Internet safety

I think that the most important things that I learned from watching the internet safety videos and reading the articles was just how serious the affects of media on teenagers is. I just wasn't aware of it before. I never understood that it became a real reality for them and that they so much of their lives could be spent on the internet. In the future when i have children I plan to talk to them about the role of the media in their lives frequently and openly. I will make sure that they understand the dangers that are involved and that they feel comfortable talking to me about things that may come up. In my own home I plan to have the family computer in a very public room and have a security system set up to make sure they do not accidently stumble upon anything. I also plan to make sure that my student's parents are aware of the dangers of the internet and how to promote safety. I will try to be a good influence on family and friends by telling them about it and sharing ideas with them on how to promote safety. I think that the PBS frontline video really opened my eyes to cyber bullying and online predators. I now feel much more cautious. I am not fully sure how to prevent cyberbulleying yet, but I plan to set up a system with my children to make sure that they feel comfortable coming to me about things like that. Also, i want to make sure that they know how to react before the situation even arises. I now know that I can go to isafe.org or netsmartz.org to teach internet safety. As a teacher I am probably most likely to face issues of students cheating on assignments  either with each other or using other online resources. I will also probably face the issue of having them give information online without giving too much that may put them at risk. I will address them by using technology and the media in a positive way in order to present internet safety to them. I think that I will have podcasts set up for my dancers so that they can share their dances with their friends and family, but I will make sure that they know what information is okay to put on the internet and what is not. I will make sure that they are comfortable using the class website, but I will try somehow to make sure that their parents are always aware of the information that is being shared between classmates online.