Safey First

Resources Abound For Setting Up Internet Safety Programs
By: Jennifer Hanson

Jennifer Hanson provides many resources that we as educators can use to help our students learn about how to be safe on the internet. She made a simple outline of the types of resources, for example: How to Maintain Internet Safety, Using the PTA, High School Leadership Organizations, Contacting Your Project Safe Childhood Coordinator, and Using Key District Resources. Hanson gives examples of how these resources are beneficial to internet safety. Using the PTA and High school leadership programs will allow for family and student involvement. By contacting the Project Safe Childhood coordinator it encourages communities to work together to educate not only students but parents about the danger of being online. It involves law enforcement, business, educators, and parents. These programs educate our communities so they can inform our students.

Hanson also gives tips on how to remind our students to be safe online. The tips include: how to choose and create appropriate screen names, thinking ahead when putting information on the internet, and how to get help if you are in trouble on the internet. She provides a website called cypertiponline.com if there is any bullying or you suspect any problems while online.

I think this is something all educators should be doing before they get their students online. All students should have some type of education about the dangers involved with the internet. Getting the community involved is a great idea because it promotes a more encouraging and trusting environment for our students. Getting high school students involved in younger children's education in not only beneficial for the elementary or middle school children, but the high school students academic and internet education as well. Many high school student are logging on to Myspace and Facebook and other social-networking sites and can get in a lot of trouble and by making them aware can help them with their internet usage as well.

Who New You Have To Be Media Literate?

Alligators in The Sewers? Really?
By Joy Egbert
Media Literacy is being able to understand what you have; read, heard, or seen in the media and to be able to analyze the information to determine its validity. Many students in our schools do not have the proper skills to determine what is false or true in the media, especially English Language Learners. These students need to be taught the necessary skills to analyze and evaluate the information they have been exposed to.

In her article Joy gives ideas on how to support our students understanding and media literacy. By reviewing vocabulary, going over sources, and learning how to use the internet to check the validity of a piece of news or information. There are also websites teachers can go to, to learn how to teach their students media literacy. Packets are available to guide the students in their quest for literacy and other websites to check their progress in finding the right answers.

This article sheds light on a topic that has growing over time. Many people, including myself, do not understand the medias' growing impact on young minds. And if students and teachers are not aware we will lose our intelligence. We need to teach our students how to analyze what they are exposed to so they can become intelligent adults and make rational decisions for their future. I think that going over the vocabulary for ELL is extremely helpful. Students who do not know the language are most susceptible to believing what they hear especially when they do not understand it. By reviewing the vocabulary we not only increase their media literacy but their reading literacy as well. I think that all teachers should use some sort of analyzing tool to help their students gain the knowledge they need to not only be media competent but to make rational decisions for their future.