Role - Classroom Teacher

We Need Your Help

Congratulations on engaging students through the use of social media tools like Edmodo! Unfortunately, we've heard reports that your work is raising eyebrows with parents and school administrators. You need to get a mental picture on how other educators are approaching this issue in their school setting so you can prepare a presentation to share with various constituent groups.

You'll be guided to look closely at three main issues and to find examples (facts, statistics, quotations, or any other inputs) that you think provide important insights on the issues. After you've collected three examples for each issue, your job will be to put the information together into one statement that shares your understanding as a "Truth" about that particular key issue related to digital citizenship and social media. Finally, you will combine what you've learned into an action plan.

Exploring Examples to Discover the Truth - Individual Activity

Issue #1 - What is the connection between Digital Citizenship and Social Media?

Visit each web site, then copy-n-paste or write a 1 sentence take-away--an "infobit" on your Concept Builder Notes page.

  1. Digital Citizenship and Social Media

  2. Parents, Digital Citizenship and Social Media

  3. Turning Students into Good Digital Citizens

Issue #2 - How are other educators using social media responsibly?

Visit each web site, then copy-n-paste or write a 1 sentence take-away--an "infobit" on your Concept Builder Notes page.

  1. Slideshow - 20 Ways to Use Edmodo in the Classroom

  2. Blog - Social Media for School Communication

  3. Article - 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

Issue #3 - How are school districts handling mobile devices in the classroom?

Visit each web site, then copy-n-paste or write a 1 sentence take-away--an "infobit" on your Concept Builder Notes page.

  1. Policy - District Responsible Use Agreement (RUA)

  2. Article - BYOD Teachers Talk Classroom Use

  3. Article - 3 Ways Your School Can Join the Digital Revolution

Focusing your Argument: An Action Plan - Small Group Activity

By looking at the Digital Citizenship and Social Media situation from the perspective of a classroom teacher, you have become an expert on the issues. Your team (and the World Wide Web community) need your expert advice. In your opinion, what would be the most effective plan of action to address responsible use of social media in schools? In other words, what do we need to do to "make it happen?" Use the truths you have learned to make sure we tap into goldmines that could help everyone and avoid landmines that could threaten us all.

Your Action Plan should be a clear statement about what needs to be done next and why. It does not have to be long, but it should be thoughtful.

After you've developed a draft statement from your perspective, work with your team to prepare a clearly worded Action Plan statement to share with the whole group.