Your Online Resume Lesson Plan

Level: Grades 9 to 12

About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 2 - 3 hours

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

In this lesson, students learn that their online presence is like a resume that can help them – or hurt them – in their future personal and professional lives. The lesson begins by having students do a self-appraisal of their online resume. Students will review steps for limiting the negative impact of things they’ve posted online. Students then think about people whom they consider to be heroes or role models, identify the characteristics that make them admire these people, and discuss what those people did in order to be seen so positively. Finally, students learn tools and strategies for consciously building a positive online brand and develop a communications plan for doing so.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

Know: Students will learn the following essential domain knowledge:

• Privacy and security: Strategies for managing online reputation.

Understand: Students will learn the following key concepts/big ideas:

• Digital media have unanticipated audiences: The things we share online can be seen by people other than their intended audiences.

Do: Students will use tools to build a positive online brand, understand how the things we post online can create a positive or negative image of us, and engage with their self-conception and the impression they want to give others.

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.