Digital Citizenship, Privacy, Websites and More!

Happy Thursday Digital Literacy families!  This week in class, your students are learning about Digital Citizenship, and I wanted to share some information that I think is helpful when you are working with your student to stay safe, respectful and responsible online. This past summer,  I spent a lot of time reflecting on the work that we did as a school and community with Virtual Learning. I have been working on a certification to support my work as a teacher of technology called the ISTE Certification .  One of the issues that gave me pause is surrounding Digital Citizenship and the resources we are using online.  As we watch out students navigate an online world, it is often important to think about privacy and the type of information that websites, including educational websites, are gathering about its users. As part of my class, I did research on three different common educational websites that we use, and the information that the websites collect. I wanted to share my research with everyone this week, because it ties in to what we are learning in class, and it may spark you to explore some new resources! 

Interland: Interland, according to its creators "is an adventure-packed online game that makes learning about digital safety and citizenship interactive and fun. Here, kids will help their fellow Internauts combat badly behaved hackers, phishers, oversharers, and bullies by practicing the skills they need to be good digital citizens." It is a game that has been played in many classrooms, including Digital Literacy!  Interland's privacy document includes a great tutorial about Cookies (A cookie is a small piece of text sent to your browser by a website you visit) if you are interested in learning more. From their tutorial on how they are collecting data, I delved into what is actually being collected when you log on.  As students play, there is less information collected than on other sites I found. Common Sense Media, which is an excellent resource for parents looking to find more information about privacy rating for websites, has not yet rated Interland, but the parent users have given it a 5 star rating based on what they know about the Cookies from the site.  Google's privacy document on Interland says that they collect "information to help students maintain their levels in the game, age and demographic information, and information that might help identify additional educational opportunities for students interested in playing Interland." The last part of their privacy policy gave me pause, though one can expect that a free game with such good content would be used for marketing other apps and games by collecting information.  My vote: Interland is a safe game, and collects a minimum amount of personal data from your child. 

Exploratorium: Exploratorium is an actual museum in California, but it just happens to have a website that goes into all sorts of interesting science-related topics, and is a great resource for kids who want to explore some experiments on their own.  Exploratorium is rated 4 Star for privacy by Common Sense Media, and I did a bit of exploring on my own to make sense of the information they are collecting.  In their privacy policy, this site says that it "is collecting data on what pages are used, where you explore, and how long you stay on certain topics."  For me, this is information that I can understand that an organization would want.  What students are most interested in and where they are spending the most time helps form what new content will be updated.  As a teacher and a parent, this is helpful to know.  In this sites privacy policy it collects more personal information such as email addresses, mailing addresses, age, demographics, and other identifiers ONLY if your student wants to access parts of the site that require you to put in your information.  As a choice-based submission, this site's privacy policy is great for kids.  Talk with your student about adding information online about themselves, and consider coming up with a family policy about when they should ask before adding addresses, age, birthday or other identifying information.  Check out this site, however!  There are great activities for students of all ages, and things you can explore as a family. 

So I leave you today with these things to think about as your students spends time online.  I know that I rarely actually read the long, fine print in Privacy policies, but hopefully this information that I shared with you today might make you curious enough to take a peek.  The following questions I borrowed from Common Sense Media as a way of evaluating the websites that your students are looking at: 
1. Does it collect person information, and is that information then protected with a password?
2. Does the site tell you when it is collecting this information? 
3. Does that data stay with the website, or can it be shared with marketing (third-party)? 4. Does it collect your location?
5. Is the website collecting information from children under 13?

While you may not always think about your privacy, it doesn't hurt to check out what is happening!  As always, shoot me an email with any questions that you may have about this information, and hopefully this post will start a great conversation about all the Digital Citizenship topics we have been talking about in class too!

Welcome to Digital Literacy (Virtual Edition)!

 Welcome to Digital Literacy!  There is so much information that is coming at parents right now, so I will keep my greeting as short and to the point as I can, and continue to answer all those great questions that you have as they come up.

First, my name is Angela Flickinger-Pierce, or Ms. Pierce, and this is my third year teaching Digital Literacy at DAMS.  Many of your students know me already, as some of your students were part of my 2nd grade WES class when I was a student teacher. I can't believe that I am lucky enough to have your students back!!!

