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A groundhog with brown and gray fur sits on mulch under leafy green branches, partially hidden by the foliage.

Math’s Groundhog Day

by Ian Egan May 24, 2018

written by Ian Egan 5 minutes read

When are we going to teach math understanding, and not just knowing?
By Ana Redmond

I keep reliving this conversation over and over again with different moms. One mom, who now runs an after school center for kids, said when her daughter was young she was behind in math. So, she took her daughter to one of the math centers that make kids do worksheets in a very strict progression. She was excited to see her daughter solve 3+6 one day on the worksheet.

Another day, she was driving with her daughter in the car, and asked her daughter a situational question. There are 6 cars in this parking lot, and 3 on the road, how many in total. She did not expect the answer she got: “I don’t know.” The mom eventually realized that her very smart daughter had memorized the math symbols and answers without understanding their meaning at all.

I met another mom, a very highly qualified Russian immigrant with advanced science degrees, at an event at which I was talking about math learning by doing. She described the time her son was in 3rd grade, and desperate and frustrated with math. The teacher required them to do math in a minute. And, if they weren’t able to, a note came home, to make sure the parents made him do so repeatedly. After several frustrating attempts at math memorization during which her son screamed in frustration, the mom took him out of school, gave up her job and started homeschooling.

Recently, I met another concerned mom and dad whose daughter is struggling with math. Her daughter is in 2nd grade and having trouble with math facts at school. She is frustrated. Her daughter is supposed to work on her math facts at home. She says teaching her daughter math is like Groundhog Day. Her daughter memorizes the math facts, and then the next day they start with the same facts all over again when she forgets them (just like Groundhog Day).

6 years ago, that was also my story. I started building math games for my daughter when she started falling behind in math in kindergarten. She was getting extremely frustrated and agitated when it was time to do math. Yet, she was an advanced reader, reading at 2nd grade level. It was not that she was incapable. The problem was how math is taught to young kids.

Adults seem to believe that if kids memorize enough math facts kids will figure out the meaning of the symbols without being told what it is. It is true that some kids do figure it out on their own. Many kids either don’t understand the meaning of the math or don’t do so till much later, by when they have already been branded as poor in math.

Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics learning at Stanford writes in this article:

“The irony of the emphasis on speed is that some of our world’s leading mathematicians are not fast at math. Laurent Schwartz — who won math’s highest award, the Fields medal, in 1950 — wrote in his autobiography that he was a slow thinker in math, who believed he was ‘stupid’ until he realized that ‘what is important is to deeply understand things and their relations to each other. This is where intelligence lies. The fact of being quick or slow isn’t really relevant.’”

Math is not computation. Math is patterns and symbols that have meaning. Math is a means of communicating complex ideas.

As a software developer, I also recognize the irony of forcing our children to learn math facts. I never use memorized math facts for calculations ever. I couldn’t even if I wanted. I don’t remember them. But, I constantly use math. I convert the real world to math. I convert requirements into equations and procedures that the computer then runs. The important part of math is understanding how to represent a real world problem using mathematical symbols. How math connects to everyday things. What math symbols mean.

That’s the math I taught my daughter. I built her games that explained concepts simply. She understood the meaning of the symbols by solving simulated problems. The understanding she gained built her number sense. I never again asked her to memorize facts. But, once she understood the meaning of the symbols, the memorization happened automatically. If she forgot the math fact, as she sometimes did, she just went back to basic principle to figure it out again. She developed a strong foundation in math along with her confidence in her ability to figure it out. Now, she is one of the best students in math in her 6th grade class.

Albert Einstein famously said:

“Any fool can know, the point is to understand.”

Then, why do we keep teaching math facts (knowing) instead of math concepts (understanding)? When will we all stop reliving Math’s Groundhog Day?

Previously published in Medium and The Seattle Times
Author

Ana Redmond is the founder and CTO of infinut.com, where she designs and builds touch-screen games to teach math concepts to elementary-school children. She has worked as a software developer for 20 years and taught software-development courses as adjunct faculty at University of Washington Professional and Continuing Education. She is the mother of two daughters.

