Tuesday, February 10, 2009

family conversations about cybersafety

On February 4th, parents gathered in the library to eat delicious food and have some good conversations about online safety. It can be hard to imagine that elementary school is the place where those conversations begin, but studies have shown that getting into the habit of talking to your child about their online activities should start early.

Before the presentation, I asked fourth and fifth graders some questions about the internet, including their perceptions of danger and their favorite things to do online. Click here to see their answers.

For those of you who wanted to make it but weren't able to, here's the powerpoint part of the evening, with resource links below.



To find out more:

"My Pal, My Bully: greatest internet threat to teens may be teens themselves," an article from the L.A. Times about the recent Harvard study on online safety.

iKeepSafe Internet Safety Coalition

Cyber-safe kids, cyber-savvy teens by Nancy Willard, a practical and thoughtful book and web resource for parents, with guidelines for kids of all ages. I based much of my presentation on principles and suggestions from this book.

Many of you had suggestions and recommendations, some of which we were able to include in the presentation above. I will be putting more resources together on our Emerson School wiki. Please leave other suggestions in the comments or email them to me, or even drop by the library. I will add your suggestions as I get them. Together we'll be able to come up with great resources and tools to share with our community!

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