NETS-T4 Exploration

Wow... This graduate class is close to winding down, and that kind of matches my brain right now-- which has been winding down ever since I realized every other public school in the state is on Spring Break. :) (I realize that that last statement was an extreme hyperbole, but bear with me right now.)

Today's focus will be on NETS-T4, which, as an overall standard, entails the following:

Promote and Model Digital Citizenship & Responsibility: Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture.

Before examining the indicators outlined under this standard, I thought that I wasn't really meeting/following this standard. But, upon, further examination, I realized that I was implementing/following many of the indicators before ever taking EDT 610. Yay for me! :)

The indicator I'd like to focus on today is Indicator A:

Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

Because I teach at Mason Middle School, one of the premier middle schools in the United States (can you smell my school pride?), I have been trained to diligently, model, teach, and monitor my students' citations. Meaning, any time they write an essay, any time they quote an author, and any time they reference a literary work, they must give credit to the original author.

The Media Center and the Language Arts Department in my building both do a fabulous job of enforcing plagiarism guidelines (the Do's and Don'ts) at the beginning of each school year. We are required to take each one of our Language Arts classes to the Media Center to receive the Plagiarism Tutorial, and then we are required to give our students a quiz over the material-- which must be counted in the grade book. We also outline the disciplinary consequences that result from plagiarism infractions, and this usually sends a strong message (in terms of academic integrity) at the beginning of each school year. So far (knock on wood!), I have not had to deal with any substantial plagiarism issues in my two years of teaching. Again, knock. on. wood.

Another element of digital citizenship and recognizing copyright laws/guidelines is helping students create accurate Works Cited Pages. This is a skill that most students are introduced to in the lower grades, but I believe it's important to enforce this skill at each grade level. The most common citation tool I encourage my students to use (as does the majority of my department) is Citation Machine. Using the MLA Format citations, the students merely have to plug the information into the website-- and out comes a punctuated, grammatically correct Works Cited Page!! Of course, since this is an electronic method of citing their sources, students are always encouraged to proof read their information before using the website (as the website doesn't have a Spell Check function).

The last, and most recent, example of this indicator and standard that I've implemented in my classroom is my Wiki Student Agreement. The WSA is a document that the students have to sign and authenticate prior to using the Wiki. It not only explains the guidelines for appropriate online conversation, but it also explains that students will use full academic integrity when publishing their work on the WikiSpace. That way, the students know they are expected to give other authors credit (just like they'd have to do in the typical classroom).

I have pasted a couple excerpts from my WSA below for your perusal:

Being a responsible participant in the great online conversation, I pledge that I will use information on this WikiSpace to...

1) Express the truth of my publications at ALL times, and that if challenged by an instructor, I will be able to prove that what I write or say is true. (Remember our Plagiarism Tutorial from the beginning of the year!!)

3) Respect and protect informational tools. I will neither do any harm to a computer system, network, software, or other person’s information; nor will I allow others to do harm to a computer system, network, software, or other person’s information.

4) I will always be accountable for the information that I produce and publish, and I will always be willing and able to defend my information- or- to acknowledge when I have made a mistake (and promptly fix it).

So, in short, I am pretty excited that I've been incorporating this indicator into my classroom for a long time. I will continue to teach conscientious methods to my students that promote digital citizenship and responsibility, and I will do my best to model these practices. End scene. :)