internet safety – Pernille Ripp

You teach a child to blog and the whole world opens up to them. And yet, with that whole wide world comes a whole lot of responsibility. Some of the more frequent questions I receive is how I keep my students safe when they blog, how do I prevent cyber bullying, and how do I convince parents that this is worthwhile. While I may not have all of the answers or any quick fix solutions, I do have a lot of passion for this.

First things first; student safety is paramount. I use Kidblog for this reason. It allows me to control who sees our posts, who comments, and also how open I want our account to be. But I don’t just give students their account information…there is a lot of preparation before then:

We talk at length about blogging, why it is important to us, why it is a privilege.
We visit other student blogs and we discuss whether we agree with their posts, with their etiquette and we decide how we want to represent ourselves.
We discuss what constitutes an actual blog post and what we share with the world. We discuss the difference between Edmodo and Kidblog, and there are many.
I show them scary videos of giving out information on the internet to strangers, we discuss how the Internet is like the mall.
We talk, reflect and then have further discussions before we even do our first mouse click. we create a paper blog to get a feel for commenting and I show my own blog to show them the power of blogging.
And this isn’t an only at the beginning of the year conversation, it is an always conversation. We always discuss safety, we always practice it, and we remind each other whenever need be.

Then there is the ugly reality of cyber bullying, and yes we face it head on and battle it. I have never had another child bully a classmate through blogging. They revere it too much. That is not to say that all of my students love each other, they don’t, they are 10 years olds, but they do respect each other. And I think that is the most important ingredient to prevent cyber-bullying; respect. We respect each other, and the differences we may have. We respect the privilege that it is to have a blog, to have a voice to the world. We discuss how this is a big deal and how we would never want to hurt someone purposely or even shine ourselves in that light. There is no anonymity on our blog, I make sure of that, and the students would have to sign their name to any comment that they leave. While they may not always get a long we still have a sense of community that we work hard on achieving and maintaining from the very first moment we are together. I love my students as if they were my own kids and I think they feel that we are a family. That feeling takes us far.

Finally, the apprehension of parents. I have been incredibly lucky with my parent support but I have also worked hard for that. I have been completely transparent with the purpose and scope of our blogging. I have shown them examples and the direction in which I want to take the students. The communication is paramount to the success. I am not trying to exploit the works or thoughts of their children, and I am not bringing them into danger. They know I work hard to keep them safe and I think many of them appreciate the inherent internet safety message that these students embrace. But there is an opt out; blogging is not mandatory, nor is it part of their trimester report card grades. I have never had anyone take the option, they hear about it before they come to my room, and it is highlight for many. Parents understand that and I think they love seeing their child’s thoughts on so many times, their growth as a writer, and how their child is handling the responsibility.

Student blogging has changed the way I view my students and their voice. It is now an essential part of our classroom, our community, and of our curriculum. We revere, we tame it, and we use it properly; sometimes for fun and sometimes for serious study. There is no one solution to everything but there are several ingredients that have to be present if student blogging should be successful; respect, communication, transparency, and expectations. With those in place you will go far.

being a teacher, internet safety

I Found 8 Students on Facebook…

February 12, 2012 Pernille Ripp

It finally happened; in a passing conversation my principal mentioned Facebook and one of our students. Curious I jumped onto my account typed in the name and there it was; his profile for the whole world to see. No protection, no privacy, but all the information you could want about this 10 year old kid. I noticed he had more than 800 friends and so I scrolled through and sure enough about 8 more of our 5th graders showed up and even some 4th and 3rd graders. Yes, I felt like a creepy stalker but also I couldn’t help but think why hadn’t anyone taught them about their privacy settings? I shouldn’t be able to see his pictures, his walls, his friends

This post is not to debate the merits of Facebook. I think a lot of 5th graders are on there, whether they should be or not. It is to discuss how we are not able to teach them the safety lessons they need when we stick our head in the sand and pretend they are not. I have written about it before and it continues to irk me. As a school we do internet safety, sure, which mainly teaches the kids how scary the Internet is, instead of devoting our time to teaching them how to use the internet properly.

