Response to 20 Things I Learned

The reading assignment was great.  I learned a lot.  I was familiar with a lot of the information.  But, it inspired me to incorporate some of information into my lesson on civic responsibility.  I teach American Government.  The reading assignment stated that we are "citizens of the Internet." If we participate in social networking, we are citizens of the Internet venue.


My students are studying Political Socialization and Civic Responsibility.  Today, we completed a Venn diagram comparing the characteristics of good US citizens, Internet citizens and school citizens.  In essence, students in a school are citizens of the school community.  The objective was to identify characteristics of citizens from the three venues.  We discussed responsibilities and behavioral expectations of Internet citizens.  We discussed crime on the Internet and in the community.  Students identified good and bad characteristics of citizens in the three communities.  I provided examples of crimes within communities, society in general and the Internet.  They learned about malicious ware, phishing and other deceptive activities on the Internet.

The lesson was a success.  The students recognized the importance of being a good citizen in the three communities.  They were aware of the fact that Dean's check facebook, myspace and twitter.  Some have learned the hard way that certain behaviors on the Net are considered criminal.