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Standard 4 of the ISTE Standards for Teachers focuses on the concept of digital citizenship. The past decade has seen an exponential increase in digital tools and opportunities, which carry the need for students to master a new set of life skills for behaving responsibly online. Contrary to popular belief, however, digital natives don't pick up these skills through osmosis. It falls on parents and educators to teach them how. Just as a teacher would talk to students about etiquette and safety before they enter a public place on a school trip, so must they remind students of what's expected of them online. Students are much more likely to understand good digital citizenship - the norms of appropriate, responsible technology use - when teachers model it on a regular basis. The three social studies activities described in the table below are designed for students in grades 5-7. The objective of the lesson is to help students explore another culture and share traditions, events, customs and rituals from their own culture. There are different ways to address these objectives, but not all of them take advantage of the prime opportunity to promote and model digital citizenship.

An interesting discussion about the print phenomenon. Different sources from textbook publishers, bookstore owners and college student surveys all say that young people still strongly prefer print for pleasure and learning. This is a bias that surprises reading experts when the same group spend so much of the rest of their time on-line. "A University of Washington pilot study of digital textbooks found that a quarter of students still bought print versions of e-textbooks that they were given for free."

"Social media can be an incredibly useful teaching tool. The social networks students use are conducive to so many facets of modern learning such as collaborative planning, data and resource sharing, and progress updates concerning group work. It appeals to our digital natives, and social media is very easy to use. The prospect of teaching with social media can be alluring or repulsive, depending on your understanding of it, and your experience with it. The truth is, it doesn't need to be difficult or stressful. For any teacher wanting to broaden connections with students through different teaching strategies, social media is a terrific choice. That said, it pays to do a bit of homework on the subject before diving in. Let's look at some of the things that are worth considering before making the move to teaching with social media in a classroom environment."