Now some may argue that it really is the job of a parent, but with Facebook changing its privacy policy more times than I change shoes, can you blame them if they are as confused as their kids? So I propose that we as teachers figure out a way to teach the safety and proper privacy policy of Facebook. Maybe not in younger grades than 5th although my searching found 8 year olds on there, but there needs to be some sort of open discussion. There needs to be some sort of acknowledgement that these young kids are on there and that we need to teach them to do it right.

I have used Edmodo with my students and my students are probably more internet savvy than most other 4th or 5th graders. And while I like Edmodo one drawback is that my students don’t have control over their own settings. I set it all up so that they are protected. I decide what they can post and who they can post to. Edmodo is a step yes, but it is not enough simply because it is not the wide-open world of Facebook We don’t expect kids to learn how to drive by keeping them on a bumper-padded closed course either? Instead, we take them into the real world and navigate it with them, we need to do that with Facebook. Facebook comes with such immense responsibility; why are we skirting ours when it comes to teaching safety?

internet safety, Student-centered, students

Students Share Why the Internet is Like the Mall

September 7, 2011 Pernille Ripp

My students decided to share thier conversation on why they feel the internet is like the mall and how we can set safety rules to follow:
At the mall,

We don’t talk to strangers because we don’t know them.
Don’t go to random places because you don’t know what will happen there, it may be inappropriate, a virus, or dangerous.
Don’t follow strangers even if they promise you candy. This means don’t click on pop up links.
Don’t agree to meet strangers outside of the mall.
Go where you are supposed to go.
Don’t be fooled by how nice something looks.
If you end up somewhere you shouldn’t, just leave. On the internet close out the window or hit the back button.Check out where you are going before you go there and make sure your teacher/parent approves.
Don’t give out personal information, first name only and no address.
Ask for permission before you go somewhere new.
Don’t believe someone is a friend of a friend.
Don’t share your password.

We hope that this helps you have the same conversation with your students.

blogging, connections, internet safety, students

14 Steps to Meaningful Student Blogging

May 28, 2011September 4, 2013 Pernille Ripp

So you have heard about blogging with your students and you are considering taking the plunge but just not sure what or how to do it? I am here to tell you; blogging with my students has been one of the most enriching educational experiences we have had this year, and that says a lot. So to get you started, here is what I have learned:

Pick an easy platform, both for you and the students. I used Kidblog with great success, it fit our needs, it is free and it offers easy moderation. There are other great alternatives out there such as WordPress or EduBlogs
Teach them how to blog first. We did an excellent paper blogging lesson first (found on the blog of McTeach), which brought up why we were blogging and how to do it appropriately. This got the students excited, interested as well as got them thinking about what great comments look and sound like.
Talk safety! We assume some students know how to be safe, but don’t assume it; teach them the do’s and dont’s. I came up with the lesson of why the Internet is like the mall and it really worked. I also sent home safety plans for students and parents to discuss and we discussed it throughout the year.
Teach them how to comment. In order for blogging to be effective, comments are needed, but if students don’t know how to properly comment they will lose out on part of the experience. We discuss how to thank people, how to answer their questions, and most importantly, how to ask questions back. This is all part of common conversational knowledge that all kids should be taught any way.
Start small. The first post was an introduction of themselves. It was an easy topic and something they really liked to do. They then got to comment on each others post as well which started to build community.
Include parents. Parents always know what we are doing and are invited to comment. The students loved the extra connection and parents loved seeing what the kids were doing.
Connect with one or two classes to be buddies. While comments from around the world are phenomenal, the connections are what it is all about. So reach out on Twitter or through the most excellent #comments4kids and set up something more permanent. The students relish getting to know one another and the comments become even more worthwhile. Thanks Mr. Gary’s class in Egypt and Mr. Reuter’s 6th grade class in Merton, Wisconsin for being our buddies.
Speaking of #comments4kids, this excellent site created by Will Chamberlain is a must for anyone blogging with students. Link their blog to it and ask people to comment, tweet it out with the hashtag #comments4kids, and use it to find classes to comment on.
Visit other classroom blogs. Show them how other kids use it and have it inspire them. Blogs can be found through Twitter or the comments4kids site.
Let them explore. My students love to play around with font, color, and images. They taught each other how to do anything fancy and also let each other know when font or color choices were poor. This was a way for students to come into their own as creative writers and also start to think about creating their online identity.
Don’t grade! Blogging is meant to be a way to practice writing for an audience and learning to respond to critique, not a graded paper. I would often tell students my requirements and even make them go back and edit but I never ever chastised them for mistakes made.
Challenge them. Often students would ask to write about topics but we also had a blogging challenge almost weekly. This was my way of finding out what they really thought about fourth grade, their dreams, their hopes and their lives. The kids always wondered what the next challenge would be and looked forward to writing them. We would also share creative writing pieces from class, create diaries of work we did, and share our op.ed. pieces.
Map the connections. We have a world map in our classroom that we use to push pin people we connect with, it is amazing to see it grow and what a geography lesson is has turned out to be. Students are acutely aware of where Egypt, Alabama, New York and other places in the news are because they have connected with people there.
Give it time! Some students took to it right away, others weren’t so sure, and yet they all ended up loving it. The sheer mass of paper I have had to print to create their writing portfolio is staggering and it shows how ingrained it became in our classroom. I now have kids blogging when they are sick, out of school or just because.

