Yesterday was our first meeting. I wanted us to talk about internet safety first. We went to netsmartz.org and looked at a video this organization has prepared on it. We learned that there are no friends online. We never agree to meet with someone we have met online. We never give out personal information, name, phone number, hometown, school name, etc. If we ever feel unsure, uncomfortable, or icky about something we see, hear or read online, we should talk to a trusted adult like a parent or a teacher.
The students were surprised to hear that there are no friends online. One question was which of these would be ok to be your friend:
The person who writes, “I’m 12 years old and my favorite hobby is skateboarding. I love pizza and vanilla ice cream.”
The person who writes, “What is you phone number; where do you live?”
The person who writes, “Would you like to buy a game; what is your parent’s credit card number?”
They generally agreed that the first one would be ok to be a friend on the internet and the video made a nice point of saying that could really be a guy who is much older and who is pretending to be young like you so you will be more open and trusting of him.
This is the address, if you would like to explore yourself: http://www.netsmartz.org/index.aspx
Several of the students (mostly boys) asked if they could go on favorite websites like funbrain, webkins, and primary games. I explained that this is a school sponsored activity and we would be primarily learning, along with exploring new technology, getting deeper into some of the programs than we have time to in class and maybe having a little fun along the way. They were amazed when I told them Mr. N., the computer teacher at another school in our district, has had a tech club for the past four or five years and that he let them tear apart an old computer. I will definitely put that on the schedule.
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