Bringing Digital Safety Into the Classroom

My group and I did a project on digital safety and the topic was cyberbullying. In our presentation, we defined and listed the types of cyberbullying. In addition to that, we also discussed how cyberbullying happens, the GDOE policy and the consequences for it. We used the site Powtoons to present our information to our classmates and teacher. There were challenges doing this assignment, but we all did our part and pulled through.

There were four topics in total: fair user practices and copyright issues, digital safety and privacy, cyberbullying, and pharming and phishing. What these specific topics have in common is that they all deal with digital safety which extremely important to learn about and teach others about, especially since technology is much more advanced and convenient then it was before. According to Discovery Education, “As a teacher it’s important to make digital safety a priority in the classroom and ensure that your students know how to act safely, responsibly, and thoughtfully online.” If students aren’t being safe, responsible, thoughtful, etc. then there can be major consequences. They can get into trouble with the law. Proper digital safety etiquette is important to teach students because they don’t always have someone there to guide them.

Despite the challenges faced during this assignment, I truly enjoyed doing it because I got to revisit a topic I’m somewhat familiar with, as well as learn about new topics I’ve never heard about before from my peers. I think what could have made this assignment much more interesting is if the topic textual harassment and sexting were included. I understand that there weren’t enough groups, but I thought it shouldn’t have been dismissed overall. The teacher could have presented that topic as an example to the class.

As a future teacher, I would teach my students about digital safety, so that they know how to protect themselves online. There are multiple examples of digital safety activities online that teacher could use in their classroom, but my favorite one by far is found on Edutopia. Hertz (2012) stated that, “Teachers could have students watch the Internet Safety video at BrainPOP Jr. and then afterwards have students act out scenarios to show their understanding of the main concepts of the video.” I fancy this approach because students can work together as a team to brainstorm ideas of a scenario that isn’t digitally safe and then propose ideas of how they would solve the problem.

Sources:

Hertz, M. B. (2012). How to Teach Internet Safety to Younger Elementary Students [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/internet-safety-younger-elementary-mary-beth-hertz

Discovery Education. Digital Safety Resources. Retrieved from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/DigitalSafety/

Making Room for Students with Disabilities

Technology today has obviously improved compared to how it was back then. Some people think that its growing way too rapidly and can cause certain negative effects for the younger generation. But, what these people fail to realize is how useful technology can be, especially for people with disabilities. Technology helps them complete daily tasks that they’re not easily able to do on their own. And, because students spend half of their time in school, it’s important that technology resources are available to them so that they can participate along with their classmates. Teachers need to take into consideration students with disabilities needs when planning a lesson, creating activities, and setting up their classroom environment.

Lesson plans are essential to a teacher because they guide a lesson and keep it from going off task. Lesson plans also allow room for teachers to make modifications which can benefit students with disabilities. For me, the important parts of a lesson plan that include opportunities for students with disabilities to be successful are guided and independent practice, materials/ resources, and adaptations. Guided practice contributes to students with disabilities success because they’re able to work with others. Independent practice also contributes to students with disabilities success because teachers can determine whether the child understands the lesson and which areas they may need more help with. Resources is the most essential contributor to students with disabilities success because the child may have an impairment with their eyes, mouth, hands, etc. and they need that assistance to help them with their work both in school and at home. Lastly, adaptations are important to students with disabilities success because it allows them to have additional time to complete tasks.

Every student is unique. They each come from different backgrounds, have different values, beliefs, gifts, disabilities, etc. According to Fields, Meritt & Fields (2013), “To ignore differences in the classroom and expect that every child act in an identical manner is to ignore children and who they are” (p. 294). Teachers must recognize and respect these differences so that they can adjust in the ways in which they interact with students. As a future teacher, I would try to create activities that take into consideration students differences by providing an unlimited amount of ways for students to complete a task, activity or assignment. For example, a student’s strong suit isn’t in writing so instead he/ she may want to create a diagram This provides students the opportunity to use their strengths and develop a deeper understanding for the lesson. And, let’s say this doesn’t work because the student needs technology to assist them then I would do my part as a teacher by bringing it to the school’s attention and just keep following up until the student gets what they need.

At the beginning of the school year, teachers should create a classroom environment that takes into consideration all students’ needs, especially those students with disabilities. According to Bucholz and Sheffler (2009) the type of environment that a teacher creates and encourages can either increase or decrease a student’s ability to learn and feel comfortable as a member of the class. What the authors mean is that whether a teacher chooses to create a positive, accepting environment or not it will affect the students and how they treat one another. An approach is to set up students’ desk to where they are in small groups that way all students have enough room to move around the classroom. They will also be encouraged by the way the class is set up to accept others and to have more peer interaction.

When teachers take into considerations students with disabilities needs by planning lessons, creating activities, and setting up their classroom environment they are working towards students success in school and preparing them for the real world.

Sources:

Fields, M. V., Meritt, P. A., & Fields, D. M. (2013). Constructive Guidance and          Discipline: Birth to Age Eight. USA: Pearson.

Bucholz, J. L., & Sheffler, J. L. (2009). Creating a Warm and Inclusive Classroom Environment: Planning for All Children to Feel Welcome. Electronic Journal for Inclusive Edition, Volume 2 (No. 4), p. 1.