I'm a little excited!

I am excited about some upcoming events in my library life.

Starting Monday I will be teaching Digital Citizenship for 5 days of 45 minute lessons to 7th and 8th graders at my MS. This is part of their health curriculum. I am creating lessons to take them through different aspects of Digital Citizenship.

I am putting a lot of pressure on myself - this is the first time I've been asked to teach stand alone lessons. Just me and me alone. And I want it to be significant and make an impression and connect to them and and and. You get the picture. So - I've spent a lot of time searching for just the right thing. It's time to get down to the details.

I posted a hit on LMNet (a librarian list serv) about this and got some really good suggestions...the one that made the big impact was sent by Mark Moran the creater of Finding Dulcinea
www.DulcineaMedia.com

My strong opinion is that if you want students to learn and retain the right message here, you MUST let them create the lessons themselves. If you create the lesson and give it lecture style, all they'll be thinking in their heads is "yada yada yada."

(see this article, which launched me down the path to realization that kids today learn best when they teach themselves, particularly when it comes to life's lessons: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/Americas/2009/July/Peer-to-Peer-Drivers-Education-Program-Saves-Teen-Lives-in-Texas.html )

Ask them to create a 3 minute video on why you are never anonymous online, write a series of posters on cyberbullying (such as how the bullied students and his/her parents should respond), conduct a debate on whether children should be allowed to have a Facebook account before high school or ever use Formspring, etc.

If you do this, you should publish your materials. I'd be happy to assist you further with it.

Excellent advice...

And as weird as this seems I've also been asked by the local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) to present about internet safety for families. They have asked me to do 4 - 20 minute station stop lessons. (Moms will move between several different stations.) I have no idea if they knew about the lessons at the MS - or if I was just a name someone mentioned. Anyway - many of these moms will home school their kiddos, so I want to be significant, make an impression and connect to them and and and.

I will post my final ideas/plans/brochure as I get them finished.