Strategies Used by Dommerich Teachers to help provide Internet Safety

Dommerich teachers have all been trained on the strategies to employ in order to provide a safe working environment for our Internet using students. Those strategies are listed below. In addition, all Dommerich students have been asked to take home an AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) to discuss with their parents. Unless a student has a signed AUP on file with their teacher, they are not permitted to use the Internet in school.

Golden Rule Number One: Supervised Activity

1) Location, Location, Location
Computers should be in a centralized location. Teachers should be able to see the screens of Internet connected computers.
2) Set some Ground Rules for Internet Use
An adult must be in the room in order to go online. Students must have permission before going online. Set time limits for being online. Students should only use the Internet for a specific, identified, educational purpose.

Golden Rule Number Two: Directed Activity

1) Set A Target
When children go online, they should be going some place specific in order to DO something specific. It is our job as teachers to narrow down their resources to what is safe for them. It is age-level and skill-level inappropriate to have elementary aged children using search engines. There are so many variables and requirements for making a quality Internet search that this kind of online research should be left to Upper-Middle and High School students, (even then students should be armed with the knowledge of Boolean Logic structures and other such research tools).
2) Provide a Safe Arena
For elementary aged children and in some cases, even older, teachers can create a list of bookmarks which itemize specific sites which you deem appropriate and interesting.

Golden Rule Number Three: Play Offense

1) Private Information Stays Private
Children should be warned (and modeling should support) not to give personal information online. This can range from physical safety (stranger danger) to protection from annoyances (email bombs, mailing lists, etc). First names only, no phone number exchange, no mailing address exchange, no meeting people form "cyberworld" - these are all good rules to employ.
2) Make a Statement
Children today should be empowered to speak against what it is they see around them. Teachers should give them the words to their voice: "This is inappropriate." and "This makes me feel uncomfortable." Are two sentences which will serve our children well if we support them in using them. Weather it's an adult touching them inappropriately or a bully in a school yard, give them the voice they need to be heard.
3) When in doubt, GO HOME.
Teachers should teach their students to use the "Home" button on their browser to immediately get away from anything which concerns them. They should then tell their teachers immediately so that they can check out the source of their concern.
4) Be You
While online, children should be who they are - not a handle or cyber nickname. We free our children of their normal modes of operation when we allow them to be a make believe person. While it DEFINITELY has it's place in play and fantasy - it should be removed from online activity.

A Few Items to Consider:

1) Filtering Software
OCPS is currently testing it's proxy service which filters all OCPS Internet access. Dommerich's classrooms are taking part in the testing process. For more information see your school TC.
2) Create Critical Users
Sadly the TV screen has become a passive medium. It is sad that our culture allowed such a thing to happen, but there it is. we MUST keep the same thing from happening to the computer screen. This is not something to watch. This is not something which can automatically be relied on for accurate information. This is not something to entertain us. THIS IS A TOOL. A powerful, unique, growing, fabulous tool. NOTICE - I did not title this section "Create Critical VIEWERS", but rather "Create Critical USERS". Semantics? Possibly, but there is a monumental difference. There are very few tools that we merely view. We do not stare glumly at a hammer or a ladder or a fork. We USE it. So ought it be with the Internet.
3) Sites for further information
Check-out this collection of safety information. Designed for educators but certainly applicable to parents.

Author's Note

The subject of Internet Safety rests on the foundation that there are certain topics and experiences in this life which are age-level (cognitively) inappropriate for children. As parents and as teachers, we seek to protect our children from ideas and discourse which are "too old" or "too morally removed" for them. In a thousand little and not-so-little ways we seek to influence the decisions they make about the outside forces which they invite into their lives: we monitor their television watching, we make sure that we know their friends, we entertain dialog and set parameters on their choices in videos, movies, social circles and more. Never has this responsibility been more challenging than now. When little Johnny makes a choice about a television show he wants to watch, at least we as parents know that there was an editorial process behind the creation and airing of that show. Granted, it is a questionable editorial process when one considers the "powers that be" in the television world, but a process none-the-less. With the popularization of the Internet, there is a unique situation in the arena of mass publication: Immediate publishing. No editorial review, no accuracy checks, no qualification of authors. Anyone with twenty minutes and a modem can become a publisher. While this is an exciting advent for no-holds-barred communications, it is also a precarious time for our children (not to mention those high school-ers who are learning how to do research in a world with a massive, sparsely accurate, haphazard collection of resources). Our diligence in seeking out appropriate experiences, relationships and information has a new challenge and as a result - our jobs just got harder.