Internet+Safety


 * Internet Safety

Description:** The assignment was to read two articles including "Meeting of the Minds" and "Delaware schools struggle to respond to cyber bullying: Widespread online cruelty can be traumatic for youths. After completing the readings, we were to choose a lesson from either the online "CyberSmart Curriculum" or "Internet-safety-integrating.pdf" and then create a lesson plan on how to incorporate the lesson into our class. The lesson had to be grade level specific. In addition, it needed to focus on Internet safety. Also, we had to explain our interest in the lesson and why we chose to use this lesson. We basically needed to take what was provided in the preexisting lesson and manipulate it so it could be used to teach our students. Finally, we were to reflect on what we learned from the article that we read.
 * Original Lesson:** [|Senses]


 * My Lesson: [[file:Lesson Plan Template.doc]]**


 * Process:** The first step I took to completing this assignment was to read the articles. I found the "Meeting of the Minds" to be very interesting. From there, I looked at the different curriculum provided to try to find something that I could use in my classroom. I was trying to find something that would fit into the curriculum that I need to teach each year. This way I wouldn't be adding a lesson that I would have no time to teach. The lesson I discovered was about senses. I thought about a way that I could use this to teach my students about Internet safety. As I read through the lesson I was able to see ways to connect it to my curriculum and complete the task at hand. I thought about where I would do the lesson and how I could get my safety points across. The key is to explain that their senses are altered when they use a computer especially for communication. After I finished writing the lesson, I went back through "Meeting of the Minds" to complete the assignment. After that I thought about the connections that can be made in the classroom.


 * Reflection:** Overall, I thought this lesson was useful. It made me think about when I first started to communicate with friends online. So often things are interpreted incorrectly because the person on the other end of the conversation reads a sentence one way, and yet they didn't hear the tone that the sender intended. Instant messaging, emailing, or social networking are all different ways to communicate, but all have their downfalls. It is so important to teach students about what senses will be lacking every time they get onto a computer. I really had to think about how to incorporate this lesson into my curriculum. I am going to be teaching a unit on Biodiversity and the students are going to do research. This will be a perfect time for me to do the lesson and introduce them to Internet safety at the same time. We can even talk about different websites and their validity as we are doing our research. I think we all take advantage of the Internet, but too often we don't think about the dangers, small and large! Now is the time to warn the students about possible problems and how they can be safe.