Do you know what digital citizenship is? I did not either. There are nine themes of digital citizenship which are extremely important for those who are venturing out into this tech-savvy world. These themes consist of

1. Digital access
2. Digital commerce
3. Digital communication
4. Digital literacy
5. Digital etiquette
6. Digital law
7. Digital rights and responsibilities
8. Digital health and wellness
9. Digital security

As far as applying these elements to a classroom, I feel digital access and digital etiquette are the most important. Digital access means the kind of electronic participation you have in society. We are in a generation now where technology is taking over and most things are becoming electronically based. Therefore, don’t you feel it is necessary to apply these technologies in the classroom? We should be preparing our students for the future, and it will only continue to get more and more advanced. Then I begin to worry about those classroom which lack access and the fairness of technology throughout our schools. Some schools do not have the economic status to incorporate these technologies in their classrooms, and some schools do but do not choose use technology in a way that is beneficially applicable. For those schools that are fortunate enough to access technology in the classroom, the students NEED to be taught proper digital etiquette, meaning what they can and cannot put on the internet. Most students, especially younger teens already have access to social networking and other websites such as facebook, twitter, myspace, tumblr, etc. I know when I was younger I had a variety of websites that are now creating my digital footprint. However, I have flushed out old information and edited pages to the understanding that anything I have linked to my name can prevent me from getting a job in the future. I don’t think younger kids understand the severity of posting ANYTHING online.