Follow Ana Redmond on Twitter

Further Reading

AllKindOfMinds – Understanding Math Concepts

Edutopia – 6 Ways to Help Students Understand Math

TED Talks – Roger Antonsen: Using Math To Understand The World

May 24, 2018 0 comments

Birds perched on power lines resemble musical notes on a staff, with a large treble clef symbol added on the left, creating the illusion of a musical composition against a cloudy sky.

Hidden

Adding to the STEAM Toolbox

by Ian Egan May 23, 2018

written by Ian Egan 4 minutes read

Teaching the arts instills confidence in the creative process

Two musicians play violins in an orchestra, focusing intently on their instruments. The warm lighting highlights their faces and violins, while other musicians and music stands are blurred in the background. Cameron Guerrero has been the Director of Bands and Orchestras for the Granada Hills Charter High School in southern California for the last three years, but even in that short time he’s seen significant changes starting in education. From the realization of the importance of the arts in the STEAM classroom to the shift in focus from standardized testing for all students to adaptive testing for individual students, things are changing for the better in his estimation.

“Using standardized testing, especially in the music classroom, just flat out doesn’t work,” Cameron says. “Every student comes into the classroom with different levels of familiarity with their instrument or different levels of familiarity with music as a subject.”

To measure and assess all students of all talents and skill levels against one standard completely defeats the entire purpose of an arts education, Cameron notes. “It’s one of those things where we have to approach it from the standpoint of, has this student improved from where they were at the previous assessment at the beginning of the year?”

In addition to the collaboration and teamwork skills that band and orchestra membership teaches, learning an instrument and practicing daily is a necessary and much-needed brief disconnect from the everyday saturation of technology in a student’s life. Cameron believes that practicing the arts is not only useful in maintaining a spiritual balance, but it’s a healthy and refreshing break in a young person’s hectic daily routine. Translucent musical notes and bubbles float against a blue background with soft light and swirling patterns, creating a dreamy, ethereal atmosphere. “It just offers them the opportunity to unplug a little bit for a moment. That’s what I tell them, that they should use their daily practice as a mini-vacation from their daily life.”

With the advancement of the STEM movement and the subsequent STEAM movement, Cameron says that more and more school administrations are seeing that music and the arts are not just extra things to be inserted into an already crowded curriculum. Music and the arts are necessary elements of education that consistently keep kids more engaged during the school day and in many cases even gives them a reason to come to school. Studies have shown that an arts education offers students both the tools and the opportunity to think differently in the classroom.

“I think that walking into a music room or walking into an art class and using a creative aspect of their brain differently to create something and not necessarily just solving a problem motivates and instills confidence,” Cameron says. He believes that just creating something and finding a way to get that creativity out is a very cool process to experience and ultimately a valuable set of tools for a student to know as they go through their lives.

About Cameron Guerrero

A young man with short blond hair is smiling at the camera. He is wearing a collared shirt and a sweater. The background is blurred, showing hints of trees or foliage. Cameron Guerrero is the Director of Bands and Orchestras at Granada Hills Charter High School in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley where he oversees 230 instrumental music students on a daily basis. Mr. Guerrero believes strongly that the arts and music education—while also inherently important—are the ideal tools to provide a positive, life-changing experience and to teach students the value and importance of mutual respect, citizenship, and understanding for all people as well as an appreciation for and love of the arts.

Mr. Guerrero has performed and toured all over the US and Europe with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps from Concord, CA, and won two DCI World Championships while marching (2010, 2012). He now serves as the Visual Caption Head for Blue Devils B.

Cameron holds his degree in Music Education from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA.
AuthorDr. Berger is one of many industry education correspondents for the Mind Rocket Media Group, An educator and former school administrator. His video interview work and conversational podcasts have been featured in various media outlets. He often hosts education panel discussions and develops strategic content. As an academic Dr. Berger is a guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. A former assistant principal, he has been an adjunct undergraduate professor and developer of online college courses. He is a passionate Detroit sports fan who has also adopted Nashville sports teams as his own.

Contact the Mind Rocket Media Group if you are interested in an industry interview and a placement on EdCircuit.

