October 19, 2016
Making good cyber citizens Around Town
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Students at Pheasant Point Elementary School in the Fort Zumwalt School District work on computers.
Photo by Ray Rockwell
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Fort Zumwalt School District emphasizes making smart, safe choices online with Digital Citizenship Week
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By Brett Auten There is no going back. The cyber revolution is upon us, especially for our students. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, the list goes on and on. Keeping up with social media is without question a tall task for parents as are initiating conversations about its downfalls - but both are prudent. This week, the Fort Zumwalt School District is making an especially concentrated effort to inform students, teachers and parents on the importance of making smart, safe choices with technology with Digital Citizenship Week. The cities of St. Peters, O’Fallon and St. Charles County are all joining in on the effort, proclaiming this Digital Citizenship Week for their respective jurisdictions. “From ages five-to-18, it is a full-court press this week,” Jeremy Moore, Fort Zumwalt Assistant Superintendent for Student Personnel said. “In the past, a technology teacher may touch on it here or there but we have never done it to this extent before.” Moore likened Digital Citizenship Week to the longtime, annual Red Ribbon Week, where alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention
awareness campaigns are observed annually in October in the United States. The daily themes for Digital Citizenship Week in the Fort Zumwalt District include: • Understanding your Digital Footprint: Explaining the track of information you leave online • Practicing Good Digital Etiquette: Is your post, tweet or picture “Grandma approved?” • Let’s Talk About Cyber Bullying: I Am A Witness • Take a Tech Break: What do you do without your tech? • Protect Your Identity/Brand: Students K-5 will learn about protecting private information, students grades 6-12 will talk about building their online brand. Amy Byers, a librarian at Westhoff Elementary School and also the district’s K-12 Library/Media Center curriculum coordinator, said among the hopes is that this week will spur conversations inside the home. “It is also about getting the parents involved and for the parents and students to use technology together,” Byers said.
“I have had fifth graders ask about starting up social media accounts and their parents should have access to those accounts. It’s not about not trusting the children but protecting them. I tell the students, you wouldn’t leave home without telling your parents where you were going, this is the same.”
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