Brief Description

This lesson involves having a guest speaker from your local police department in to share information about Internet related crimes and arrests in your area.  Students will learn about Internet Safety and then write a letter or news article urging other teens to be safe online.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 2T-E1. Discuss basic issues related to responsible use of technology and information and describe personal consequences of inappropriate use
• 3T-E3. Publish and present information using technology tools

• LS-E4. Predict, clarify, analyze and critique a speaker’s information and point of view

Academic

• Students will evaluate the guest speaker and choose 5 things that they can do to be safe on the Internet.
• Students will type news articles urging their peers to be safe on the Internet.

• Students will demonstrate the ability to use a publishing program.
• Students will assume new habits while utilizing the Internet reflecting knowledge gained from the Safety on the Internet guest speaker.

• Students should have a background in searching the Internet so they can fully understand that there is a wealth of knowledge there.
• They should have some experience with Publisher or another newsletter program.

Internet ready computers
A guest speaker informed about safety on the Internet
A publishing program or word processing program
Helpful Websites for background information and further exploration:
http://www.amphi.com/~psteffen/inetsafety.html

Accommodations for Special Needs

• Students who have learning disabilities will need to be paired for the editing of their newsletters. Break down the tasks for them into smaller steps.  Have them share their work with a buddy. Give them a starter review that prompts them on what should be said.
• Students who are gifted could be required to write a review on a higher-level trying to increase their score in the grammar check (Microsoft Word has the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score). To turn this on, go to tools, options, click on the grammar and spelling – then check readability.
• Attention Deficit students will need this broken down into steps so that they can understand what to do first without feeling overwhelmed by it all!
• Students with limited English can be paired with others and can write in other language if there is a translator available.  They can search the Internet, and this means that they can find danger there too.  You may need to pair these students so that they can get assistance!
• Students can complete this activity as a class to make more of an impression on their peers. They could do this by creating one class newsletter.

1. Be sure to have a guest speaker from a local law enforcement office that is involved with protecting children on the Internet.
2. Have students and their parents attend the guest speaker’s session. This way parents will be more prepared to discuss issues with their children.  Give students a note-taking sheet so that they can get the most out of your guest speaker.
3. As a class or individually, have your students write a news article addressing their peers about Internet safety.  They should include at least 5 facts that will appeal to their friends. They may want to focus specifically on how easy it is to find information on an individual just through the email address. (The speaker would need to cover this information.)
4. Students should come up with as many ways possible to change the way that they are using the Internet.  They can include this in a news article.
5. Student newspapers should be proofread before they are copied and sent out in the school as well as to your guest speaker.

Evaluate student work.  The most important result of this lesson is the fact that students change the way that they are using the Internet.  Look at the notes that students took to see that they learned about safety on the Internet.  Read the student newsletter to see that students suggested ways to be safe as well as creating enticing views to help their peers to change their ways as well.

Points to evaluate for grading:

1. Are students more aware of dangers on the Internet?
2. Do students know what to do if they are ever in a situation where there is danger on the Internet?
3. Were the students proficient in using a publishing program?
4. Could they clarify, analyze and critique the speaker’s point of view?