Education Week – STEM vs. STEAM: Do the Arts Belong?
Spectator – Why the arts are needed to put the ‘A’ into ‘STEAM’
ScienceDirect – Full STEAM Ahead: The Benefits of Integrating the Arts Into STEM

May 23, 2018 2 comments

A digital illustration of a glass-like globe showing Africa and Europe, surrounded by translucent rings resembling planetary orbits, set against a dark background with small red triangular accents.

3 Ways to Make Digital Citizenship Part of Your Everyday Teaching

by Ian Egan May 22, 2018

written by Ian Egan 5 minutes read

Tips for modeling responsible tech use and critical thinking by Merve Lapus

We often hear from educators who feel like they don’t have the time to address digital citizenship in their classrooms. With an already overloaded to-do list of annual teaching objectives, setting aside a week (or even a day) to focus on responsible technology use — let alone making time to plan those extra lessons — feels challenging.

Shouldn’t these skills be taught in homeroom? Or by the media specialist during library time? Sure, many schools find integrating digital citizenship as a stand-alone program within those classes works well and allows for clear and measurable implementation school-wide. However, digital citizenship skills don’t have to be presented as targeted lessons. They can also be integrated into our everyday teaching.

Here are three ways to make digital citizenship part of how we teach, rather than a thing set apart:

1.) Highlight research and media-literacy skills.

Research is an essential skill for learning across general and subject-based classrooms. As most student research today starts with a Google or Wikipedia search, how do we help students identify credible information online? Skills like fact-checking, reading around the page, or using reverse image search can help students build a toolkit of solid research skills.

In addition, try introducing students to the SEARCH strategy to support research across all content areas:

S: Select research questions and search tools. Have one or more questions that get to the core of what you want to find out in your search. Also, choose search engines and tools most relevant to what you’re looking for.

E: Extract keywords and terms. You can find effective keywords by highlighting the key terms from your research questions.

A: Apply search strategies, such as adding quotation marks or a minus sign or specifying the type of information you need.

R: Run your search. Run a search on the terms you’ve chosen and review the results. Remember, you should check out multiple sources.

CH: Chart your search. Avoid repeating work you’ve already done by jotting down what you’ve searched for and where you’ve searched for it.

2.) Establish norms for communication in collaborative environments.

Many classrooms use collaborative tools to create classroom assignments, work on group projects, and provide feedback. Tools like Microsoft OneNote, Google Drive, and others create feedback spaces that can be more direct, untethered from the school day, and accessible in real time. As we set expectations for how our students communicate in the classroom, we should reinforce these ideas within their interactive, collaborative online learning spaces. Establishing norms for communication both online and in class supports expectations more consistently.

As an added layer of learning, consider encouraging any feedback students give online to be given in person during the next class period. If students feel uncomfortable giving feedback in person, they should reassess whether their online comments were appropriate.

3.) Model digital citizenship on social media.

One of the best ways to teach digital citizenship skills in your classroom is to be a role model through your approach to technology use. Both school-based and public social media tools offer a great platform for role-modeling. If you’re using an online discussion tool like TodaysMeet or Backchannel Chat, keep an eye on the conversations so you can interject to address misuse. When you share an online article with your students, walk them through how you determined the credibility of that piece before you posted it.

For educators looking to explore how students might use open social media platforms for learning, consider setting up an approval process for tweets, snaps, and general posts through a collaborative online document. Or you might look into tools like Class Intercom to allow students to generate posts for school social accounts that are gated for review before they post live. Modeling these practices consistently can help set a new norm for how our school communities use social media tools.

Addressing digital citizenship in a stand-alone curriculum or set of lessons is great, but it may not be possible for many educators. By keeping these skills at the top of your mind and weaving them into your everyday instruction, you can make digital citizenship part of the classroom culture and help students establish better habits in school and at home.

This piece originally appeared on Common Sense Education.
Author

Merve Lapus is responsible for the overall outreach strategy for Common Sense Education and oversees a team that works directly with school leadership to impact school communities using technology for learning. Collaborating with school networks, state-level organizations, and community leaders, Merve is committed to fostering a whole-community approach to digital teaching and establishing supportive learning spaces for children and families to thrive in a world with media and technology.

Common Sense Education helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to navigate the digital world with confidence. Get free resources including full reviews of digital tools, ready-made lesson plans, videos, webinars, and more at https://www.commonsense.org/education.

