Inside This Week’s Episode: — Creating a 21st century classroom means we also need to be helping students develop into positive digital citizens. Digital citizenship starts with helping students to make healthy media choices. This episode explores how elementary teachers can be part of that process.

How much is too much (of a good thing)?

We’ve talked so much lately about cultivating a 21st century classroom and the components that make up a modern classroom. 

And although it’s fun to talk about all the bells and whistles and shiny objects that can come with a 21st century classroom - powerful and engaging components like technology and multimedia - it’s also important that we explore the other side of what it means to use technology and raise students in our digital world - and that is digital citizenship.

With all the amazing things that come with implementing classroom technology, also comes responsibility.  Just as we want to prepare our students to navigate new technology, we also want to teach them the responsibility that comes with it.

There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to digital citizenship, and if we’re going to truly teach our students what it means to be a positive digital citizen and take ownership of their digital lives, we need to approach it from a variety of angles. 

In today’s episode we’re going to start at the foundation, which is helping our students make healthy media choices and finding balance. 

Just as we want students to make healthy choices when it comes to food and moving our bodies, we want students to learn how to make healthy choices in their digital lives.  Teachers can be a part of this by modeling a healthy balance in how digital resources are used in the classroom and through the conversations we have with students as it relates to media.

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The many sides of Digital Citizenship

As we start thinking about digital citizenship, I want to set the stage for where we are going in this conversation long-term. We can think of digital citizenship a large tree trunk, and shooting off of the trunk are several branches. These branches include:

• Finding balance in our digital lives

• Understand privacy and security in a digital world

• Understanding our digital footprint and identify

• Communication and how to appropriately build digital relationships

• Cyberbullying

• And developing media literacy and discerning students who can identify credible and trustworthy sources online.

And I want to start by saying that it is never too early or late to begin conversations about digital citizenship with kids. Our students are digital natives, right? Meaning - they speak technology.

So, no matter the age group you are working with, there is always an age-appropriate approach to tackling this topic.

I want to start with the whole idea of finding media balance in our digital lives because this really supports all other parts of digital citizenship.

Kids need to know that they are often in control of the media choices they make. But what they may NOT know is what are HEALTHY media choices. And, this is more than just making choices about screen time.

So, let’s talk about how we can break this down for our students.

One of the first things we need to do is make sure that students have a full understanding of the word media. It’s almost a guarantee that they’ve heard the word, but do they really know what it means? Let’s start there.

When it comes to today’s topic, we want students to understand that media means “all the ways that people get and share information.” This can include books, TV, newspapers, phones, online, etc…) And we can often choose what, when, and for how much time we want to consume or share that information.

So, what does Making Healthy Media Choices mean?

Not all media choices are the same. The media choices that we make on a daily basis can make us feel differently.

Here’s a quick example. If you’ve spent 30 minutes scrolling Instagram, you might now be feeling bummed out after seeing everyone else’s life highlight - the vacations that they’ve gone on, the new house renovations they are doing - and now you’re starting to feel like you wish that was your life.

You could have chosen to spend that 30 minutes reading a great book, or watching your favorite TV show and you’d likely feel a lot different.

We want our students to understand how the media choices we make effect how we feel. And when they understand the impact of their media choices, they can begin to make healthy choices.

So, here’s a quick exercise you can do with your students, or even with your own kids at home. Ask students to think of a specific media choice that they’ve recently made and reflect on:

• what was the media choice they made

• when did they make it

• for how long

For example, maybe they played a video game, before bed, for 2 hours.

How did that choice make them feel? Did it calm their bodies? Did it wind them up, making it hard to fall asleep that night? Did it make them anxious because they wanted to keep going to the next level in the game, but mom told them they had to stop.

When we help students to really break it down and think intentionally about their media choices they can start to see trends in their behaviors. They can start to realize what works and doesn’t work for them. Maybe they start to see that on the nights they play video games, they have a hard time falling asleep. Maybe on the nights that they listen to music instead of playing a video game, they find their bodies are calmer.

You can do this exercise in real time in your classroom. Have students consider the ‘what’ ‘when’ and ‘how much’ framework for the media experiences that they have in school.

Does listening to music after lunch help them feel calm and prepared for the rest of the day? How do they feel after choosing to play an online learning game for free-choice time? Is it hard for them to stop when time is up?

The main thing that we want our students to begin learning about themselves is what media choices make them feel good, while others don’t. We want them to understand the idea that everything in our lives need balance, and media is part of that balance.

Students need to learn how to use media in a way that feels healthy and in balance with the rest of their life activities. We can ask them questions like: Am I often choosing media over spending time with family and friends or working on a hobby? Am I neglecting other responsibilities like homework, chores, and others?

Encourage Students to Track Their Media Choices

One way your students can become more aware of their choices is to track their media use for a few days. Have them track what media they are consuming, when they’re consuming it, and for how long.

They should consider all types of media including TV, tablets or iPads, video games, even using digital tools like Google home or Alexa. Remind students that they should also consider the media that they create. Your students may be too young for things like Tik-Tok or Instagram Reels, but I’ll bet that many of your students have older siblings that do these types of media creations that your students participate in. All that counts.

And while you're asking your students to do this, I would encourage you to do the same. When we model media balance, students will see that and base their understanding of what healthy media choices look like.

I want to leave you with one thought. Teaching digital citizenship does not need to just be one more thing that you have to fit into your day. You can have these discussions in real time with your students with authentic learning experiences.

When you complete an activity that involves media (specifically digital media) in your classroom, ask students how it made them feel? Did the time of day effect how they are feeling? Does launching into a digital activity right away in morning feel like too much? Does quiet music during writing time feel distracting, or does it help them focus?

Weave these conversions into your day naturally so that students become more away of how media makes them feel. We can all benefit from reflecting on our media choices.

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