Internet Safety and Twitter Chats

Digital citizenship is knowing how to use technology appropriately! We learned some seriously disturbing facts of how much of our personal information can actually be accessible online, which is also known as your digital footprint. I think this was such an important exercise because people really are unaware of how many things store and upload your information. Here is a photo which exemplifies what digital citizenship truly is. Additionally, I have included a link which compiled sources discussing this concept in a bit more detail! Also, I linked a digital poster I made for students to learn about what to do if they encounter cyberbullying, which is another part of digital citizenship.

“Digital Citizenship” by www.graniteschools.org/edtech/digcit/

The next stage of this unit was really getting to know our professional twitter accounts. We had to make an account for the course, but haven’t had any real assignments with it yet. We had to participate in a debate arguing whether or not schools should include more technology in the classroom, or not, and also on digital equity. While 2 groups were debating, the other 2 groups would post their thoughts on twitter using a hashtag to respond to one another. For some reason, our class is a little bit shy speaking up in the classroom, so I was really impressed at how people felt so comfortable sharing their thoughts in an online chat setting.

Next, we participated in a Twitter Chat. If you don’t know what a twitter chat is, don’t worry! I didn’t know it was a thing prior to last week. Here is a resource I like with some extra background so you can understand a little clearer!

I chose one with Mr. Dayson Pasion (@ @MrDpasion), who came in and spoke to our class! It was a discussion which was led by a student at his school. The topic of the chat was ICE and immigrants in the Raleigh area. This is obviously a very important thing to be aware of, and I really enjoyed the discussion, as a lot of teachers and faculty brought different perspectives and thoughts in.

How this can be applied in my future classroom

• I love the idea of approaching classroom discussions in a similar way as we did our debate in class! I think this idea could be really great for classes which are quieter, or students who are a bit more timid to speak up in front of the whole class!
• Additionally, Twitter chats are something that can be easily applied as an assignment. If everyone in the class creates a Twitter account, we could even host short twitter chats on a certain day of the week as a quick and fun homework assignment. This would be ideal for a classroom with students maybe in high school!
• For students of a younger age, I love the idea of creating a class Twitter page that the parents of the children can use to access pictures from class time, what we are learning, and things going on at school. This would be a great way to stay connected with others in a fun way. I could even create a hashtag specific to my class so we can all find the posts easily.

Here is an awesome video about how Roosevelt High School is using technology in their classroom.