8 “DIGITAL LIFE” Habits of Mind
A brand-new SEL program from Adventure 2 Learning and Circle
Just in time for #DigitalCitizenship Week (October 14–18), we are excited to launch Digital Life, a brand-new program designed to help schools and families meet kids’ growing needs around being safe, responsible, and respectful in today’s digital world. Whatever you call it, digital citizenship or digital literacy is a subject that is necessary for today’s Digital Life.
Together with Circle, a leading parental controls solution, we have created a turnkey solution for schools to help impart valuable Digital Life lessons to better establish solid habits of mind that span school and home:
Technology is not the problem, it’s the behaviors around the use of technology that can be problematic. Today’s Digital Life needs to be proactive, interactive, and creative. It’s about helping kids find connections, take in perspectives, and make good decisions online and off. Our suite of videos and activities are founded in social-emotional competencies using CASEL’s framework:
The new videos are designed to jump-start rich conversations about the twists and turns of living an always-connected, always-on life. Kids are prompted to imagine “What if …?” to better underscore the need to be ever-thoughtful before they respond or react online (and possibly damage their digital footprint forevermore). The first video, Speak Up, delves into how you can show respect online and what to do if you feel that someone is being treated unkindly:
The accompanying lesson plans for grades 3–5 and 6–8 take a social-emotional learning (SEL) approach to encouraging mindful perspective taking. Each lesson takes about 25 minutes, but can easily be extended as the main activity revolves around our hands-on Brain & Body Activity Cards. The 10 cards encourage learners to dive deeper by working through the digital dilemma in a new way (drawing, prototyping, writing, etc.) — one that might be helpful when and if they ever cope with these situations in the real world. These Brain & Body Activity Cards prompt students’ voice and choice in how they want to respond to the video. The cards can be sent home for family engagement activities, too, thus providing a community-wide approach to promoting good digital citizenship.
And stay tuned, as we will be releasing a new video and lesson plan each week for the next couple of months! Coming soon, we will offer Spanish-language resources and classroom posters as well. Try out these brand-new Digital Life materials as part of an existing program or begin a program tailored for your school community’s needs. Sign up for free today to receive notification of the upcoming releases!
Have a great Digital Citizenship Week!
Please help us spread the word around the need for #digcit by copying and posting the following image on your social channels:
Want more information? Read more in today’s press release.
