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  • Berkeley Unified School District

Berkeley’s Digital Citizenship Program Shared With a Statewide Audience

November 6, 2017

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, children ages 8-18 now spend 9 hours each day on media and technology. To ensure our students take to heart how to be safe, responsible, and respectful online, we are proactively incorporating digital citizenship curriculum in grades 3-8.

4th graders in Angela Lara’s class at Rosa Parks created digital citizenship posters after discussing expectations. These posters now adorn the Chromebook cart. Photo Credit: Mary Ann Scheuer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In fact, Berkeley Unified has been recognized as a Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship Certified District after nearly every 3rd-5th grade classroom carved out time for at least three digital citizenship lessons last school year–that’s 300 lessons in 96 classrooms for 2,500 students. This year all three middle schools are launching a digital citizenship curriculum and Longfellow is leading the way by incorporating lessons into their school-wide expectations teach-in days.

Eric Silverberg, an elementary library services teacher on special assignment and member of our DigiTech Team, is Berkeley’s own digital citizenship leader. He has worked behind-the-scenes on adapting Common Sense Media’s digital citizenship curriculum into easy to use lesson plans and supported implementation of it district-wide. The lesson topics include internet safety, self-image and reputation, digital footprint, cyberbullying, and information literacy.

Eric leading a digital citizenship lesson at John Muir Elementary

Last week, Eric had the honor of presenting a session on digital citizenship at Fall CUE, an ed tech conference, so that other educators from all over the country could benefit from Berkeley’s experience and expertise. Eric shared that “children need help navigating the online world” and how Berkeley has aligned Common Sense Media’s curriculum with our school-wide expectations: be safe, be responsible, be respectful, and be an ally. Eric also mentioned how digital citizenship is a “whole-community issue” and how schools are partnering with parent groups. Participants in his session were thrilled to learn Berkeley’s model so they can find ways to replicate it in their own communities.

Kudos to Eric and all the Berkeley educators making sure our students are smart digital citizens.

– Mia Gittlen, K-8 Instructional Technology TSA

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Jessica Lee

Jessica Lee is the Coordinator for Library Services for BUSD and DigiTech lead. Prior to this year, she was a teacher librarian on special assignment supporting elementary schools and the Teacher Librarian at Willard Middle School for 13 years.
Jennifer Nguyen

Jennifer Nguyen is the BUSD TK-8 Instructional Technology Teacher on Special Assignment. She has over 14 years of experience working in both public and private schools, as a classroom teacher and technology integration coach.
Eric Silverberg

Eric Silverberg is a BUSD Teacher Librarian on Special Assignment, supporting libraries and instructional technology and Digital Citizenship. He has over 20 years experience working in public schools, as a classroom teacher, a teacher librarian, an arts coordinator, a drama/music specialist and a digital media teacher.
Mia Gittlen

Mia Gittlen was the BUSD K-8 Instructional Technology Teacher on Special Assignment from 2017-2019. She has taught English and history/social studies for eleven years. She also actively participates in East Bay CUE and the Krause Center of Innovation--two organizations focused on inspiring innovative learning.
Allison Krasnow

Allison Krasnow was the BUSD K-8 Instructional Technology Coordinator and a Teacher on Special Assignment from 2013-2018. She has taught grades 4-8 and is now teaching math at Willard Middle School.

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