I have visited the David Warlick site because Lori used it in her demo lesson and I was curious. There I met Mary Conyers who is a grandmother invested in helping children stay safe while surfing the net. She uses the analogy of preparing young drivers to get their licenses. Mrs. Conyers tells us not to assume that our children know how to be safe online. She cautions parents to provide information to their children that will help them visit only approved sites. I know that my sixth graders do not always make good choices.
Her advice actually reminded me of the classes that Lori did for our students.
You can get a free DVD if you visit wral.com.
It appears that David Warlick adds a new topic each day or so. You may have to scroll to find Mary Conyers but she is worth it.
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This sounds interesting, Cheryl. I just recently heard someone else use that driving analogy too. That person talked about how we certainly all agree that we want our kids to be able to drive in order to be a productive, independent citizen. However, we don't just say to them, "Here's the car and here are the keys, go for it." We sit with them and supervise and teach and guide as they become drivers. We also don't ban them from driving because there might be dangers on the road. We teach them how to recognize dangers and try to give them strategies for dealing with them. Parents and teachers both need to apply these same "teachable moments" to helping our kids learn how to behave safely and ethically online. We are trying to develop a consistent curriculum for school on this topic. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about it next year.
And, gee whiz, Cheryl! Look at you! You're a blogger! Too cool! :-)
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