Technology is everywhere today, so much so that it affects even our young children. The key is to teach them from an early age how to be smart when it comes to the internet. I am currently working in a kindergarten classroom so teaching digital literacy is trickier. I know with my kids at home we try to stay off YouTube unless I am there to do the searching. They used to have access to it and the stuff they watched was so brutal. Thankfully, they never found anything creepy but hearing about some of the stuff people were finding on YouTube, and the annoying videos together, I took the access away from them. I laugh now because sometimes I can hear them quoting me, saying that YouTube rots their brains, or that they need a break, even if they don’t get that much access. I am not mad about it. I guess at this age, teaching digital literacy is about making choices whether they should or should not watch it/ access it, and realizing when they need a break.
If I were in older grades though, where we use the internet for more than just stories, it would be beneficial for us to use some of these resources. I think I would start off the class with something like this to introduce the concept of real fact vs fiction. After that I think I would use the NCTE FRAMEWORK to frame my lessons around.
Participate effectively and critically in a networked world;
Explore and engage critically, thoughtfully, and across a wide variety of inclusive texts and tools/modalities;
Consume, curate, and create actively across contexts;
Advocate for equitable access to and accessibility of texts, tools, and information;
Build and sustain intentional global and cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so as to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought;
Promote culturally sustaining communication and recognize the bias and privilege present in the interactions;
Examine the rights, responsibilities, and ethical implications of the use and creation of information;
Determine how and to what extent texts and tools amplify one’s own and others’ narratives as well as counter unproductive narratives;
Recognize and honor the multilingual literacy identities and culture experiences individuals bring to learning environments, and provide opportunities to promote, amplify, and encourage these differing variations of language (e.g., dialect, jargon, register).
These guidelines can easily be added into a lesson, as well as fit into the curriculum. I wonder if an INTERNET SMARTS class is something that should be in schools before one can even access the school computers. I mean yes, they have used it at home, but if we can successfully give them the tools to be successful on the internet we will be setting them up for their future as an internet user. The internet can offer so many wonderful things and has so many people that are experts. We would be silly to completely avoid the internet just because we are a little scared of fake news, or bad people. Following the guidelines from above and these strategies we can successfully teach students how to be smart on the internet and make decisions.