Good Play Project Reflection

I found all of the readings for this week very interesting.  However, I found the readings on the Good Play Project especially interesting to read and listen to.  One thing that I really got thinking about is how I go about teaching students to be technologically literate.  I spend a lot of time talking to them about becoming good information seekers online, accessing the correct information, how to tell if they are getting the correct information they need, and I focus a lot of time on Internet Safety as well.  I would like to think that I focus on also being ethical users of the Internet by making sure students cite all the sources they use.  However, my focus on ethical use doesn’t tend to go much beyond citing sources and making sure students don’t plagiarize.  I think I am definitely going to need to rework my lessons when it comes to Internet Safety and Ethical Use.

Another thing that I read about, and wasn’t very surprised about, is how young people are “devoid of ethical thinking or consideration for others when they are using the web”.  Another thing that was said during the video was that one young girl thought the Internet was there for her and not anyone else, and that young people don’t tend to think beyond themselves when online.  I unfortunately see this in my day-to-day interactions with students at school.  Everything is about them, they want things when they want them, and they don’t consider how their actions might affect other people.  Teachers are always trying to teach our students these days how to have morals, think ethically, and be compassionate towards others.  I remember when I was younger, my parents were always instilling good manners (calling adults Mr. and Mrs, etc), teaching us to do things for others through volunteering, and to be considerate of others by thinking before we spoke and how are actions will affect the people around us.  I think these basic life lessons aren’t being focused on like they were when I was growing up. 

I really hope that our young people, and adults, can find a way to get back to these basic moral and ethical thoughts.  If this can happen in day-to-day interactions, then the same morals and ethics will be used online as well.  After all, citizenship is the same online as it is offline.