A Teacher’s Best Friend: Cyber Resources for the Classroom!

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by this week for some handy-dandy resources for students in your classroom to increase awareness of cyber security. Whether you devote some time every week to talk about online safety with your students or you throw in words of wisdom, just a simple tip every week can accumulate to make a LARGE difference in the digital environment a child is raised up on.

When it comes down to it, digital literacy is an extremely important piece of modern-day child development! This will only become more and more important and time goes on.

Even if you think the kids “already know” (which trust me…even high schoolers do not!) or that it’s not in the curriculum, even starting with 10 minutes a week to discuss cyber topics and explore resources will go the distance! 

Let’s dive right in:

• Code Studio Cybersecurity Videos: Check them out! We just watched this in my AP Computer Science Principles Class in our cyber security unit- where the high schoolers were the beginners learning about phishing, public-key encryption, and malware. The two videos are interesting and are quick views for students in your class to watch. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuYNXgO_f3Y  & https://youtu.be/ZghMPWGXexs  
• Nova Labs Cybersecurity Lab Class Guide: Full of materials, online games (the ones I played while first learning about cyber security), and an outline for the class to follow, this site is rich with classroom-suitable resources. Have half-an-hour on a Friday? Devote it to let the kids explore cyber security at  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/about-cyber-lab/educator-guide/ 
  • Topics Include…
  • Car-Hacking
  • Interactive Games allowing the kids to act as the Cybersecurity Manager of a company.
• Day of Cyber: https://www.nsadayofcyber.com/ 
  • Register with your class simulated a day in a life of working as the CEO
  • Includes series of personality tests that make the session personalized
  • Fun quizzes and topics
  • Register your school and have a friendly “competition” with fun puzzles and badges
  • Free!
• Safe and Secure Online: https://safeandsecureonline.org/ 
  • Select the audience and you are given a presentation, flyers, and general tips!
  • PERFECT for hanging around the classroom!
  • Explore for more resources!
• Common Sense Media: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship 
  • Rich with awesome posters for the classroom & topics to talk about like digital citizenship, social media, teenage management of devices, etc.
  • Set curriculum for teaching and learning.
• How are other schools doing it? Here’s a fabulous guide: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/11/11/10-ways-schools-are-teaching-internet-safety/ 

• Creating your own classroom projects!
  • A schedule of one student brings in one tip weekly, made with a visual on a software like eMaze, Powtoon, Microsoft Publisher, Canva , or any other creative platform! Make this a “monthly/weekly job like line-leader in the classroom!”
  • Have the students work in groups to make posters and hold a poster contest with cyber safety as the theme!
  • Be creative & allow the students to recognize how imminent the topics is.
  • Have them share 1 news story a week about cyber security with the class! 10 minutes a week can go the distance
  • Set up a pledging day and let the students pledge and promise to act safely and responsibly online.
  • HAVE THE STUDENTS BE THE TEACHERS & analyze their behavior online! It’s the best way to spread the knowledge:)

• Let the kids be the detectives: going along with the creative activities: here’s an idea I found really intriguing from Schwenksville Elementary School, Pa.
  • “I teach about internet safety by having fifth-grade students act as detectives. Students are assigned three websitesto look at. [They analyze information such as the site’s] author, sponsoring organization, copyright date, contents, [and] purpose … and compare the information on the website to information in nonfiction reference sources [and] online databases. The catch is that one of the three websites is a hoax! The student’s job is to figure out which website is the hoax. After students have looked at all three websites and figured out which one is the hoax, they share what they found with their classmates about the hoax site that made them question its authenticity. ” – Joan Curtis, teacher librarian

• A school-wide program or event! Well worth it to have a night for parents, a day for kids, or an event for both, with emphasis on big data, privacy, and security. Keep this as an annual event since computing continues to develop, with computers becoming faster and technology expanding.
• Guest Speakers! For further contact, view my contact page to partner with Bits N’ Bytes for your school!

Last, but not least, please use my blog! My videos! Contact me if your school would like a video! (I love making them and coming in to talk) I do what I do to give back in my own unique way. Have the kids read some of my blogs and take them through the topics! It’s the perfect new material to get their minds thinking and excited! Contact me to write about a topics and I would love to share that with you. 

Note: this is a running, not an exhaustive list! If you have any awesome resources you love, please comment it down below or retweet this with your resource! We are a community of learners:)

Thanks for joining me! As always, stay safe while surfin’ & follow your instinct! Remember: it could cost you not to!

Sincerely,

Detective Safety