Lesson: Politics and Digital Citizenship
Curriculum Areas: Social Studies, ELA
Teacher: G. Rodriguez
Curricular Outcome(s): PA8.4a, PA8.4f, PA8.4g, CR8.1a, CR8.1g, CR8.2, CR8.4a, CR8.5e, CR8.5 g, CC8.1d
Lesson Description: Students will explore digital footprints within the context of politics and elections.
Students will analyze the digital obstacles to political involvement by exploring the stories of several
former political candidates that have had to resign from their campaigns due to poor displays of digital
citizenship in earlier years. Students will connect these stories to their own digital behaviour to promote
positive choices both online and offline.
21st Century Essential Skills:
 Citizenship
 Collaborate
 Critical thinking
 Communicate
Digital Citizenship Concepts and Skills: RESPECT, EDUCATE, PROTECT
 Respect
o Digital Etiquette: the electronic standards of conduct or procedure
o Digital Law: the electronic responsibility of actions and deeds
 Educate
o Digital Communication: the electronic exchange of information
o Digital Literacy: the capability to use technology and knowing when and how to use it.
 Protect
o Digital Rights & Responsibilities: the privileges and freedoms extended to all digital
technology users and the behavioural expectations that go with them.
o Digital Safety & Security: the electronic precautions that all technology users must take to
guarantee their personal safety and the security of their network.
Digital Citizenship Essential Questions:
 Are students aware of others when they use technology?
 Do students realize how their use of technology affects others?
 Should students using digital technologies be accountable for how they use them?
 What rules, options, and etiquette do students need to be aware of when using digital
communication technologies?
 Should technology be used to access information to learn new concepts?
 What rights and responsibilities do students have in a digital society?
 How do students protect their technology in a digital society?
Essential Knowledge - See Digital Fluency Continuum
 Knowledge: What will students understand?
o Being responsible and respectful is part of being a member of a digital community
o My online behaviours affect myself and others and could have legal consequences
o I am responsible for my intended and unintended actions
o My identity and reputation is determined by my communications and actions.
o Being a good digital citizen means that I am responsible and respectful, both in person and
online.
o I play an important role in protecting myself and my equipment.
o Social media accounts and websites have privacy policies and settings I need to be aware
of and use to protect myself and my identity.
o Information is accurate and reliable if I use a variety of websites to verify it.
 Skills: What will students be able to do?
o Describe consequences for inappropriate behaviour online, including in my school, with
the law, and in my community.
o Examine and critically evaluate different social media sites and how they impact one’s
digital reputation.
Preparation:
 Preview the “Digital Footprint” video from Common Sense Media:
o https://www.commonsensemedia.org/video/modal/4241346
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Have a tech tub charged up and ready for student groups to use.
Have a card for groups of 2-3 with the a QR code for each of the following links: (use http://goqr.me)
o Cheryl Thomas
Card Front
Card Back
o Gilles Guibord
o Ala Buzreba
o Morgan Wheeldon
o Soheil Eid
o Wiliam Moughrabi
o Sue MacDonell
o Tim Dutand
o Chris Brown
o Joy Davies
o Deborah Drever
Prepare a collaborative PowerPoint ahead of time and share it with students. Each slide should
include one of the names above, along with a picture.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Who is the person? (name, location, age)
Why might his person have decided to run for public
office? (what leadership roles did they have prior to
becoming a candidate)
What poor choice did they make in regards to digital
citizenship?
Did the person display any biases or stereotypes in their
poor display of digital citizenship? What were they?
How might these stereotypes have a negative impact on
individuals and society?
How did this poor display of digital citizenship affect their identity both
online and offline?
Did the person take any social responsibility for their choice? If so,
what? Was it enough?
What were some ways the person could have avoided
the situation they found themselves in?
What could this person do to redeem themselves in the
public eye?
Vocabulary:
 Digital Footprint
 Digital Citizenship
 Identity
 Stereotype
 Bias
 Social responsibility
 Reputation
Set:
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
Ask students what they know about the political candidates:
o Who are they? What do they do? What do they promise?
Show the “Digital Footprint” video from Common Sense Media
During:
 Have students (in groups of 2-3) grab a card with a QR code. They will scan the QR code with
their group tablet and explore the story assigned to them. They will critically read and evaluate
the story and answer the following questions:
o Who is the person? (name, location, age)
o Why might his person have decided to run for public office? (what leadership roles did
they have prior to becoming a candidate)
o What poor choice did they make in regards to digital citizenship?
o Did the person display any biases or stereotypes in their poor display of digital
citizenship? What were they? How might these stereotypes have a negative impact on
individuals and society?
o How did this poor display of digital citizenship affect their identity both online and offline?
o Did the person take any social responsibility for their choice? If so, what? Was it enough?
o What were some ways the person could have avoided the situation they found
themselves in?
o What could this person do to redeem themselves in the public eye?
 In their groups, students will record their answers to these questions on the corresponding slide
of the collaborative PowerPoint.
After:
 Teacher will project the collaborative PowerPoint on the white board. As a group, students
share their findings with the class.
 A class discussion will be facilitated by the teacher with the following questions:
o Why isn’t it okay to not understand the internet?
o What similarities did you notice in these stories? What differences did you notice?
o The online behaviour of these candidates provides a small picture of the person—why
does it affect how others view the person on such a large scale?
o Can we be sure of a person’s identity based on what we see on social media?
o What can we learn from the mistakes we explored?
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o
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What does this mean for my own digital footprint? (I can be searched, shared, and seen
by an enormous invisible audience)
 Have I send messages online?
 Have I posted a comment online?
 Have I used a photo-sharing app?
How could my choices online now, affect my future?
How can I take control of my digital footprint?
Assessment:
 Collaborative PowerPoint
 Class Discussion