In today's society with increasingly more emphasis being put on technology-- web interaction in particular-- it's important that we arm our students with the skills needed to navigate the internet. Along with those basic navigation skills though, we also need to teach our students proper internet ettiquette and security protocols. If we start teaching these things at a young age, we'll have less to worry about as these students get older.
CyberSmart (www.cybersmart.org/) is an excellent education resource for curriculum ideas and lesson plans complete with handouts on the main cyber issues that students need to be educated on. The lessons start at Kindergarten and go up to 12th grade. It's an excellent resource that any teacher who incorporates internet use into the school day should utilize.
While browsing through the CyberSmart site, I found two lessons that I really liked:
Go Places Safely
Whose Property Is This
The first lesson is geared toward k-1 grade students and the second is more for 2-3 grade students. It's great how well CyberSmart is able break down the basic issues that every internet user may encounter and make it understandable for even a kindergarten student. Both lessons are awesome with the first teaching students about safety and security and the second teaching about cyber ethics. The objectives are clear and concise and meet the NETS Standards. CyberSmart even goes further to include artifacts for the lessons they prepared. Each lesson plan is broken down by each teaching point, walking the teacher through the entire process and leaving no room for confusion. I will definitely be using CyberSmart lessons in my own future classroom and would recommend that any other teacher do the same.
