According to digitalcitizenship.net, “Digital citizenship can be defined as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use.” This definition is extremely broad, the site breaks the information down into nine different categories. These categories all go into the different parts of being on-line, from buying and selling goods online to digital rights and responsibilities. These are just two of the categories to think about when digital citizenship is brought up. I think that this is such a broad topic that so many people should take the time to learn about but learning about it ends up being put on the back burner because many don’t think that they really need to. I think that teaching digital citizen to our children is the best way to make sure they grow into responsible adults online. Here is a video explaining digital citizenship a little bit more.
I think one of the best articles that I found was from a blog by Craig Badura. The article was “The Digital Citizenship Survival Kit” which also lead into other articles to discover fun interesting ways to teach students about digital citizenship. Having toothpaste and a padlock might not make sense until he uses his explanations. The padlock stands for your passwords and how you shouldn’t share them with others, with exception to parents. The toothpaste you would have the kids squeeze out onto a plate or something and then tell them to put it back into the tube. Let them see how much of a challenge that is to help them realize that what you say on or offline has an impact and you may not be able to take back what you said.
The main rule that I would like to teach students about digital citizenship is treat others as you would like to be treated. I think that applies to everyday life as well as when you are online. I think that if we as educators give students good rules to follow that they can incorporate into all parts of their lives they will be able to become better citizens in life and online. Leading through example is something that is highly underappreciated and I think that so many times teachers, or anyone in a child’s life, forget that they are being watched and imitated. I believe if we simply practice what we preach then the young people in our lives will grow up with a good sense of moral and ethics to guide them through life.
MacKenna Marie 
I really enjoyed reading your blog! I think that the padlock and toothpaste idea is great to help teach students about what they post online is very important. I think that the toothpaste idea would really help students see how hard it is to get something off the internet once you have already posted it. I also think it is important for us as future teachers to realize that our students will imitate what we do so we need to be good role models if we want them to do what we ask.
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I think that the toothpaste is great for on and offline learning. I am very excited to see if it works with my kids that I work with during the summer! Thank you for reading my article!
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Mackenna, I think the biggest and easiest take away about teaching digital citizenship to students is that they should treat others as they want to be treated. So easy, yet so very difficult for many online users. No wonder cyberbullying is getting worse. If students would truly understand the importance of that lesson and implement not only while they are online, but in their everyday in, I think we would see a significant drop in teen suicides. Nice job.
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I completely agree. I think that if schools taught these children at a young age that what they say or type has an effect on people they will start to understand life on and offline better. Thanks for reading!
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