So here it is, take the leap and believe in your students’ ability to stay safe and appropriate on the internet. Stay tuned for a student-created video tutorial on how to use Kidblog, kids teaching kids, that is learning worth doing. To see our student blogs and maybe even leave comment, please go here.

internet safety, technology

Why the Internet is Like the Mall

January 1, 2011July 24, 2013 Pernille Ripp

Image from here

Another cross posting from my other blog, this one has taken on a life of its own, with others putting their own spin on it. When we discuss internet safety, it is vital that we are able to relate it to students’ lives, so that they can understand that being behind a computer does not mean that they are protected. While I am not in the business of scaring students, there are plenty of other ways that can happen, we can stress the importance of proper behavior. And thus this lesson came about; linking the internet to going to the mall.

I believe in the importance of honest conversation with the kids, where they supply the answers, rather than me hitting them over the head with it. I simply started out this lesson by writing the words “Internet Safety” on my whiteboard and turned to the kids. They volunteered what these words meant to them and then I ventured into the mall analogy; so what would they do to stay safe at the mall if their parents dropped them off?

Some of the students answers were

That they would not talk to strangers
Give anyone their information if approached
Go only to the place they were supposed to
And they wold go straight there, rather than take detours or stop at other places
They wouldn’t give their money to strangers

By having the students provide the safety rules, taken from their own memory of rules drilled into their heads by their formidable parents, they connected real life danger with things that can happen on the internet. Sometimes students think they are safe on the net, as we all know, and this brought the responsibility home for them.

So as we continue learning proper safety and etiquette, we will keep referring back to the mall analogy, for example, would you walk up to a friend and tell them their outfit was ugly when talking about how to comment? Today was one of those moments where I was able to make students understand something they have to learn in this day and age. A lesson not just meant for 4th graders or 5th graders but hopefully something they will keep in the back of their minds when they go on the internet themselves, or maybe even next time they go to the mall. Once again today I realized how huge my responsibility is for these kids and how glad I am to be their teacher.

internet safety, technology

Why the Internet is Like the Mall

January 1, 2011 Pernille Ripp

I believe in the importance of honest conversation with the kids, where they supply the answers, rather than me hitting them over the head with it. I simply started out this lesson by writing the words “Internet Safety” on my whiteboard and turned to the kids. They volunteered what these words meant to them and then I ventured into the mall analogy; so what would they do to stay safe at the mall if their parents dropped them off?

Some of the students answers were

That they would not talk to strangers
Give anyone their information if approached
Go only to the place they were supposed to
And they wold go straight there, rather than take detours or stop at other places
They wouldn’t give their money to strangers

So as we continue learning proper safety and etiquette, we will keep referring back to the mall analogy, for example, would you walk up to a friend and tell them their outfit was ugly when talking about how to comment? Today was one of those moments where I was able to make students understand something they have to learn in this day and age. A lesson not just meant for 4th graders or 5th graders but hopefully something they will keep in the back of their minds when they go on the internet themselves, or maybe even next time they go to the mall. Once again today I realized how huge my responsibility is for these kids and how glad I am to be their teacher.