Artifact: Digital Citizenship & CyberSafety Initiative
Overview:
This artifact highlights the Digital Citizenship & CyberSafety initiative I started when I worked at Del Valle ISD. The primary purpose of the initiative was to promote digital citizenship and cybersafety education for all Del Valle ISD students, educators, and academic community, as well as to ensure accountability for eRate funding and Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) compliance. The activities found on the lesson page provide students with curriculum about appropriate online behavior, safety and privacy, cyberbullying, and empathy.
Reflection:
When I arrived at Del Valle ISD, they didn't have a digital citizenship program in place. As the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the district, I developed this program so that we could educate all students as well as staff on how to make positive choices in the online environment. The initiative was well-received and it is still being implemented today.
Artifact: Restorative Discipline (Blog Post)
Overview:
This artifact is a blog entry I wrote about restorative discipline. Restorative discipline works to create empathy and understanding between victims and offenders to ultimately promote peace. By writing this blog entry, I hope to educate about how schools can bring about empathy and justice through restorative practices.
Reflection:
Reflecting on my career working at various school districts, I realize that many schools actually operate out of fear and compliance rather than trust, positive relationships, or a sense of community. Writing this blog helped me realize that we need to empower our students with knowledge, empathy, and awareness to make good choices. Restorative practices can help achieve this.
Artifact: Be Kind Friendly Ghost Activity (Get your own copy of Be Kind Ghost Activity here.)
Overview:
This artifact is a Be Kind Ghost Activity that I created. The purpose of this artifact is to give educators an example and a template they can use in their classroom that focuses on students being kind.
Reflection:
I created this artifact after reading about a social media app that all the kids are crazy about - the New Nice App. The app comes with a twist—it’s nice. The app, short for “to be honest,” works by letting users send anonymous compliments to their friends and contacts. Therefore, I want to create an activity that promoted kindess. With this Google Slide activity, students write three kind things they will do. Next, they design their friendly ghost. The ghost doesn’t even have to look like Casper!
This artifact is part of the blog post I wrote on ways to Celebrate Digital Citizenship Week.