Digital citizenship is very important to not only talk about but also implement within your classrooms. I really enjoyed reading the article on the 9 elements of Digital Citizenship. It is important that students learn these things at a young age whether they are learning it in school or at home. As we are seeing, kids are getting introduced to the digital world at younger and younger ages. This makes it that much more important to introduce and discuss these elements as soon as possible. Obviously in a perfect world I would like to introduce all 9 of these, but understanding the limited time you have to teach outside of the curriculum. That being said, here are some of the elements that I would ensure to highlight within my classroom – 

Digital access – I find digital access to be very important within classrooms. There are so many different kinds of technology that can be greatly beneficial within classrooms. Ensuring students have access to different school resources so they are able to access assignments, grades, ect. Many of which will ensure that parents also have access to and students can access from home as well as school.

Digital communication and collaboration – Digital communication will definitely be used within my classroom. Examples of this could include communication through email or school resources such as google classroom. Not only will these be used within my class I will make sure students understand the proper and appropriate ways of using these. 

Digital Fluency – I really liked the article’s way of describing this, I will definitely focus on many of these components mentioned such as “understanding technology and its use” “make good decisions online” “supporting others” and “media literacy”. 

Digital health and welfare – This will definitely be one of my biggest focuses as a teacher. Understanding the positive and negative effects of technology and finding a good balance of lessons that incorporate tech with lessons that do not. 

As previously mentioned I hope to have the opportunity to teach all 9, but it is also my hope that they will be getting this education outside of school as well. Overall putting most of these tech decisions on the students will be a focus. Making sure they understand my expectations when using technology and the consequences of not using it correctly.