#DigiFoot12 -- Digital Citizenship

I'm trying to catch up on my #DigiFoot12 MOOC class.  We are starting week 5.  So I'm listening to Scott Monahan's Blackboard Collaborate recording from Week 3 of the #DigiFoot12 class.   Here's the direct link to the activities on the Wikispace.

Here are my two thoughts:

• I like the idea of having "sheltered spaces" where students can practice their digital citizenship skills, especially when students are young.  I work with 5th and 6th grade students.  I think that if teachers can help students use more open social media outlets in a group or anonymous way.  I liked the idea of having students use Twitter on a class account instead of every student needing their own Twitter account.
• I like the idea of creating Google Alerts to see in what ways your name is out there.  I started my own Google Alert to see how it works as a way of monitoring my own digital footprint. 
• Two places that I want to go back to and explore more is linoit.com and Kidblog.com 
• One person that I want to read more from is Danah Boyd.
• One book that I want to read is: 

  Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out Mizuko Ito

Cyberbullying Smart Notebook slides for upper elementary and intermediate grades

I work at a 5th and 6th grade school that has a weekly class meeting time where we are working on character education and our anti-bullying curriculum.  This week I'm in charge of the cyberbullying lessons.  What I found to use on the Web was either way too young for my savvy 6th graders or felt too old for them.

So I created a SmartNotebook lesson for our teachers to use. It includes three scenarios to help the kids identify what cyberbullying is and a special "Cyber Cruel or Cyber Kind" self assessment quiz that helps the students identify which online behaviors are positive (like e-mailing a friend with a "Put UP" rather than a "Put DOWN") and which are negative (choosing to log into someone else's mail account because you know their password).

I'm really happy with the way that it turned out because I tried to make sure that it was very positive and oriented on equipping each student with an action plan that they can use when they feel that they are being cyberbullied.

It's available for a buck on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.  

2012 -- My BEST year EVER!

While I hope that 2012 is my BEST YEAR EVER, I'd also like to help the students at my school realize that they can make it their best year as well.  So I've created a collection of three activities that focus on goal setting and character education.  It's on SALE for a BUCK on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

But I also made the third part of it available for free.  I'm calling that part "So This Year" and it asks students to consider a goal that they plan on achieving this year.  They need to consider the steps that they will take in order to achieve this goal.  Then they illustrate it as a comic strip. 



Living it LARGE is my shot at getting students to consider which character traits they admire in their friends and adults that they look up to.  It's called "Living it LARGE" because I think that those traits should be lived as if they are written in ALL CAPS!  LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING!  OUT LOUD!  REALLY REALLY LOUD!

My goals this year are to continue to love my job and to continue to come up interesting ways to help learners be critical of information as well as LOVE READING! 

Red Ribbon Week is October 22nd through 30th!

Red Ribbon Week is the oldest drug prevention campaign in the country and it honors DEA Officer Enrique "Kiki" Camerena, who died while doing his job.  For more information, you can check imdrugfree.com.

My school is planning to celebrate this week with age appropriate activities for our 5th and 6th graders.  We are definitely going to be tying red ribbons on our chain link fence.   Here are two activities that I'm planning on doing with my character education teaching partner.  BOTH ARE FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers.

• Circles of Support -- This lesson plan allows students to reflect upon the people who "have their back" in times of trouble. It's not very long but should have a strong impact. 

• What is Peer Pressure? Notebook Slides -- This lesson plan is on SmartBoard Notebook and lets students identify the ways that peer pressure affects their lives and how they can work together with their classmates to reduce the peer pressure that they feel.