Journal Reflection Week 1

This week we dive right into digital citizenship. As a kindergarten teacher, the word citizen is used quite a lot when we learn about our community, which is most of the year during social studies. We discuss being a good citizen at home, school, and in the community. We emphasize the word good. Today, with more technology available, we also need to remind students to be good digital citizens. My mind instantly went to that last week of school, where the curriculum has slowed down, and we get to have a little bit of fun. This is the week where we try to review summer safety tips, and internet safety is discussed for about 10 minutes. This week I have really started to reflect on myself as a teacher and if I can do more to model good digital citizenship to my students.

Can we really narrow down the definition of digital citizenship? Currently we have 1:1 iPads with students at our school, so students need to understand how to be good citizens in person and online. This week's readings and videos exposed me to definitions of digital citizenship. The difference between citizen and digital citizen pertains to one being online and one being in person. Regardless, both are intertwined since we live in a world where we have to be able to function as citizens and digital citizens. Defining digital citizenship is not easy because technology is constantly changing. To me digital citizenship means being able to communicate and interact with others in a positive and meaningful way, much like we hope to achieve in person.

According to Ribble (2015), there are nine elements to digital citizenship. In my school and classroom, we value digital access, digital literacy, and digital etiquette. Since the pandemic, our district has had 1:1 iPads with our students. We have access to high speed internet at our schools and parking lots and encourage students to bring iPads to school daily. We also value digital literacy since we are teaching students in kindergarten. We teach foundational skills and that includes teaching kindergarteners about technology and appropriate use of technology. This has become more important as we have iPads available for all students. When reading about digital etiquette, I was reminded how students and parents are learning about new technology together and so sometimes students do not come to school with the skill of digital etiquette (Ribble, 2015).

The more I learn about digital citizenship and the elements to digital citizenship, the more I keep thinking about how I need to do more in my classroom to model good behaviors. This week has truly opened my eyes to realizing I need to do more to provide a safe online environment for my students. I think we spend a lot of time making sure they do their activities for blended learning, but we don’t really dig deep into discussing appropriate behaviors when using technology at other times. I guess I rely on the fact that the school has inappropriate things blocked at school, but once they take that iPad home, it’s a whole different story. Just how we feel teachers are not always trained on how to use technology, I am now reminded how we are not always trained to model good digital citizenship to our students.

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know. International Society for Technology in Education.