Lesson 13.3: Safety Online

Overview

This lesson focuses on staying safe online and being careful about the personal information you share, especially on social media. Learning how to practice health-enhancing behaviors around your social media and screen time in general will also be discussed.

Learning Targets

  • Explain what social media sharing is and how it can leave you at risk to social media criminals.
  • Describe what identity theft is and how it can affect you.
  • Assess the effectiveness of your passwords and change them if needed.
  • Identify four examples of how to keep yourself safe online and on a cell phone.

Preparation

For the Warm-Up Activity: Write the journal question on the board, or identify (and copy as needed) the worksheets you plan to use:

For the Content Focus: Open the Lesson 13.3 PowerPoint slides, or make copies of the Lesson 13.3 Note-Taking Guide.

For the Lesson Focus: Copy the Lesson 13.3 Keeping Myself Safe on Social Media Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.

Warm-Up Activity

Select a warm-up activity to help get your class focused and on task.

  • Journal Question: List at least three ways you could be safer on the Internet or on your phone?
    • Option: Write or project the question, and have students respond in their journals as they enter class.
    • Option: Have students discuss the question with a partner or in a small group.
  • Vocabulary Review: Have students work individually, in partners, or in small groups to complete the Lesson 13.3 Vocabulary Review Worksheet.
  • Quiz: Have students complete the Lesson 13.3 Quiz to assess their prior knowledge.
    • Option: Collect the quizzes, and use them alongside posttests to demonstrate student learning.
    • Option: Have students share their answers with a partner, and then go over the answers together as a class.

Lesson Content

Review the content from the textbook lesson.

Option: Use the Lesson 13.3 PowerPoint slides to review the chapter content.

Option: Have students use the Lesson 13.3 Note-Taking Guide to review chapter content.Ask students to work alone, in pairs, or in small groups. Review the questions as a class if time permits.

Lesson Focus: Keeping Myself Safe on Social Media

  1. Provide each student with a copy of the Lesson 13.3 Keeping Myself Safe on Social Media Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
  2. Ask students to answer the Health Behavior questions individually.
  3. Students will follow the instructions on the worksheet and answer the questions based on their own experience.
  4. Have students find a partner and trade their checklists with each other. Have students work on changing their social media behavior by using the checklist for one week.
  5. At the end of the one week, have students share with their partner how they did with the checklist.

Challenge Activity

Have students who need an additional challenge work on the following critical-thinking task.

Write a real-life scenario that demonstrates how someone might use social media to threaten another person. Try to be realistic, and write out the conversation as if it were taking place on a social media platform you select.

Reflection and Summary

Review the critical content from today’s lesson. Review the learning targets, and ask students to answer each question posed.

Can you…

  • Explain what social media sharing is and how it can leave you at risk to social media criminals?

    Social media is described as electronic communication in which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content. Social media sharing means you are sharing your current location when you take photographs or are checking in to a specific building or event. Because you are sharing your location, social media criminals can see where you are, and strangers can be led to your location or know when you’re not at home.

  • Describe what identity theft is and how it can affect you?

    Identity theft happens when someone uses your identity or personal information without your permission to commit a crime. Identity theft can prevent you from getting student loans, credit cards, car loans, and other types of loans because you may have maxed-out credit cards and bills you haven’t paid that you don’t even know about.

  • Assess the effectiveness of your passwords and change them if needed?

    Passwords should be complex and unique. You should have different passwords for the different websites and apps you use. Passwords should be 12 characters long and include letters, numbers, and special characters.

  • Identify four examples of how to keep yourself safe online and on a cell phone?

    Don’t click on links or apps you are unsure of or don’t know who sent them to you because they could be infected with malware.

    Ask the people you are with if you can post your location and tag them in photos. Be careful about sharing too much detail because you never know who may be reading your information.

    Adjust your privacy controls to limit the people who can see your information, including your location.

    Don’t meet people in person you only know from being online.

Assessment

Complete one or more of the following assessment tasks for this lesson.

  • Quiz: Have students take the Lesson 13.3 Quiz.
  • Vocabulary Review: Collect the Lesson 13.3 Vocabulary Review Worksheets, and evaluate them for accuracy.
  • Note-Taking Guide: Collect the completed Lesson 13.3 Note-Taking Guides, and spot check one or more items for completion and accuracy.
  • Skill-Building Worksheet: Have students submit the Lesson 13.3 Keeping Myself Safe on Social Media Skill-Building Challenge Worksheets, and use the Practicing Healthy Behaviors Holistic Rubric to evaluate their skill development.
  • Journal Question: Ask students to respond to the journal question again, adding information they learned from today’s class. Require a one-paragraph response that uses proper grammar.

Take It Home

Talk to your family members about the importance of their passwords, and have them think about how many of the password tips they use with their passwords.