As 5th graders, your student will explore many different types of technology including robotics, the engineering design process, graphic design, coding and online safety and digital citizenship. With the virtual start to the school year, our Google Classroom will look just like the Google classroom of their homeroom teacher, and we will share information in a similar way. Additionally, to help your student stay organized this year with Virtual Learning, I will be posting a "Week at a Glance" document on the stream that will show exactly what the students will be doing each day for the week. The rotations of Encore this year are 29 days long.  The "Week at a Glance" will include all of the links that students will need for the week. Assignments will all have due dates and be found under the weekly topics.  Your student will get one to two project grades each week for the rotation. Grades are based on showing understanding of the ISTE standards, and are 4,3,2,1, with 4 being advanced and 1 showing that the student has not yet showed their understanding of the concept. Students with a 1 or 2 will be greatly encouraged to continue to work towards a 3, and extra one-on- one help is ALWAYS available. Just let me know. 

Details about our Encore rotations and classes can be found in this Encore Newsletter.  It gives details about the start of the school year, a video introducing all of the Encore teachers, and has contact and office hour information for all of the Encore teachers.  Please let me know if you have any information about the newsletter. 

Finally, I will use this blog to share information throughout the rotation.  You can look back on prior posts to see resources for a number of different activity ideas, staying safe online, and past student projects.

I know that this is a different type of school year, but we are going to make this work and learn, and I am here to help you every step of the way!  I will leave you with pictures of my children from this summer. We spent most of our time outside, or gardening and baking.  My daughter Rachel is a senior this year and applying to study Marine Science at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, and my son Henry is 5 and is attending 4K this year. 

A collection of good jokes

Last week, I challenged my wonderful 5th grade students to do their best to make me laugh!  

I have included a few of my favorites below, but more will come out in weeks to come.  

I just heard about a restaurant called Karma. There is no menu.  You get what you deserve...

 

When do astronauts eat???  At launch-time!

So my friends said "what rhymes with orange..." I said..."No it doesn't..."

How do trees get into a Chromebook?  They log on...

Beyond jokes, everyone has been doing fantastic work on their meme projects. This week we are going to be finishing our memes.  Grades for Empowered Learner will be posted this week, based on everyone's hard work on their Code.org and Meme projects.  An empowered learner is one that can take an active role in their learning, use technology and make choices to show what they know and what they can create.  A behavior grade for these two projects will also be posted. Remember these grades serve as a check-in, but will be entered as no-count.  These grades cannot bring down anyone's great Digital Literacy grade, but can be counted to bring up a grade. 

I miss all of my students so much!  It probably goes without saying, but it is my students that make me a teacher.  While I see everyone during our office hours, and I have been talking with everyone through email, I still very much miss seeing everyone's smiling faces and hearing your ideas in person.  Stay strong and safe!

The end of our first week of Virtual Learning!

Phew!  We made it through our first week of Virtual Learning!  I have seen such amazing work being done on your coding projects already. For those of you who have had a chance to join me during my office hours, thank you!  It helps to see everyone, and hear about the things that you have been working on. Remember, if you finished one project, you can always explore a second one. 

I have a couple of important things to share with you today;

1. As a follow-up to Mr. Becker's announcement, we WILL NOT be switching classes when the quarter ends.  You will be staying part of Digital Literacy until we return to in-person school.  You may have questions about this, and I am happy to answer all of them!

2. You will have Monday and Tuesday after spring break to work on your Coding Projects.  If you happen to finish before, you will only need to work on your daily warm-ups for Digital Literacy.

3. After our Coding project is finished, we will start a What do you Meme project which I will explain when we return from break. 

Thank you to everyone!  You have taken a new situation, and made it work.  Have a great break.  I hope that you can enjoy some time outside.  Let's all hope for nicer weather!!!

Happy first day of Virtual Learning!

Happy Monday!  I hope that everyone is feeling good about the work that we will be completing in class.  A couple of thoughts based on common questions that I have already received:

1. Remember, when working on your coding projects in Code.org, the "forever" block makes whatever you put inside of it go on, well, forever.  It is a loop and it is helpful when you have an action or event that you want to repeat. 

2. It is helpful to name your projects as you are working on them.  In the upper left hand corner, click on the box that says "Untitled" and rename your project something that makes sense.  That way, when you go back into your list of projects, you can tell which project is which without opening all of those projects up.

