![]() Placing devices in the hands of students is a wonderful thing! Setting up clear expectations and providing digital citizenship lessons go hand in hand with those devices. Common Sense Education provides free resources for teachers to support Digital Citizenship in the classroom. The lessons are engaging and help students discuss important topics that will keep them safe in the digital world. Common Sense also provides resources for families, who are often asking questions about technology in the home. In Oceanside, we are working towards the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Certification, in both our individual school sites and the entire district. I am supporting the teachers at my site with teaching the lessons and documenting their work. I even created a list of the suggested lessons for each grade level, including a link to the PDF of the lesson and a Slide Deck that teachers can use in their lesson planning. Digital citizenship is important to address as we supply students with iPads and Chromebooks. The lessons from common sense teach students how to be responsible, respectful, and safe online. I highly recommend using the resources from Common Sense in your classroom this school year! As summer break comes to a close, many teachers have already begun to think about the upcoming school year. Decorating classrooms, planning lessons, and searching for “first week of school” activities on Pinterest are a few things that teachers begin working on during the final weeks of vacation. If you will have technology (iPads, Chromebooks, etc.) in your classroom, you should also be thinking about how you will introduce those devices to your students. As a classroom teacher, I always liked to plan a “Boot Camp” during the first week of school to introduce my new students to the device that they would be using for the school year. The following post will include a few things to consider when introducing devices to your new class, as well as what I, personally, like to include in a device boot camp.
A Few Things to Consider Before school begins, and you are planning your first week activities, consider the following questions regarding the devices that your students will be using. Even better, discuss these questions in your grade level planning time so that you and your teammates are on the same pages as far as expectations for devices.
What to Include in Your Device Boot Camp During the first 1-2 weeks of the school year, I take my new students through a very detailed device boot camp. Here are some areas that I address during my device boot camp.
Include some fun “get to know you” type activities in the device boot camp. Let students practice using the device for fun, so that they become familiar with the apps that you will be using throughout the year. For example, take selfie and and type a few sentences about themselves, respond to a flipgrid prompt, post something in seesaw, create a Google slide deck as a class, etc. Start with one or two apps, then build from there. You could even do an “App of the Day” for the first couple weeks, to familiarize your students with the tools they will be using throughout the year. Incorporating a device boot camp in your “first week of school” plans might seem overwhelming. However, in my experience, setting clear expectations with technology at the beginning of the year saves time later, and also sets students up for success. So, as you plan those team building activities, laminate homework folders, and create colorful name tags, I hope you will also plan for a device boot camp for the upcoming school year. Today was an incredible day of learning and collaborating with teachers and classified staff from OUSD. About 150 Oceanside staff members attended our "Going Google" Boot Camp, volunteering their own time (during summer break) to practice using the the tools in the G-Suite. I had such a great time teaching four sessions and helping those who are just starting out with the Google Apps. Presenting on the G-Suite is my favorite! I love when teachers start to realize ways that the Google Apps can simplify their work flow and increase productivity. I also like hearing about the various classroom applications that teachers think of. So much creativity! Check out #GOside on Twitter to see the excitement and learning that happened at our Boot Camp today! Here are the presentations that I gave today. Feel free to use them as a resource and share them with colleagues.
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DiscLaimer:All thoughts, opinions, reflections, and ideas are that of Heather Love-Fleck, and not the school district that employs her. She reserves the right to change her thoughts, opinions, reflections, and ideas at any time. Categories
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