Merve has over 17 years of experience driving education technology initiatives across school programs and building educator confidence through professional development and strategic implementation. Merve continues to keynote education-based events across the United States and delivers professional development to school networks, districts, and major conferences. He sits on a number of steering committees addressing school climate and state policy initiatives within his local counties and is currently a Board level contributor for CUE SF (Computer Using Educators San Francisco).

Merve holds a BA in psychology and sociology from the University of San Francisco and is often behind a camera snapping pictures of his wife and two daughters dancing around the Bay Area. You can follow Merve on Twitter.

Further Reading

Edutopia – What Your Students Really Need to Know About Digital Citizenship

TeachHUB – How to Teach Digital Citizenship

Edudemic – Teacher’s Guide to Digital Citizenship

May 22, 2018 0 comments

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Digital Citizenship Online Learning Project-based learning Educators K-12 Teachers

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation

by Ian Egan May 16, 2018

written by Ian Egan 7 minutes read

Part 5: Digital learners process pictures, sounds, color and video before text

by Ryan L. Schaaf

Series Synopsis: Due to continuous digital bombardment and the emergence of the new digital landscape, today’s youth process information, interact and communicate in fundamentally different ways than any previous generation before them. Meanwhile, many of us, having grown up in a relatively low-tech, stable, and predictable world, are constantly struggling with the speed of change, technological innovation and the freedom to access the overwhelming sea of information online – all defining characteristics of the digital world of both today and the swiftly-approaching future.

Based on the award-winning book, Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation: Strategies and Apps That Work, this 12-part article series will provide a comprehensive profile of nine core learning attributes of digital learners, and the core teaching, learning, and assessment strategies that can be used to appeal to their digital lifestyle and learning preferences. Readers will gain a clear understanding of various research-based strategies to optimize learning for the digital generation in the new digital landscape.

Part 5: Attribute #3: Digital learners prefer processing pictures, sounds, color and video before they process text.

“Learning in the classroom where a textbook is the only resource is like looking at a travel brochure and calling it a vacation.”

— Justin Tarte (Teacher, Tech Enthusiast)

For generations, graphics were generally static illustrations, photos or diagrams that accompanied the text and provided further clarification after the fact. Most of us can remember reading a paper-based Encyclopedia Britannica or a Webster’s Dictionary when we were younger. Back then, the primary information was provided by text, and the images were merely intended to complement the text. But for digital learners, the relationship is almost completely reversed. Increasingly, the role of text is to provide more detail to something that is first experienced as an image or a video.

Due in large parts to advances in and the prevalence of digital technologies and media, the digital generations have grown up in a remarkably visual world. Images have the ability to communicate meaning quickly. Burmark states (2002) that the eye processes images 60,000 times faster than the eye processes the content of text. From an early age, the digital generations have been regularly exposed to television, computers, tablets, videos, and digital games that put colorful, highly expressive, high-quality, realistic, multi-sensory experiences such as sight, sound, and touch -and in the near future smell, taste, and 3D – that contain little if any text. As a result, many of the digital generations prefer to process pictures, sounds, color, and video before they process text. It’s a natural conclusion that they prefer their media in the same way they use it at home.

Members of the always-on generation are completely comfortable seeing and conveying information in visual formats. And because they were born digital, right before our very eyes, the digital generations are taking control of critical elements of the communications revolution. All you have to do is play a video game against them and get annihilated to realize that their visual-spatial skills are so highly developed that the research seems to indicate that they have cultivated a complete physical interface between digital and real worlds.

Meanwhile, many people of the older generations continue to struggle trying to understand the fundamental differences between the visual generations and their own, because this is not the world the older generations were born into. Previous generations were paper-trained growing up. They were trained to communicate primarily with words. They were trained to communicate in a linear, logical, left-to-right, top-to-bottom, beginning-to-end manner. Meanwhile, the digital generations are light-and-sound trained, which is a completely different cognitive process than the one older generations use.

And the digital generations are not just consuming content; they are simultaneously creating it. They are transfluent – they are fluent in a wide range of media. And because they are transfluent, the digital generations find it much more natural than older generations do to begin communicating with visuals, and then to mix in text, color, sound and graphics in richly meaningful and creative ways. They are completely comfortable interacting across a wide range of platforms, tools and media.

