The characteristics of a model digital citizen is one that respects themselves, respects others, respects the privacy of others, and respects outside limits. Respecting them self is when the student is careful about what they post about themselves. They will not post things that might put them in danger. They have enough self-respect to be careful not to post anything that would make them look bad or hurt them because they understand that anything that is posted on line is not necessarily private. They do not post things just go gain the approval of people and look cool in order to impression them. Respecting others means that they do not dehumanizes another individual they may communicate with on line or anonymous online contacts by attributing qualities and characteristics to them that may not be true. They talk to and post things that are appropriate, kind and respectful of the other person. Respecting the privacy of others means that the digital citizen do not post information about others without their permission. They do not post videos, photos, or written material that would invade the privacy of others and possibly cause trouble for them. They do not post things that will hurt another person and may be misleading about what is actually going on. A good digital citizen does not cyber-bully other people. Finally, they respect the rules and laws associated with the use of the internet. They are aware of the policies on cheating and plagiarism and do not participate in these things. They follow the user policies and codes of conduct that are established by their school when ever they go on the Internet to just surf or work on some project.
Many prosecutors are charging students who participate in sexting with felonies. What do you think of this practice, and how would you handle the situation at your school?
Sexting is a serious offense that need to be dealt with seriously and charging them with a felony I feel is appropriate. Sexting is one person sending sexually explicit material to another. This is participating in the distribution of child pornography and even if they are kids they need to understand that this is not appropriate. Students need to be educated in the fact that this is against the law and if they chose to participate in it then they will be charged with a felony. Since I hope to teach in the grades K-2 I hope to never have to deal with this because they are so young but children are learning things younger and younger now and some students have home lives where they are exposed to these things so I think anymore it could possibly be an issue at any age. I think I would handle it though by sending the students to the principal and working with the principal to decide how to handle it. Even if it were a young student participating in this, they need to learn that this is not appropriate and that their are consequences for their participation in this type of activity. Older students, such as middle schoolers and high schoolers, should understand this is not appropriate. Whether they know they will be charged with a felony or not, I feel they know that sexting is not appropriate to do and so whether they understand the full extent of the consequences or not, they know that it is wrong to do this.
Unfortunately, I think it is possible that K-2 children could be involved in this sort of thing, but I agree with you that we must hope it is rare.
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts are well measured. Good job! Thanks... :-)