“While my six- and seven-year old students don’t yet even understand the words ‘digital’ or ‘citizenship,’ they also need direction and support as they explore online spaces,” writes primary teacher Kathy Cassidy. “In fact, they need this instruction even more than their older counterparts.” Here’s how Cassidy teaches kids to be good (and safe) digital citizens.
The beauty of blog-based digital portfolios, says teacher-author Kathy Cassidy, “is that as the children and I are constantly assessing their learning in a formative and summative way, the students are also demonstrating their growing knowledge for a wide audience and learning about digital citizenship and appropriate online behavior. What great by-products of the assessment process!”
I have been using my students’ blogs as digital portfolios for several years. By the end of the school year, they reflect each child’s learning in many subject areas from the first weeks of school until the last. In addition to showing the development of our writing skills, we make podcasts of our reading fluency at different points in the school year, and use webtools to show our learning in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and health.
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