Internet Safety was a big topic during one of my classes a couple of weeks ago. Children are being more and more active on the internet and on many different social media accounts. In class, we learned what it meant to be a digital citizen. A digital citizen uses the internet safely, and responsibly, uses positive language when making posts, collaborating with others globally and so much more. Children especially in today’s world need to be taught how to be a proper digital citizen in order to be able to access and use the internet properly to avoid scams, bullying, etc. Prior to learning about internet safety in class, I knew that children needed to be taught the importance of digital/ internet safety. I have had personal experience with negative outcomes of internet use which was cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is bullying over the internet which can be comments made on social media that are false, or negative. Someone had made a fake social media account about my friend and I and was posting false information which would tarnish our reputation. I do not want anyone to have to experience cyberbullying especially when it is preventable through parents being more involved with their children’s use of the internet, properly teaching children how to use technology and the internet. Many parents and even teachers do not understand the importance of teaching young children how to be safe and responsible on the internet. Therefore, parents and teachers can check out this link to show to children about the internet. This digital poster is one I made myself in which it targets the audience of young children and teaches them how to be safe on the internet, what potential dangers to be aware of and information about cyber bullying.
I was very intrigued in this lesson in class especially because I felt as if I had a deeper connection with it since I was a victim of cyberbullying. My experience made this lesson really resonate with me in which I felt more involved and interested about learning this specific topic. I feel as if this is a great topic to teach to young children in schools. It can be taught through online games which will keep them engaged, and showing them videos such as this one- which teaches them online safety. I plan on showing videos and playing games with my future students to teach them the importance of online safety. One game in particular that children could play is https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/ which is a game where students can learn about scams, strangers who send friend requests and who to contact for help. It is so important that children know that online everyone is not their friend and that every website is not trustworthy. Parents and teachers need to be more involved with a child’s internet safety to prevent bullying, scams, strangers contacting them, and so much more that could end in something negative. They could teach the acronym of SMART, which stands for S-stay safe, M-don’t Meet up, A-Accepting files or friend requests, R-Reliable, T-Tell someone. This is a great acronym for students to learn when they are discussing online Safety.
In my future classroom, I will definitely teach my students the importance of online/ internet safety. They will watch videos, play games, have discussion, and be able to ask questions concerning this topic. I want them to understand what it means to be a digital citizen which also teaches them how to be smart on the internet. I will also send home letters to parents informing them that we are discussing this topic in class and urge them to also teach them the importance of this topic as well. Overall, this topic is very important to me in which I hope that soon every parent and teacher will teach this to their children/ students. It is very important that children know how to be safe on the internet to be able to access and use the internet and social media correctly and safely.
Here is a great post pertaining to this topic! https://www.connectsafely.org/safetytips/
Comments by jmjorda3