Facilitating Respectful Digital Citizenship in the Classroom

When national and international events that affect us deeply dominate headlines, the phrase “be kind online” can quickly be forgotten. Anonymity and reactive typing on social media are, for many, hard to resist. Unfortunately, toxic rhetoric has been the loudest “netizen” teacher-voice for the children of our nation. While the educational sector has not done consistent, large-scale work defining and explicitly teaching what online kindness, respect, and civility look like, we can still change that. 

Educators Lead by Example

Studies show that students learn best when they feel a sense of belonging. Each student we’re responsible for deserves a school where their opinions are respected, even if those opinions don’t align with our own beliefs. Examining our own thoughts about politics and how our feelings might negatively affect our student and staff relationships is key. To ensure that our own passionate opinions aren’t polarizing, we can expand our knowledge: 

• Explore news from divergent sources so that we are less likely to live in an algorithm-stoked media bubble. 
• Test our own viewpoints by looking for alternative explanations and finding supporting resources that do not reflect our viewpoints, much as a scientist would test a hypothesis. 
• Actively look for the logic in other viewpoints, internally reinforcing the difference between beliefs and hard facts. 

While exploration of opposing viewpoints and the acknowledgment of at least a remote possibility that they could be valid is not easy, it does make us more media literate, more empathetic, and more capable of being a neutral, welcoming presence for everyone in our learning community.

Being a welcoming presence also means that we may need to explicitly define what kinds of communication we allow through school emails, group chats, and even apparel and signage. Pro-candidate T-shirts, posters, or emails can be considered a form of electioneering, depending on the form or originator. College and sports jerseys are in, but it may be best to leave geopolitical and political promotions in our own closets and yards.

Students are the Next Generation of Online Citizens

Long gone are the days when families sat around the TV for the evening news. They’re so long gone, in fact, that there are likely educators reading this who have no recollection of that time. Students and adults alike are overwhelmingly getting news on digital devices, and 30 percent of young Americans get their news from social media. With librarians and libraries being repurposed in many schools, teachers have to fill in the gaps and teach about the validity and reliability of information sources. 

Resources like the News Literacy Project and AllSides Media can provide teachers with lessons and up-to-date information about how to fact-check articles, posts, and reels, and how to validate information found through searches and artificial intelligence (AI). These resources can also help teachers learn and teach about biased language in the news—headlines like “Cafeteria Menu Gets Overhaul” versus “The Cafeteria Will Finally Feed Students Decent Food,” for example. The first is neutral, the second biased. By examining language use in news and even literary texts, students will be more able to critically examine the media they consume. Additionally, using Scottsdale Community College’s “Real or AI” quiz will help you and your students practice following the necessary guidelines to determine whether an image is real or AI-generated.

If you teach younger students, don’t assume that they aren’t consuming media and the harsh tone that sometimes comes with it. Using resources like Common Sense Media’s vast library of digital citizenship lessons, as well as classroom reminders that our words matter behind a screen, will help children understand that courtesy and respect online are as important as they are in person. Teaching these lessons early and often will help set a strong foundation for our youngest digital citizens as they get older.

Here are some other class and staff activities to bridge differences:

• Journaling about the benefits of the idea of “we the people” over “us versus them.”
• Having student debates in which students argue for the side they don’t support.
• Starting a “Let’s Be Better” email or letter campaign in which students tell news professionals and influencers—respectfully—that they should use their “kind words” because students are watching.
• Having unity affinity groups where students, staff, and even parents from all sides of an issue meet informally to seek understanding, promote unity, and consider compromises and solutions.
• Making campus pledges to solidify a commitment to positive relationships over being right or winning.
• Committing to a “safe word” to use if temperatures run hot.

Creating Community is the Key to Building Bridges

Nothing is as important in election years or times of geopolitical conflict as setting the tone with parents and families. Foremost, keep all school and district social media and newsletter platforms free from promotion and advocacy, with perhaps the exception of the importance of voting.

Further, inform parents that while world events are not a staple of your curriculum, schools are a part of the global community. As student conversations on current events arise—and they will—assure parents that those conversations will be handled impartially and that all discussions will have the goal of keeping a peaceful school environment where students are valued and content instruction is prioritized. 

Finally, be proactive. Include parents in your digital citizenship education by sharing tips like previously mentioned strategies and resources in your newsletter. Or consider having students share what they learn with their parents in books, posters, or student-created PSAs. When communicated well and often, these bridges not only can help your students communicate better online but also can help adults in the community do the same.

Educators in classrooms across the nation and across the globe have an immense opportunity to be proactive in teaching media literacy and civil discourse. The practice of replacing, as much as possible, the us-versus-them mentality with a message of civic responsibility, respect, and unity not only will make our campuses more amicable, but also can help eradicate some of the toxic communication we see online. That’s a win for all of us.