Pillar: Citizenship
Purpose: Help students think about what good digital citizenship looks like.
Objectives:
- Students will discuss how leadership and citizenship are related.
- Students will create a public service announcement detailing good digital citizenship.
Discussion: Ask students to discuss the following quote from Vince Lombardi, “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” Questions may include:
- What did Lombardi mean when he said that leaders “are made, not born?”
- Why do you think he felt that this is an important concept to highlight?
- Why must leaders pay a price to benefit others?
- How is this idea about citizenship?
- Why does the quote begin by talking about leaders and end by referring to all of us?
- What steps can you take to become a leader in your community?
- Think of leaders that you have learned about or admire.Does Lombardi’s statement hold true in their cases?
- Why do you think Lombardi emphasized how difficult leadership is?
Activity:
Citizenship has meaning in cyberspace, as well as in your school and community. Use the following activity to better understand the basics of cyber-safety and cyber-citizenship. Break students into small groups and have them create public service announcements based on the following prompt.
Digital is forever. Most students don’t realize that: 1) there is no such thing as privacy on the web, since motivated people can, with shocking ease, trace anything they want to online, and 2) nothing digital is ever entirely erased. PSAs might address who actually can access “private” images, conversations, or information, what could happen if erased images reappear, and what the implications might be when you put things on the web that anyone on the planet with determination and a laptop can find. Finally, each PSA should describe how students can be leaders in good digital citizenship.
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