W11: NETSmart

In the book NETSmart, Howard Reingold introduced his 5 literacies for online culture. He discussed attention and mindfulness and reiterates what we have already learned in that you are what you consume online. In crap detection, he confirmed the need for searching and sorting when it comes to internet information.  He identifies that with participation comes power. This chapter stresses the importance for teaching and re-teaching digital citizenship with students of all ages. Even at a Kindergarten level, my students understand the difference between safe and unsafe and they need to understand that the internet is safe, but it can also be unsafe. They also need to know that they need to talk with an adult if they find themselves in a place that does not feel safe. Next he talks about collaboration.  On page 88 he said “You need coordination to dance, cooperation to dance with a partner, and collaboration to dance with a flash mob.” As one of our 21^st century learning skills, we teach what good collaboration looks likes and sounds like in STEM lab and in our classroom. That quote made me recognize how truly complex this process is for our students and like dancing with a flash mob, collaboration will take ongoing practice. The last chapter touches on Networking and the importance of add variety to your information diet.

Overall, this book confirmed the ideas presented in the Information Diet and in the principle of SSCCS. Students and teachers must be aware of their internet information consumption.  They need to carefully search and sort out the right information and weed out the wrong. Like the food pyramid, they need to consume a well-balanced variety of ideas and opinions. They not only need to be careful of what they consume, but also what they creating and share and who they collaborate with. For me, NetSmart and the Information Diet are the why and SSCCS is how we build and instill in our students.