Media Literacy & Religion: Samaritans on a Digital Road
At the Ottawa Catholic School Board, we strive to ensure that our students have access to current technology and that they use digital tools as part of their educational experience. Coupled with this comes the need to ensure that students understand the appropriate and responsible use of these tools.Technology and the internet pose both opportunities and challenges for our students. To support their learning journey, a team of our teachers has developed Samaritans on the Digital Road - an online resource for teachers to inspire and inform our students into becoming discerning digital citizens.
Samaritans on the Digital Road ties the grade 1-12 Religion curriculum to the responsible use of technology by our students. Each grade explores a specific verse from Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. The website gives teachers tools and resources needed to teach five lessons for each grade level. The parable verses serve as a guide for the lessons, which aim to build student awareness and skills for participating in the online world. Students learn the meaning of being a "citizen" and transfer those skills to the online world as a "digital citizen." They learn how to contribute to social good and how to navigate the moral challenges found "on the road" of the Internet.
Learning Goals:
Samaritans on the Digital Road ties the grade 1-12 Religion curriculum to the responsible use of technology by our students. Each grade explores a specific verse from Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. The website gives teachers tools and resources needed to teach five lessons for each grade level. The parable verses serve as a guide for the lessons, which aim to build student awareness and skills for participating in the online world. Students learn the meaning of being a "citizen" and transfer those skills to the online world as a "digital citizen." They learn how to contribute to social good and how to navigate the moral challenges found "on the road" of the Internet.
Learning Goals:
- learn how to keep myself safe online;
- learn how to avoid unsafe and inappropriate websites;
- think through difficult situations;
- look at online blogs and identify how they are positively affecting the world;
- understand that our digital footprint becomes a permanent part of our reputation;
- identify ways to be purposefully positive in my online behaviour;
- identify some ways to determine if a website is a good source;
- examine ways to evaluate online content;
- identify safe online behaviour;
- list rules that will keep me safe online;
- learn how being a Catholic digital citizen can help connect me to people within Canada, as well as to contribute toward social justice and the common good through online social media;
- learn how to model and practice Catholic digital citizenship and understand how important it is to treat others with dignity online because everyone is created in the image of God.
FIX UP STRATEGIES
We have started focusing on our first reading strategy in grade 6! We are reviewing what strategies good readers use to self monitor their comprehension during reading. These strategies are referred to in our class as Fix Up Strategies but are also called Self Monitoring Strategies. Together as a class, we compiled our ideas to come up with a list of important strategies to fix up our comprehension when we lose our way. For example, reread, read on, read aloud, look it up and ask for help. We are practicing using our strategies by reading biographies and autobiographies. We are reading biographies and autobiographies to coincide with our first writing unit, more information on writing below.
Learning Goals:
-use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently
-demonstrate an understanding of increasingly more complex texts
RECOUNT WRITING
In grade 6 we will begin our first writing unit on recounts. A recount tells us about something that has happened. It is written for someone who wants to know what has happened. It is written in chronological order. We will be writing autobiographies in grade 6 this year. Together we will make an anchor chart for our classroom that lists what a successful recount includes. After examining several recount texts, the students and I will co-create some success criteria that we feel is essential to helping us write the perfect autobiography. The students are very excited about starting to write! During the unit, students will have focused mini lessons on how to use a variety of sentences, write in the first or third person, how to include time connectives/transitional words, how to write in the past tense and how to add details to entertain their audience.
Learning Goals:
- Gather information to support ideas for writing
- Determine whether the ideas and information that are gathered are relevant for the purpose, and do research if necessary
- Proofread and correct using success criteria developed with peers and the teacher
- Publish a final draft that reflects the expectations and success criteria for the given task
We have started focusing on our first reading strategy in grade 6! We are reviewing what strategies good readers use to self monitor their comprehension during reading. These strategies are referred to in our class as Fix Up Strategies but are also called Self Monitoring Strategies. Together as a class, we compiled our ideas to come up with a list of important strategies to fix up our comprehension when we lose our way. For example, reread, read on, read aloud, look it up and ask for help. We are practicing using our strategies by reading biographies and autobiographies. We are reading biographies and autobiographies to coincide with our first writing unit, more information on writing below.
Learning Goals:
-use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently
-demonstrate an understanding of increasingly more complex texts
RECOUNT WRITING
In grade 6 we will begin our first writing unit on recounts. A recount tells us about something that has happened. It is written for someone who wants to know what has happened. It is written in chronological order. We will be writing autobiographies in grade 6 this year. Together we will make an anchor chart for our classroom that lists what a successful recount includes. After examining several recount texts, the students and I will co-create some success criteria that we feel is essential to helping us write the perfect autobiography. The students are very excited about starting to write! During the unit, students will have focused mini lessons on how to use a variety of sentences, write in the first or third person, how to include time connectives/transitional words, how to write in the past tense and how to add details to entertain their audience.
Learning Goals:
- Gather information to support ideas for writing
- Determine whether the ideas and information that are gathered are relevant for the purpose, and do research if necessary
- Proofread and correct using success criteria developed with peers and the teacher
- Publish a final draft that reflects the expectations and success criteria for the given task