In the beginning of 2020, many of us didn’t know a lot of the things we know now, like how to operate Zoom and the most comfortable face mask for your head type. As schools have made the transition to online learning, classroom teachers have been tasked with, among other things, teaching their students to be good Digital Citizens.

Digital citizenship is so, so important because it focuses on cultivating responsibility, safety, and empathy in students as they use technology to engage with one another, and the broader world. So, as we roll our way into the digital frontier that is 2021, a question that many teachers and principals are asking is how do I teach Digital Citizenship in an interesting, relevant, and effective way?

Check out comonsense.org for some great free resources for teaching Digital Citizenship to grades K-12!

How Educators have been teaching Digital Citizenship with Smore

For 8th Grade Technology Applications teacher Chelsey Hawkins, a Smore newsletter was the perfect option for teaching digital citizenship remotely. Here’s what she told us:

“Digital Citizenship is so many things. I wanted to share all the different aspects while bringing in how kids can be safe at home all the while talking about how and why kids should be safe on devices at school.“

In her newsletter, Chelsey embedded resources for students to investigate how to be good digital citizens, plus links to their assignment and where to submit homework -- all in one newsletter.

In all of her newsletters, she makes use of Smore’s interactive features, like pictures, videos, buttons, and links, to make the lessons clear, engaging, and fun.

Smore solves another problem for Mrs. Hawkins: “The ease of having a share link makes it the very best because it can work with ALL types of platforms...I can share the link to Google Classroom or even share it in our ParentSquare app we use to communicate to parents.” This is important because parents are a big part of helping students to navigate the internet safely.

So without further ado, get your creative hat on and start crafting your very own Digital Citizenship newsletter! Because, in the words of Mrs. Hawkins, “we need to teach kids how to navigate their digital world.”