At Norwood School, we support all students in becoming responsible and informed digital citizens. The first and most important step is safety. Students learn to distinguish between private and public information and how to protect themselves online. During our library classes, we engage in lessons from Common Sense Media and Google's Be Internet Awesome to practice these skills. 

While today's students are considered digital natives, they may lack the skills necessary to question what they encounter online. With the rise of easily created fake images and the rapid spread of misinformation, it's important that we teach students to question and verify what they see online.  A key piece of our digital literacy curriculum is developing the critical thinking skills needed to distinguish credible information from false or misleading content. 

Digital citizenship also includes the ethical use of information. Students learn the importance of giving credit to others' work when conducting research. By introducing these concepts in the middle grades, we will help students understand their value and develop the skills needed to cite sources correctly.