We Are Digital Citizens

Students will:

• Will take an active role as digital citizens in their classroom. 
• Will learn about Acceptable Use and work collaboratively to create a classroom digital citizenship contract.
• Will use Canva to design class agreements and Padlet to share ideas and reflections collaboratively.

Vocabulary Words:

1. Digital Citizen: A digital citizen is a member of a worldwide community connected through the internet.
2. Acceptable Use Policy (AUP): An AUP is a set of rules for using technology safely and responsibly.

To prepare for this lesson:

1. Check out Interland, an adventure-style game that is very interactive and memorable. The game is built specifically to teach online safety + digital citizenship.
2. Students explore worlds:
   • Kind Kingdom (cyberbullying/kindness)
   • Reality River (spot fake info)
   • Tower of Treasure (passwords)
3. Review your district AUP and simplify the language for students.
4. Create a Padlet board (columns: Respect, Safety, Responsibility, Kindness) 
   • Here is a sample https://padlet.com/courtney_conley/we-are-digital-citizens-92mehysv67c6
5. Prepare a Canva template for a class poster or contract (optional scaffold).
6. Watch the video, What is Digital Citizenship?
   
   

   Below are tutorial videos you may watch, depending on your activity.

   • How to Master Canva in Less than 30 Minutes https://youtu.be/o3JU8cHtR9s?si=1effEa-_egPKHSH6
   • Introduction to Padlet https://youtu.be/Cz5q8sC0BEQ?si=sqzfPSIhlCUupExC
   
   

   Some optional thoughts area:

   •  Provide sentence starters (e.g., “A good digital citizen always…”)
   • Offer Canva templates with pre-filled headings
   • Allow voice-to-text for Padlet responses

   
   

   
   
   

See the Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4students website in the Teacher Resources. 

Directions for this activity:

1. Begin by sharing this video What is Digital Citizenship?  with the whole group. 
   
   
2. Discuss the questions: 
   1. What is a digital citizen?
   2. What does it mean to act responsibly online?
   3. What does a good digital citizen do?
3. Have students play Play Interland - Be Internet Awesome. Give them time to play at least one of the worlds.
   
   
4. Once they have discussed digital citizenship and played Interland, have students post ideas on PADLET. 
   1. Sample answers taken from Common Sense Media:
   2. Follow rules on computers and electronic devices.
   3. Protect yours and others’ private information.
   4. Communicate responsibly with each other.
   5. Respect the ideas and opinions of others.
   6. Stand up to cyberbullying.
   7. Give credit for others’ work.

5. Explain that part of being a good digital citizen is following your school district’s Acceptable Use Policy.

6. Talk about Acceptable Use Policy-  

7. Below is a good example from Baltimore schools on what is in an acceptable use policy.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MarXQ8IRIbE

8. Look at your district’s acceptable use policy. Put it in terms students can understand.

9. Have students post their ideas on the PADLET- https://padlet.com/courtney_conley/we-are-digital-citizens-92mehysv67c6. Teacher Example

10. Class Activity: Digital Citizenship Poster 

    • As a class, break into groups and come up with ways your class will be positive digital citizens.

    • Select a few for your classroom rules. Have students create posters on ways they will be good digital citizens in the classroom.

      • In small groups, students design a Digital Citizenship Poster or Class Contract in Canva. 

      • Include:

        • Title (We Are Digital Citizens)

        • 4–6 class agreements or rules

        • Make sure it has visual clarity and is easily read.

        • Contain images to bring excitement to the poster.

Different options for assessing the students:

• Observations
• Check for understanding through discussion
• Post these in your classroom for the year or to your class website or CMS.