4.6 Internet Safety

One very important lesson Megan and I both insisted on teaching, was that of Internet safety. We controlled the privacy settings on the blog so that we could monitor posts and comments before they went live. We believed that the children were safe and secure from any danger. We were not positive though, so we talked about Internet safety. To get this conversation started, I read Little Red Hoodie by Adrianna Kruse. In Little Red Hoodie, Adrianna uses the wolf as an Internet predator. Little Red Hoodie is a tech savvy little girl who is unaware of the danger that she faces. She, along with her Granny, conquer the wolf in an entertaining way, while teaching the reader an important lesson about Internet safety.

The use of a familiar storyline with the children helps to engage them in a meaningful conversation around the characters. The important points we highlighted included:

• Keep personal information private including passwords and any kind of identifying information
• Get a parents’ permission before connecting with others you might not
 know
• Be respectful when posting online (If you don’t want your grandma to ead it, don’t post it)
•  Remember that when sharing online, nothing is really private
• Let an adult know if a situation or comment makes you feel uncomfortable

When I began this journey, I didn’t think about a lot of the things that came up while writing with the kids. I encourage you, even if you are the tiniest bit interested in considering digital literacy, to give it a try. It’s wonderful to work with someone else, and while I realize that not everyone has another teacher to teach with, partners come in a variety of ways for teachers. Find other teachers out there who are writing digitally with their students via Twitter or teacher blogs.