Entry #2

All of the outcomes relating to NETS-T4 – Promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility are extremely important to teach to students, especially when those students are constantly interacting with technology and the internet. Our society is not going to become any less technologically focused or advanced. This makes it just as important for students to be aware of the rules and norms of the online communities they are involved in, as it is for them to know the rules and norms of their “irl” (in real life) communities.

The outcome that I think has the largest and furthest reaching consequences if it is not properly modeled or promoted is the one that states that educators should “promote safety and health in relation to technology”. Not only is this outcome vague, but that vagueness allows it to be hugely broad in its scope. Safety in relation to technology could be considered anything from not revealing personal information about yourself and recognizing scams, to being careful with technology around water. Health in relation to technology has an equally diverse meaning, ranging anywhere from being careful not to strain your eyes by looking at a screen for too long, to being aware of the mental health issues that can be aggravated by social media.

Often, these issues of health and safety go hand-in-hand. By informing students of the dangers of technology, without making them fear it, we can help them cultivate a strong relationship with the technological world. In the classroom, I would structure my teaching practice to promote safety and health in relation to technology by including little bits of it in regular lessons. When the students are working with computers I will remind them we need to be careful with how we handle computers physically because there are a lot of small and delicate parts that make it up. I will include notes on how to be safe online when working on projects that involved online research. Small reminders about mental health would be more difficult to incorporate into other lessons, but the conversation could be a whole lesson by itself or a conversation about a current event article relating to social media. I myself would model health and safety in relation to technology in my use of it, to provide both explicit and implicit examples of being a good digital citizen.