Petra Uses Common Sense Media

Happy Techie Tuesday! As we are integrating new technology tools into instruction, a big question that arises is, "Are my students ready for this?" Being "ready" for a technology integrated lesson can mean any number of things. Do students have the tech skills necessary to complete the assignment successfully? Are they prepared for the responsibility that comes with demonstrating proper digital citizenship and interacting in a digital space? Do they know how to give credit where credit is due?

This year's Resourceful Educator With Minimal Access to Technology award goes to our dear Petra Morales (alright fine, I made up the award, but I truly believe she deserves it!). Making due with access to just a few iPads, Petra has been persistent in negotiating technology use with her colleagues and consistently advocating for her students to have more access to technology. She regularly attends professional development to gather any morsels of technology she can for her classroom, and is dedicated to providing her students with 21st Century skills.

Integration Idea
Petra was recently preparing her students for an assignment where they were tasked with creating iMovies as a culminating project. She wanted her students to be aware that as creators they have certain rights, but that the creators of other work they choose to access and use online have rights as well, especially when copyright is involved. Rather than recreating the wheel, Petra turned to Common Sense Media to find a lesson on Fair Use. She located the lesson Rework, Reuse, Remix, which walks students through the concept of fair use, or using copyrighted work without permission. The lesson includes all resources needed to teach the concept, including videos, handouts, and discussion prompts.

How to...
The Common Sense Media Scope and Sequence has detailed lessons that cover all of the topics below:

It is free to sign up and download as many lessons as you would like. You can access the lessons from two places:

1. The CUSD Digital Literacy Skills site- Last summer, a group of CUSD teachers went through all of the Common Sense Media lessons and pulled the ones that provide the strongest support to the digital literacy skills we believe our students need the most. 
2. The Common Sense Media Scope and Sequence- this page hosts all of their lessons broken down by topic and grade-level span.

Next Level Ideas
Common Sense isn't just for digital citizenship anymore! Use Common Sense Graphite to get ideas on technology app and tool integration! In the last Instructional Services department newsletter, teachers were encouraged to consider applying to become a Graphite Certified Educator (click here to learn more), where they can share integration ideas and become part of a larger community of technology using educators. I just sent in my application today... who's with me?!

As always, please let me know how I can continue to support you in effective technology integration!