Rings of Community Chart

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Theme: Online Privacy and Digital Footprints

Materials: Rings of Community worksheet

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Vocabulary: Digital Footprint

SAY: Your digital footprint is the permanent trail of data you leave behind every time you go on the web, whether it’s a game or social media. Your digital footprint is the websites in your search history, emails you send, and photos you post. This means that the things we send or post are never completely private. Once you create something online that other people have access to (even if it’s only a small group of people), that content is no longer completely in your control.

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Beyond the things we intentionally put on the internet, our digital footprint is also the products we browse and different data collection methods that websites use, like cookies. It’s important to be aware of what our digital footprint looks like because it can impact our reputation online and offline.

ASK: How private is what we post online?

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DO: Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

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SAY: Let's play a quick game of thumbs up/thumbs down to make sure we know what is considered private information. For each example, give a thumbs up if it’s OK to share, and a thumbs down if it is private.  

•      Your favorite ice cream flavor 
•      Your mom's phone number 
•      What you ate for dinner last night 
•      Your birthday
•      Your home address 
•      The planet you live on
•      Your best friend’s name
•      Your best friend's favorite movie 
•      Your password 
•      The city you live in 
•      Your last name 
•      Your school

DO: Hand out the Rings of Community worksheet. Students will label the circles from the inside out, such as home, school, and community.

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SAY: Today, we consider whether we have solid boundaries for online privacy. 

• In the innermost circle, write about what you share online about your home life. 
• Then, move on to what you might share online with your schoolmates, teachers, coaches, etc. 
• Then, you’ll complete the outer ring - everyone else in your community, maybe after-school friends, sports team buddies, friends from after-school classes. 
• When you think of things you would share offline only, jot them down outside the circles.

Consider if you’d share health-related information for your family and yourself, travel plans, information about your siblings or parents, the name of your school or where you take after-school classes, and friendship issues.

Reflect:  

Key Learning: This lesson teaches students the importance of digital citizenship, focusing on privacy and self-awareness of their own habits. 

Online/Offline Citizenship

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Theme: Digital Citizenship

Materials: Sticky notes, chart paper or board for T-Chart. T-Chart - Project or draw this on the board

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Vocabulary: Digital Citizenship

SAY: Digital citizenship is the ability to navigate our digital environments in a way that's safe and responsible and to actively and respectfully engage in these spaces. 

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Explore: 

SAY: Social media can be a fun way to connect with friends and family, but it also presents some risks. Sometimes, people can be mean. Other times we can make choices to send messages or pictures that we shouldn't. It's important to be aware of online risks, whether it's online harassment like cyberbullying or digital privacy.

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ASK: 

What are the differences between messaging with people online (for example, chatting in a game or texting) and talking in person? If you have social media, what do you like about it? What do you not like about it? 

DO: Hand out sticky notes and display T-chart with the titles “ONLINE” and “OFFLINE.”

SAY: For each of the following statements, place a sticky note in the right column for you: 

•   Most often, how do you make new friends? 
•   Most often, how do you deal with conflicts with friends or peers 
•   Most often, how do you approach someone you’re interested in being friends with?

Reflect: Why does how we interact with people change so much depending on whether we are online or offline?

Emotion Exercise

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ASK: Do you notice peers using screens to avoid socially awkward situations? Do you ever use your screen to avoid awkwardness?

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DO: Create a visible representation of the emotion you are feeling right now. Draw it out on paper.

Reflect: What do your classmates’ visual representations look like? Students should share their representations if they feel comfortable doing so.

Clinical psychologist Laura Kastner, PhD, notes in the clip that screens can provide a refuge when social situations are often awkward. Unfortunately, screens also make it easier for kids to miss opportunities for personal growth. 

Key Learning: Through social interactions and challenges, we develop self-esteem and a sense of self.