What readers need to take away from this trend is that the digital generations are driving a clear and probably irreversible shift from written media to visual media. So increasingly for the digital generations, expressing ideas is just as likely to involve creating a simulation or digital mash-up as it would be for them to be writing an expository essay. They are evolving with their new technologies, so the digital generations will need to be able to communicate as effectively in graphical storytelling modes as older generations were taught to communicate with text.

There are many strategies that can access this learning attribute of the digital generations. First, identify a few powerful examples of visual media that represent the key concepts of the lesson. Identifying the right visual prompt will ensure that it stays in students’ minds for months or even years; which will serve as a powerful visual reference to help students recall key information.

YouTube could be one of the greatest resources for a connected educator. The sheer volume of available videos is staggering. A simple search can retrieve dozens of potential videos to enhance the learning experience for any subject. If a teacher is studying the water cycle, a simple search uncovers thousands of potential video segments to integrate into instruction. If a class is studying Shakespeare, they have access to numerous productions of each of his plays, sonnets, and poems. In Social Studies, students have access to famous speeches such as Abraham Lincoln’s The Gettysburg Address or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream Speech. For the digital generations, YouTube is perfectly packaged for their consumption. It’s visual, social, diverse, mobile, adaptive and broken down into bite-sized chunks in ways that promote engagement and consumption. With more than 100 hours of new content uploaded every minute, and 4 billion views daily, YouTube is an amazing video repository of potentially valuable video clips.

Another strategy involving multimedia is Audio Bytes. Teachers and students can take a short video clip and remove or mute the audio. Independently or collaboratively, students can create their own narration based on the clip or content. Depending on the video clip, students can be guided to perform a wide variety of audio byte activities. In Science, teachers can mute the video of an animal show and have the students create their own Discovery or National Geographic documentary. In Reading, students can perform voice-overs of favorite stories such as The Three Little Pigs or The Twelve Labors of Hercules that were originally produced as plays or movies. Just about any video with educational content can be stripped of its audio content, allowing students to take an active role in learning the content of the video or writing personalized scripts for narration.

For additional strategies, please consider purchasing the award-winning book Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation: Strategies and Apps that Work. In our next installment of the series, we will explore the digital generations’ preference for processing pictures, sounds, color and video before they process text.

Read additional articles in the series:

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation – Part 1

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation – Part 2

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation – Part 3

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation – Part 4

Ryan Schaff was one of hundreds of educators and experts to speak at FETC 2018 in January. Registration for the 2019 conference opens in June. Sign up for the FETC newsletter to be notified.
Author

As a professor, author, blogger, consultant, and keynote speaker, Ryan L. Schaaf wants to help educators reach the learners of the digital generations.

His book, Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation: Strategies and Apps that Work co-authored with Ian Jukes and Nicky Mohan, recently received an IPPY Award for its contributions as a resource book for educators.

You can find Ryan on MyEdExpert.

Follow Ryan Schaaf on Twitter

Further Reading

Faculty Focus – Helping Students Develop Critical Information Processing Skills

New York Times – Project Audio: Teaching Students How to Produce Their Own Podcasts

EdTech Magazine – The Digital Citizenship Curriculum: Digital Literacy, Cyber Hygiene and More

May 16, 2018 0 comments

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Hidden

Choice in the Classroom

by Tamara Fyke May 16, 2018

written by Tamara Fyke 4 minutes read

There’s power when students can choose One of my all-time favorite movies is Dangerous Minds, starring Michelle Pfeiffer. There’s a scene in the film when the students are disengaged in class, which leads to a discussion about choice. She makes the students realize that just by making the decision to get on the bus and show up for school, they have already exercised the power of choice, and that they’ve made a good one. There are also many other situations in their daily existence where they may not realize that they do have a choice in how they behave. Over and over she says, “You have a choice…” (You can watch the scene on YouTube. Warning: There is a small amount of NSFW language.)

When I first started working in urban schools in Nashville in the mid-’90s, I quickly realized that my students were like the kids in that film. I think that’s why the story on screen impacted me so deeply. The movie was an illustration of their lives. Many of them didn’t believe they would live to the age of 21 because of the violence in their neighborhoods. I knew that in order for my kids to put in the necessary effort at school, they needed to shift their belief systems because it is our beliefs that determine our behaviors.

