Internet Safety

            The internet and a computer is a wonderful thing.  The world is available at the fingertips of our students at any given moment.  Therein is the problem.  The world, all its resources, beauty, and ugliness is there at their fingertips instantly.  It is our obligation at adults and especially as teachers to ensure our children and students are safe and protected from all the evils that lie therein.  The internet is a wonderful tool, but just as we would not give our students compasses without strict, enforceable detailed instructions and rules of usage, so, too must we with computers and the internet.

            The dangers that lurk, unbeknownst to many children and even some parents are many.  Children must be guided through the path of enlightened surfing to child safe websites at all moments.  Fortunately, many schools have filtered the most heinous of sites out of the school surfing population, though these filters aren’t always on their home computers and they multiply daily.  Some innocuous sites boast freebies, advertisements and anything to get your personal info to be shared with the multitude of other time wasting, commercial websites as well as your local and worldwide pedophilic population.  Children must be warned never to give out any personal information to anyone online unless they are sure they know whom they are giving the information to.  This includes information like their school, team, town, as well as the obvious-- name, address, phone number, social security and credit card numbers.  They should be aware of the difference between valid educational sites, hate and rhetoric mongering sites, sites interested in wasting the time and money of the over-consumptive e-population, and dangerous chat rooms and social networking sites.  They should also be warned to think before they speak or text, and be aware of the extensive and harmful use of text and instant messaging leading to the development of a new millennium term, cyber-bullying.  The attached game, CyberTour, from the Media Awareness Network, is an excellent teaching and learning opportunity for middle schoolers to increase their knowledge and skills in distinguishing the differences in websites and increasing their internet intelligence and shrewdness.  Although some students will laugh about the dorkiness of these games, they will truly enjoy them.  They are very well done, entertaining, thorough, and ultimately very effective in increasing your cyber-awareness.  After playing the game, test your skills with the online CyberQuiz below.  The game and quiz meet the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards for the 8th Grade, 8.1.B.1 through 8 and 10, as shown below.  Teachers and parents may gain more insight by perusing the Media Awareness Network for tips, links, and additional valuable information.