinion pieces on what teachers should teach students about using social media, resources detailing how teachers should model using social media responsibly, and free lessons and tools teachers can use in the classroom to teach students about social media and other topics in digital citizenship.

First I found the article “Modeling constructive online behavior,” in which the author discusses how he models responsible social media use for his students by sharing his private social media accounts with them. While I would not feel comfortable sharing this much of my private life with students, I do think it is important for students to see positive models of social media use. I also think students benefit from seeing examples of irresponsible social media use and the consequences that can come from it. There are many recent examples of young people and adults facing serious consequences because of their actions on social media that could be used in lessons about appropriate behavior on social media.

One of my classmates shared the article “Should teachers be using social media in the classroom?” in which two teachers share disparate opinions on the issue. The first teacher utilizes Facebook, Twitter, and student blogs in their classroom while the other refuses to use social media at all because they believe it makes young people more self-centered. Though I disagree with the practices of both of these teachers regarding social media use in the classroom, reading their arguments helped me clarify my own views on the subject and I feel that I fall somewhere in between their positions.

The final resource I looked at was Common Sense Education, which offers free lessons, games, and advice for teaching students about digital citizenship. This resource has the potential to be very useful; it offers resources for all grade levels and covers several topics of digital citizenship, including safety, privacy, cyberbullying, and digital footprint. 

Social media has become a major influence in students’ lives, and digital citizenship is becoming increasingly important. It is my job as a language arts teacher to teach students how to communicate in various formats, and now social media needs to be one of those formats.

References

Common Sense Education. Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship

Cutler, D. (2015, October 22). Modelling constructive online behavior. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/modeling-constructive-online-behavior-david-cutler

Leicht, G., & Goble, D. (2014, October 1). Should teachers be using social media in the classroom? Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/social-media-valuable-tool-teachers