Carol Dweck’s work around growth mindset has helped educators gain a better understanding of the power of positive thinking. Before students can develop a growth mindset, they need to understand that they have a choice – the opportunity and power to make decisions.

A Different Pedagogy

In a world of test scores and technology, our students’ attention is often torn between school requirements and YouTube. With high-stakes testing, even though they are loath to admit it, teachers are often forced to teach toward the test, leaving little room for innovation. However, outside the classroom, these same students access a world of knowledge from their smartphones. Although they spend time being entertained, they also spend time learning anything from music, dance and make-up to coding, mechanics, and cooking. They know how to find the information they need and how to apply it to their real-life situations. They exercise the opportunity to choose, which leads to greater engagement and deeper learning. Is it possible for us to reframe our classroom experiences in a similar manner?

Both project-based learning and problem-based learning, which parallel our workplace experiences as adults, empower students. By removing barriers and encouraging creativity, teachers become coaches who are facilitating the learning. As we know, the key to good coaching is connection.

The Power of Personal Stories

In order to develop authentic connections with our students, we must let them know who we are as human beings. Sharing age-appropriate personal stories builds bridges between teachers and students, just as it builds bridges between teachers on a team and administrators and teachers in the building. Being real draws people to us. As Brene’ Brown discusses, there is power in vulnerability. When we give our students permission to see us for who we really are, we extend an invitation to more meaningful relationship. Our students can then choose what type of relationship they would like to have with us, a status quo teacher-student relationship or a heart-to-heart connection.

By intentionally building relationships with our colleagues and students, our students learn that we are a here for them to talk through their ideas, doubts, and questions. We become conversation partners on their road to discovery.

Opportunities for Choice in the Classroom

This is a constructivist and liberationist view of learning. The work and wisdom of Piaget and Freire inform this approach. What does it look like in the classroom? It looks like centers – dedicated spaces for learning tasks. It looks like menus – clearly outlined expectations and options for learning goals. It looks like makerspaces – collaborative areas where students brainstorm and create. It looks like fun.

Our goal as educators is to create a safe place for students to learn and grow. The word safe encompasses physical, mental, and social domains. In this safe place, we can offer children the opportunity and power to choose with guidance and support, so they learn that what they do and say matters. Our aim is for them to transfer their ability to make good and productive choices within the microcosm of the classroom to making good choices in their homes and neighborhoods both now and in the future.
Further Reading

Teach Hub – Use Activity Menus to Differentiate & Maximize Student Engagement

Education Closet – The Power of Choice

edCircuit – Tamara Fyke Columns

May 16, 2018 0 comments

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Educators K-12 Teachers Digital Citizenship School Safety

4 Great Lesson Plans for Internet Safety

by Ian Egan May 15, 2018

written by Ian Egan 6 minutes read

by Bronwyn Harris

With kids getting smartphones and other devices at younger and younger ages, it’s more important than ever to teach them how to use the internet safely. Whether kids are using social media, searching for information, gaming, or emailing, they should have some basic understanding of how to protect themselves online.

Though teachers and parents are deeply concerned about kids’ online safety, we often don’t know the best ways to teach these skills. And explaining internet safety effectively will vary according to the age group you’re talking to. To help you get started teaching these essential digital citizenship skills in the classroom, we’ve highlighted our favorite lessons for the different grade bands as well as some tips for how to use them.

Younger kids will probably spend less unsupervised time online than those who are older, but it’s never too early to introduce a few smart rules. It’s also easy to do without scaring them!

In “Going Places Safely,” younger elementary schoolers can learn how to think of using the internet as going on a field trip. To stay safe on field trips, kids need to stay with an adult, talk only to people they know, and follow the rules. Ask students which field trips or family outings they’ve been on. Then start a conversation about how fun these trips are and how you can learn new things and go to exciting places. But if kids don’t stay with a grown-up, a field trip can feel a little scary. The same is true when kids are using the internet. Three rules can keep them safe:

Always talk to your parent or teacher first.

Talk only to people you know.