I will leave you with the first of many memes you will see that I have created using my dog George.  George is a chihuahua, and much like the Grumpy Cat, he can sometimes have a perpetual frown. Happy Monday and do not hesitate to reach out with questions!

Virtual Learning and Joke of the Week

I know as a teacher and a mom, much of my time lately has been spent worrying about the many changes that we are facing as a community, school and country.  As your student's Digital Literacy teacher, my job is to make the virtual learning that we will be doing as stress free as possible. I will be posting answers to common questions here on my blog, but also know that I am available for questions during my posted office hours of 9-10 am daily in Google Meet and by email throughout the day.  My office hours are pre-scheduled, and your student will be able to follow the link that I will share in Google Classroom to access me during my office hours each day. Additionally, all of the classroom work that I will be sharing will be through Google Classroom.  Your student has been using Google Classroom for my class since the beginning of the quarter, and will be using the same classroom for virtual learning.  

On Thursday, I will be introducing some coding work that we will be doing for Digital Literacy.  The last day of the quarter is two days after our scheduled Spring Break.  The students were able to finish up their robots last week, and we were even able to have our battle!  Below is a picture of the students working on their "Robotic Design Challenge Trials". 

The coding project that we will be working on will be in Code.org.  Your student can access Code.org from Clever, but I have also included a link here.   There will be a link in your student's Google Classroom stream as well.  When your student logs in, choose the "Sign in with Google" option, and then they will find the Express Course 2019 lessons they have been assigned.  Along with this coding practice, students will have the opportunity to work on vocabulary related to coding, and read an article about how coding is being used throughout the world.

Again, please let me know if you have any questions about anything-I am here to support you and your student throughout this entire process. 

I always post a joke of the week in my classroom, so instead of having our joke on our whiteboard, I will be posting our jokes here!  This week's joke:

Why is March the most popular month to use a trampoline?
Answer: It’s spring-time!

I said I posted jokes, I didn't say they were funny...stay safe and be well!

It's the third quarter already???? How did that happen! From time to time, I will use this blog to share great student work, pictures, updates, announcements and reminders. Stay tuned for information!

It's the third quarter already???? How did that happen!  From time to time, I will use this blog to share great student work, pictures, updates, announcements and reminders.  Stay tuned for information!

If you did not catch the letter I sent home with your student today, and missed this post from a previous quarter, here is a short introduction of myself: My name is Angela Flickinger-Pierce, and this is my second year of teaching at the Deforest Area Middle School.  I love it here!  I love the students, the other teachers, the community, the parents,  I just love everything about being here!  Before I was a teacher, I worked as a Marketing and Fund Development Director for non-profits in the Madison area.  I realized my true passion was working with children, and I went back to school to become a teacher.  I was certified in 2018, and just completed my Masters of Education this past May.  I live in Poynette with my husband, daughter, son, chihuahuas and chickens. My human family (minus chickens and chihuahuas) can be seen below!

Your student will have Digital Literacy for one quarter. During the quarter we will explore:

-Digital Citizenship, or learning how to be safe online
-Coding, using Tynker and Code.org
-Robotics
-Graphic Design 
-Engineering Design Process 

We will also work on everyday skills such as vocabulary, typing, collaboration, reading comprehension, and becoming learners that problem-solve, think creatively and know how to  independently attack whatever work we are doing. Digital Literacy is a Standards Based class, meaning that the grades earned in this class show what we are able to do according to a standard or skill.  The standards used for grading in this class are the ISTE Standards, or International Society for Technology Education linked here. We will start our quarter by breaking apart these standards, and thinking about what each of these standards means.  Every project completed by your student will include a rubric outlining the ISTE standards that they will be graded on.  You may have questions about these standards-please feel free to ask!  

I will be sending a parent letter home with your students on the first day of class with some other basic information about homework, missing assignments, one-on-one mentoring or tutoring time, and grades.  Additionally, I will be sending home a document with a Digital Literacy Wish List and Volunteer form.  I welcome anyone willing to give their time, from ten minutes to hours!  If you are at all interested in getting involved in the classroom, please fill out the form.  I have linked the form here as well. 

Finally, as we start out this new and fresh school year, I just want to say that your student's hopes, dreams, happiness, comfort and sense of self is my first priority.  If there is anything that you would like me to know about your student, please reach out!  I am here before and after school and can be reached by email and phone. It's going to be a great year!