Curriculum
Digital Citizenship: Grades 4-5
Good E-mail Manners
Download Student Sheet(s) for printout in PDF format.
Read a Letter to Educators about digital citizenship from CyberSmart!
Overview
Students learn good manners dos and don'ts when sending E-mail.
Objectives
- Recognize good and bad manners when using E-mail
- Edit an E-mail message to demonstrate understanding of good manners
National Educational Technology Standards for Students © 2007
Source: International Society for Technology in Education- Communication and Collaboration
- communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
- Digital Citizenship
- advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
- exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
- exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.
Home Connection
Download the Home Connection sheet related to this lesson.
Site Preview
No Internet site is used in this lesson.
Materials
- Activity sheets (2)
Introduce
- Ask students to share examples of good manners when speaking in face-to-face situations. (speak politely and kindly, do not shout, do not use slang or rude language, take turns talking, be considerate of others' feelings)
- Point out that, without agreement of such social dos and don'ts, people might feel upset and angry.
Teach 1
- Distribute Activity Sheet 1.
- Write a sentence on the board and ask volunteers to read it aloud in as many ways as possible. Help them consider how much additional information is conveyed through facial and vocal expression, and how easy it is to misunderstand messages when those cues are missing.
- Explain why good manners are especially important in cyberspace—where you are judged only by your written words.
- Have students share their ideas for writing a polite note or letter.
- After reviewing "E-mail Dos and Don'ts," make sure students understand how to type the smileys. (combine colons, semicolons, dashes, parentheses, and upper case D) NOTE: Although some E-mail programs offer pre-made smileys, students should know the basics of creating their own.
Teach 2
- Distribute Activity Sheet 2.
- Have students complete the page and explain their changes. (Possible edits: Delete "Dear" line; delete first sentence to get right to the point; change uppercase to lowercase; capitalize "all" at the beginning of the sixth sentence; fix spelling of "cough" and "license"; change bossy sentences to more polite ones; capitalize "president" in the last sentence.)
Teach 3
- Discuss "Be CyberSmart!" and have students give examples of bad manners in E-mails they might receive and how they would demonstrate good manners in their reply. (Example: Someone might send an E-mail containing rude or offensive language and they would reply without using that language.)
Assess
The following items assess student mastery of the lesson objectives.
- Ask: What are some dos to practice when using E-mail?
- Ask: What are some don'ts?
Extend
The following activity can be added for students who completed this lesson in a previous grade.
- Have students review "E-mail Dos and Don'ts" and then use computers to compose and print their own E-mail messages to exchange and edit.
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