Stick to places that are just right for you.

Talking Safely Online (Grades 3-5)

In upper elementary school, kids are more used to being online and more likely to be unsupervised and have their own internet-ready devices. They’re also more likely to be asked for private information online. One of the first rules to teach young kids is that they should never give out any personal information online.

One of our lesson plans for upper elementary school students, “Talking Safely Online,” encourages them to think about the difference between online friends and in-person friends. Kids need to understand that it’s hard to know if someone is really who they say they are on the internet. Most kids can relate to pretending to be someone else, such as dressing up for Halloween or a costume party or being in a play. Point out to them that they might not know if someone online is telling the truth about how old they are, what grade they’re in, or their real name, so it’s a good idea to check everything with a grown-up first.

Kids tend to understand that they shouldn’t give information like their full name or their address to strangers in real life. When teaching them about online safety, point out that the same is true for the internet. People online might seem really nice, but they’re still strangers, and kids shouldn’t give them any personal information. If anyone does ask for that information, it’s important to find an adult and tell them.

Safe Online Talk (Grades 6-8)

Bullying has always been a concern in middle school, but that can be exacerbated on the internet. Social media, chat rooms, and other forums for online messaging make kids much more vulnerable to bullying and predatory behavior now than ever before. Internet safety begins when students know how to get out of possibly dangerous situations.

“Safe Online Talk,” one of our lessons for middle schoolers, includes a video called “Perspectives on Chatting Safely Online” that’s an excellent prompt for a class discussion. Teens in the video share personal advice, and your students can talk about what resonates with them and any personal connections that come to mind.

Middle school students can get so caught up in online conversations that they forget they can simply walk away or shut off their devices if things get uncomfortable. It’s a good reminder to suggest that kids step away from a questionable online situation to get some perspective. And if they’re not comfortable talking to a parent about it, they can talk to a teacher, friend, counselor, or someone else to get their read on the situation.

Risky Online Relationships (Grades 9-12)

High school students are online all the time — sometimes constantly — and tend to think of themselves as savvy enough to stay safe in the digital world. However, teens can still benefit from tips and guidance on the topic. While the internet can be a valuable place to have discussions, even about sensitive or controversial topics, it can also lead to awkward or inappropriate situations.

One of our lesson plans for high school, “Risky Online Relationships,” points out that the term “online predator” is misleading for many teens, as it implies a frightening stranger who fits a particular stereotype. In reality, many of these predators seem like nice, friendly people at first but may gradually start becoming inappropriate. Anyone chatting with strangers online should always be wary. Also, risky online relationships don’t have to involve strangers; they can involve people teens have initially met offline.

Teens should also understand that photos and conversations they may consider to be private can be shared at any time, so they should think carefully about what they’re posting or sharing online.

The internet is an amazing tool for students and teachers alike, but building students’ awareness of the potential risks and encouraging thoughtful online behavior can help kids stay safe. Starting these conversations early and continuing to have age-appropriate lessons about online safety will go far in helping kids become savvy digital citizens.

For more tips and strategies on how to keep kids safe online, see our video Protect Your Students’ Data and Privacy.

This article originally appeared on Common Sense Education.
Author

Bronwyn Harris is an author, educator, and editor living in the East Bay. She is originally from Petaluma, California, and earned a bachelor’s of science in psychology from UC Davis, and a multiple subject teaching credential from CSU Sacramento. Bronwyn began her teaching career in 2000 in the most violent neighborhood in Oakland, California, and has since written a book about her experiences: Literally Unbelievable: Stories from an East Oakland Classroom.Bronwyn has written for Teaching Tolerance and AlterNet, among others. She is an avid reader and knitter and uses Common Sense reviews to guide her on movies for her nieces and nephew. You can follow Bronwyn on

Common Sense Education helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to navigate the digital world with confidence. Get free resources including full reviews of digital tools, ready-made lesson plans, videos, webinars, and more at https://www.commonsense.org/education.

Further Reading

Lebanon Democrat – Homeland Security agent talks internet safety for middle schoolers

Yakima Herald – Yakima schools teach students about online dangers

eLearning Inside News – Online Classes for K-12 Students: Is it Working?

May 15, 2018 1 comment

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