Digital citizenship is a concept I had heard before but not ever fully understood. This website breaks down digital citizenship into 9 elements. As someone who is hoping to teach at the high school level I will look at how I would approach the 9 elements of digital citizenship for my future high school classes.

1. Digital Access: Making sure as a teacher we know what devices students have access to outside and inside classrooms. Also we need to make sure that we are able to provide support for students who haven’t used technology we provide in class.
2. Digital Commerce: This could relate well in a math based class where students explore how to buy, sell and manage money through online sources to make a profit and ensure they are being safe and avoiding anything dangerous.
3. Digital Communication and Collaboration: Create a positive group experience through online sources. Encourage students to help each other via online sources.
4. Digital Etiquette: This allows us to discuss the ways we should behave while online. I would like to highlight how important it is to only do things you would do in real life as the internet is forever. Also focus on cyberbullying as this is a key issue among highschoolers.
5. Digital Fluency: Being fluent with technology is pretty common among high schoolers but if there is always more to learn and this should be encouraged so students can fully understand and optimize their experience with technology.
6. Digital Health and Welfare: It’s important in schools that if someone is facing issues of any kind through the internet or technology that they can have a place to go to talk about it and work towards a resolution. Also important to teach healthy technology habits to try and avoid any issues that may arise.
7. Digital Law: Online laws are pretty much the same as the laws in the real world and come with the same consequences, so it is important students realize they need to abide by these online laws.
8. Digital Rights and Responsibility: Teaching students the importance of rights and responsibilities online just like in the real world are very important.
9. Digital Security and Privacy: We need to teach students to be aware of the dangers on the internet and how they can be safe among them.

The importance of understanding digital citizenship is super important especially for high school students who are constantly online. I hope that I can help to keep students safe and make sure they are model online citizens in the future. I also think that parents need to have an active role in teaching kids about digital citizenship since their children will be using technology outside of school. The responsibility can’t rest solely on the the teachers. However, we still have a major part to play and I hope I can do so effectively in classrooms with these 9 elements in mind.