Today, Facebook, MediaSmarts and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) released a series of newly translated guides for Aboriginal teens, which provide tips for sharing and making decisions online. The Think Before You Share guides were released in Winnipeg during the opening of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba.
Students are expected to be able to do the following:
Health and well-being
related to their personal health and well-being
Participation
In this lesson, students consider how we come to hold values and how they affect our behaviour, especially online. They begin by comparing their assumptions about how common positive and negative online behaviours are with accurate statistics, and then consider how believing that something is more or less common than it really is can affect whether or not we think it’s acceptable. The teacher then uses a fable to introduce students to the ways that values can be communicated both overtly and implicitly and students discuss the ways in which their values have been communicated to them. They then turn specifically to the online context and consider what values they have learned about online behaviour and how they learned them. Students then consider scenarios where different values may be in conflict and consider ways of resolving them, then develop their own moral dilemma scenarios.
My two oldest kids started grades 10 and 11 in September. As usual, they took their smartphones with them the first day.
When they arrived home, I asked them how their classes had went, and they said that every single class had talked about the Ontario government’s new policy about cell phones in school – that is, that cell phones are to be used only for educational purposes, or health or special needs, during class time.
It’s that time of year again when parents (and kids) are either counting down the days until school begins, or feeling a sense of overwhelming worry that the summer hasn’t lasted long enough. Admittedly, I’m in the latter category. However, our family has begun to prepare for the new school year.
GLO 2.1: Develop understanding of the communication strategies to build healthy relationships
12.2.1.2 Evaluate the impact of current technology on relationships.
12.2.1.3 Explain how cultural awareness and understanding can assist communication.
12.2.1.4 Summarize ways in which effective and ineffective communication have an impact on relationships.
12.2.1.5 Demonstrate skills and techniques for effective communication with children and adults.
Do you know someone who would like to learn more about using technology in their everyday lives? MediaSmarts is proud to offer a series of free hour-long digital literacy workshops to help empower under-represented populations from communities across the country.