Digital Citizenship

The characteristics of digital citizenship can be summed up in three categories: respect yourself, respect others, and respect outside limits.

Respect Yourself:
Kids should understand that once something is one the internet, it is no longer a private matter.  Even if privacy settings are set-up, it is still possible for some people to access the information.  Kids should also be aware that even if they delete something off the Internet it can still be retrieved in archives.  With these things in mind, kids should think twice before posting something on the internet and make sure it is not degrading or misleading in some way.

Respect Others:
With the same ideas above in mind, kids need to be aware of their posts can affect others.  They need to respect the privacy of others and not post any information about someone else.  They also need to be kind with what they are putting on the internet.

Respect Outside Limits:
There are some sites that have you accept their terms before proceeding, kids need to take that seriously and abide by the terms.  Copyrighted material is another problem sometimes.  Kids should know that not everything on the internet is public domain.  And finally kids need to be aware of plagiarism.  They need to know how and when to give credit where credit is due.

I don't think it is a bad idea to charge sexting as a felony.  Kids need to know that it is not a permissible action and there will be consequences.  I would like to think that with being an elementary school teacher that it would not be an issue there, but I would definitely have a no tolerance policy with that one.