Internet Safety

In our world today we have many opportunities to learn and to gain information. There are so many sources of information it's hard to know how much of it is true. And with the Internet it's extremely difficult to choose between the true and the false. Because there is so much of a volume of information, It's important to know how to judge if something is real. It's also very important to learn about the Internet and Internet safety because of the necessity of using the Internet in today's world.

One of the methods to judging the authenticity of an Internet site is to use the 5 "W's." which are, Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Who - Who is the Author and did they list valid contact information. What - What's the purpose of this site and what makes this site different from other sites. When - When was the the site last updated and is there a date. Why - Why is this site better than another one. Where - Where does this the information come from. If you ask yourself these 5 questions about a particular site you should be safe if you can answer these questions positively. These questions are a good barometer to use.

As a teacher it is very important to inform your students about being safe, in all aspects of life. Teachers dont just teach academics they teach about life. If they didn't who would? No all parents talk to their kids about being safe. And even fewer talk to their kids about being safe on the Internet. That's why as an educator it is mandatory to help keep your students safe especially online.

The children of today are very electronically savvy. It's amazing the things they can do with an electronic device. It's almost scary to think they are on the same level of understanding as the adults. So as an adult it can be hard to teach about things we know so little about, but nonetheless it is still very important to teach the rules and safety concerns when it comes to electronics. My four year old brother can get to and play just about any game on my mom's itouch I wonder what he will be like in 10 years? On the other hand I tried to show my grandpa how to play tic tac toe on an itouch and he couldn't figure it out and didn't want to try. The reality is, we need to learn and help teach our kids what's safe or they will start teaching themselves, which isn't always a good thing.

Finally we need to teach our kids to be nice. Just like in school kids have feeling and they also get their feelings hurt and it's never fun. All kids know how it feels to get picked on at school and they know it hurts. What they may not know is that when they bully someone online, it's just the same or worse. Often times kids go home to get away from bullies, but if they go home and are bullied online it's so much worse because they cannot escape it. It is vital to teach our kids rules of the Internet, how to be respectful to others, and to be honest and to obey the law. As a teacher this is our responsibility.