Digital citizenship. It’s a complex subject that I’ve thought a lot about in recent years- and one that I’ve been figuring out how best to address in my role as a public librarian. For our kids to be contributing participants in the Digital Age, they need to be informed about a whole host of issues such as internet safety, privacy and security, cyber bullying, digital footprints, information literacy, copyright and creative credit, and more!
So when Mariah Cheng, one of my regular patrons who also happens to be an elementary school teacher, approached me about teaching a series of digital citizenship workshops at the library for children and parents I jumped at the opportunity to partner with her. Mariah had recently become a Certified Educator through Common Sense Media’s Digital Citizenship Initiative which offers training and curriculum for free to K-12 educators so that they can teach their students and families how to be smart, safe and responsible online.
During our planning stages I reached out to the Vice Principal of one of my local schools to see what topics she thought were most important for her students to learn and what ages would be best to target the classes towards. She and I had previously discussed how difficult it was for her teachers to find the time to address digital literacy with their students and how the library might be able to partner with the school to teach these topics. Unfortunately, whether she was overwhelmed with the start of a new school year or otherwise, I never heard back from her and moved forward with planning the classes along with Mariah and my Children’s Department staff.
Mariah and I decided to hold a series of three classes: one for parents, one for kindergarteners through 2nd graders, and one for 3rd through 5th graders. We capped registration at 16 attendees for each class, the capacity of the library’s computer lab. Ultimately we ended up cancelling K-2 session due to low interest, and we expanded the 3rd-5th Grades session to include older students after many inquiries by parents. For the Parents session Mariah addressed how to help their children use social media responsibly, how to address cyber bullying, and how to talk to their kids about their online activities. I especially loved that Mariah’s lessons were pragmatic. It’s a fact of life that adolescents are online and using social media already. Instead of being alarmist or didactic Mariah gave parents the tools they need to set reasonable limits on their children’s screen time and to help their kids be safe and healthy while doing so. She introduced parents to a variety of tools they could use to limit or monitor computer time and gave them some great resources for evaluating websites, apps and other media. For the Student session, Mariah talked with kids about their online activities and what to do if you see or are the target of cyber bullying. She also talked about “digital footprints” and reminded participants that and nothing is truly “private” or “erasable” online. The kids wrapped up the session by playing Common Sense Media’s Digital Passport, a collection of free computer games that teach kids about respect, safety and community online.
Mariah Cheng teaches digital citizenship to a class of 4th -8th graders at the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library. Photo by Diana Garcia.
Students sorted unique and shared characteristics of bullying and cyber-bullying. Photo by Diana Garcia.
These programs were a great way to start the conversation about digital citizenship with kids and parents and we definitely plan to hold more to address subjects like information literacy, copyright and creative credit. I would encourage anyone who is interested in holding digital citizenship programs to take a look at the wealth of resources available from Common Sense Media’s Digital Citizenship Curriculum. There are ready made lesson plans, toolkits, online games and assessments, activities, videos and downloadable materials all free for librarians and teachers to use with students. There is even a list of Certified Educators on the website. You may have one working in your school or district already!
Have you offered digital literacy classes at your library? Did you work with local teachers or have you used Common Sense Media’s resources? Share your experiences and let’s continue the conversation in the comments below!
Diana Garcia is the Children’s Librarian at the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library in California where she has the privilege of serving a diverse community through storytimes, creative programming and tutoring. Her afterschool literacy program for English Language Learners won the PLA Innovations in Literacy award in 2013. Diana is currently serving on the ALSC Liaison to National Organizations Committee. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California and serves on their Awards Committee.
The post Taking the Lead in Helping Kids Become Good Digital Citizens appeared first on ALSC Blog.
Thanks for reminding us all about digital copyright issues!
Thank you, Mary Lee, for this post. I came to it right after reading Kate's words. Such reminders are important. I hope that your summer and writing life are treating you well!
What a great post, Mary Lee. It's great to have this reminder from time to time. And it's something I am always addressing with students.
Important message.
Our media specialist does a PD about copyright every year. Like Jone, I'm always reminding my students about this issue.
Good stuff, Mary Lee. Perhaps students may *wish* that someone they didn't know would want to post their stuff, and not really get that someone else wouldn't feel the same way. So they may understand that other artists wouldn't want their work changed, but not understand that they wouldn't want it shared.
Such an important reminder.
I would love to hear J.Patrick Lewis'response. Sometimes when I review a poetry book, I'm tempted to include one poem so that people can get the flavor for the book. Wonder how poets feel about that?
Thanks!
Hi Mary Lee. Interesting exchange. I've taken the cue from other Poetry Friday participants on the "How much to share?" issue, but when I made my debut at The Hardball Times, I really wanted to share a poem by Marianne Moore in its entirety, so I searched around and found this:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-poetry
Not sure how much authority this has, but I found it very compelling.
-Ed
A swashbuckler of a bow to you, Mary Lee, for taking the time to respond so thoughtfully. My query had to do with famous poets and poetry. For those of us who aren't famous, I would want to see our poems get the widest possible exposure. Gratis, of course, on blogs.
Adoption in textbooks, anthologies, and the like are an iguana of a different hue.