Digital Citizenship

We are committed to teaching our students to be responsible, respectful, effective and ethical users of online information and resources. Using Common Sense Education’s curriculum scope and sequence as a framework, lessons are taught in every grade level on a variety of topics. Marianne Rogowski, middle school Instructional Technology Facilitator (ITF) and Cindy Perrotta, middle school Media Specialist, work in conjunction with our school counselors to plan and facilitate engaging digital citizenship lessons for students, who come for 45 minutes each month with their language arts classes. We also have guest speakers from the local community of educators, alumni and law enforcement who work with our students to help them to understand the real world implications of being responsible online citizens as well as the consequences that come with acting irresponsibly, unethically, and even illegally.

What Topics are Covered?
Below is a chart that depicts the topics that will be covered at each grade level and each grade level has topics on which we focus in depth. Language Arts teachers are also given the lesson plans ahead of time so that they are informed of the concepts we are teaching. Using resources from Common Sense Education’s Digital Citizenship curriculum as well as many other online resources, apps, and web 2.0 tools, we use articles, pictures, videos, hands-on activities, small and large group discussions and even games to promote the importance of these concepts to our students.

Digital Citizenship Topics 2022-2023

Common Sense Education Resource

What does it mean to be a Common Sense School?
Common Sense Education offers a program by which schools can become certified. In order to qualify, schools must create and promote a school wide digital citizenship vision, provide staff professional development, implement the plan using Common Sense resources and materials, and provide a minimum of two hours and fifteen minutes of digital citizenship instruction in three or more grade levels. There are also accountability forms as well as a parent engagement component. At LNC we exceed these requirements, and by the time our students move through their four years here, they will have had over 35 hours of instruction in digital citizenship.

What does it mean to be a Common Sense Ambassador?
The MS Instructional Technology Facilitator, Marianne Rogowski, is a Common Sense Ambassador. This program teams up educators who have helped their schools become certified with one another in order to promote digital citizenship on a wider level. This includes participation in a professional development community as well as completing activities that may include writing blog posts, facilitating professional development seminars, presenting at conferences, hosting Twitter chats, and participating in other activities that promote the concepts of digital citizenship to a larger audience.

Why is Digital Citizenship important?
In our 1:World environment, LNC students have the potential to connect not just to each other, but to the entire global online community. This extraordinary ability presents both opportunities and challenges. While we do our best to promote the positives and protect from the negatives of online life, we know that our students will inevitably be presented with situations where they will need to make decisions that will affect their lives in the present and in the future. Equipping our students with the education, skills and tools to meet these challenges in a respectful, responsible, safe, and ethical manner is a commitment that we feel is extremely important given the world in which we live.