The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs III: #EmpathyandDigitalCitizenship

Showing posts with label #EmpathyandDigitalCitizenship. Show all posts

Monday, November 18, 2019

November 2019 Teacher Talk

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It's November Teacher Talk Time.....Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. Time sure flies. We have so many great tips and ideas for you from awesome educators. Be sure to take a look at what everyone has to say.

If you're interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog link-up, sign up here....The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, be sure to mention one of our names.

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Empathy and Digital Citizenship

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

I can only speak for myself, but I bet that many of us have not even thought about speaking with our students concerning using good manners when commenting on that blog post, or stating opinions on social media sites. Not only do our classes need to be educated about online etiquette, or netiquette but they have to learn to be careful about what kind of information they share online.

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For the Love of Bookmaking

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

November . . . the time of year when students are starting to get antsy for Winter Break, yet it's still not close enough. Teachers are tired, parent conference time and report cards are here, the time change has made it darker earlier. . . Bookmaking is the perfect solution for reinvigorating your students' writing in any content area!

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Enough
By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Our family has a reunion every year at Thanksgiving time. We are scattered all over the country (actually all over the world) now, but each year as many as possible try to meet up for a banquet cooked by professional chefs (yay!) rather than by any of us.
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The value of learning about number lines

By Renee Heiss of All American Teacher Tools

Number lines help your students to learn skills they will need for the rest of their lives. Use these tips all year long!

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The Superintendent's Tears

by Gini Musmanno of Reading Spotlight

We made our superintendent cry. Read about how we did it .

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Meaningful Activities to Do Before Winter Break

By Charlene Tess of Charlene Tess

Here are two free activities to use before the Winter Holidays.

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Supporting Reluctant Writers
By Marcy Howe of It's a Teacher Thing

Learn easy, effective tips for supporting reluctant writers in your 4th through 8th grade classroom.

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Gentle Rebellion 101: A Teaching Story
By Tracy Willis of Mossy Oak Musings

"Once upon a time, there was a fearsome dandelion fighter. Every week, he rode a 20 horsepower mower across an immaculate lawn... a lawn manicured so carefully that when the neighborhood association whipped out its Home Depot measuring tape, no matter where they measured, his grass was exactly 1 1/2 inches tall... "
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Looking deeper at craft and structure in the Common Core
By Lisa Robles of LisaTeachR

Looking deeper at craft and structure in the Common Core
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Five Tips for Your Native American Lessons
By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching

Tips to make your Native American unit a success.
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Be sure to click the links to read the blog posts from all of our FAB educators

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Kindness and Digital Citizenship

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to help bring empathy, empowerment and equity to every classroom out there. With that in mind, I’ve joined a group of compassionate, caring, and creative educators to bring you monthly posts highlighting ideas for developing the 3 E's in your classroom and school community. Our goal is to make it easier for you to include these values in your every day teaching by offering ideas and free materials to support your teaching endeavors. Now, more than ever, nurturing EQUITY, EMPATHY & student EMPOWERMENT is crucial for all our students.

Years ago, before the onset of digital technology, an educator’s job

basically consisted of teaching academics. Social Skills were learned at home. It was the job of the parents to teach their child to say please and thank you, to respect adults, to treat others the way they would like to be treated, not to talk to strangers and so on. Now-a-days, a teacher’s job has changed in so many ways. A large amount of our charges have not learned how to relate to others in the world around them. So we’ve had to set up Character Building lessons to help them learn empathy for others, how to deal with that bully, to wait their turn, and so much more.

I can only speak for myself, but I bet that many of us have not even thought about speaking with our students concerning using good manners when commenting on that blog post, or stating opinions on social media sites. Not only do our classes need to be educated about online etiquette, or netiquette, but they have to learn to be careful about what kind of information they share online, there are many predators. It is important for them to understand that they should never give out personal information, unless they know who they are talking to and it is someone that they can trust. It’s a scary world out there and now it is getting smaller due to the world wide web. Say hello to Digital Citizenship.

Topics to be stressed when teaching Digital Citizenship or (Netiquette)

1. Before you post a blog, or a comment, read it out loud, see how it sounds. Remember that you are communicating with another person who cannot see your face, or read your visual clues. What you mean to say may not always come across the way you meant it. So you need to be careful of the tone that you’re using. Remember, treat others the way you want to be treated, with compassion, generosity, kindness and a spirit that shows forgiveness..

2. Don’t type in all capital letters, it looks like you’re yelling and you will turn people off.

3. Remember that whatever you say online will be there forever. This is known as your digital footprint. You don’t want something that you’ve written online to come and haunt you years later. If you're not sure about what you've written, ask yourself how you'd feel if someone said that to you.

4. If you’re posting facts about something, make sure that it is

accurate.

5. Make sure that what you write is your own. If not, give credit

to where you got it from.

6. Be safe, don’t give out personal information.

7. Whatever you write online is subject to criticism, there are people who may not agree with you and wil say so, and sometimes not in a nice way. Try not to get offended by what they say. If you reply back, do it constructively and with kindness.

8. Be careful when you post a selfie, you could get negative

comments, there are many cyber-bullies out there.

9. If you come across a cyber-bully, stand up to him/her,
don't let the things they say frighten you. Do report this
activity to an adult

10. Bullies are not happy people and they want to scare you

and or make you feel bad. Help them by showing compassion,

they may not get it from anyone else.Think about how good

you'll feel by not sinking to their level.

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There is a wealth of information on the net to help improve digital citizenship. I'd like to share a simple acronym that I found online which your students should learn to ask themselves befoe postng on the web. The acronym is THINK....which many people do not do.

T...Is it true?
H...Is it hurtful?
I....Is it illegal?
N...Is it Necessary?
K...Is it kind?

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An instructional technology coordinator, Jay Sonnenberg, in Katy,TX, came up with a wonderful way to teach empathy to his students through the use of cell phone text messaging. He created a "Text it Forward," initiative in which students were to text positive affirmations, and encouraging messages to their friends. This was done through a text messaging service called "Remind." As you can well imagine this worked like a charm bringing everyone closer and created a more caring environment. This is what Sonnenberg said about the program, "It really helps our students see that our entire district is in this together and we have a common goal of being productive members of our online community.” His students created this video that I'd like to share with you.

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Here's a poster that you can use in your classroom to remind your students that they should always strive to be a positive and empathetic digital citizen.