Funded in part by SAMHSA's Project AWARE initiative in collaboration with Connecticut State Department of Education and Connecticut Department of Children and Families
SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER:
Resources for COVID and Beyond
Issue #3 - Digital Citizenship
The third of a four-part series on resources for the school community
About this Newsletter
To help the school community transition during this stressful time, we have created four school mental health resources newsletters. Each newsletter will feature a weekly topic (identified by Connecticut Project AWARE school districts) and associated free resources for schools, caregivers, and students to help maintain social emotional competencies and engage in digital citizenship.

This week’s topic is  Digital Citizenship (responsibly and safely using technology to engage with the school community) and includes ways to help students engage in online learning and tips for helping maintain appropriate online behaviors. Other topics include: 


  • Mental Health and Social Emotional Learning (week one) - includes activities and handouts for educators and caregivers.
  • Caregiver Wellness (week two) - includes tips and strategies for engaging in self-care and digital resources to help caregivers stay virtually connected.
  • Staff Wellness (coming next week) - includes resources to effectively manage anxiety, secondary traumatic stress, and tips for engaging with positive social supports.
Teaching Digital Citizenship
Common Sense Digital Education Curriculum
Developed in partnership with Project Zero and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, each topic provides educators with an overview of the curriculum and includes a specific lesson plan and bilingual materials for teaching digital citizenship to engage the family and community.

*Key feature of this resource: curriculum adapted for and filtered by grade level, K-12.
InCtrl Offers Series of Digital Lesson Plans
Includes videos and lesson plans for students in grades 4-8 on topics such as:  

  • Communication and Collaboration
  • Digital Privacy
  • Media Literacy
  • Cyberbullying
  • Ethics/Copyright
  • Information Literacy

*Key feature of this resource: all lesson plans are easily filtered by topic and by academic subject.
Tips for Engaging Online
Helping Digital Citizens Engage with Empathy
Provides targeted and specific tips on how to utilize prosocial behaviors when engaging with students and teachers online, including links to articles and a hashtag for social media content.

*Key   feature  of this resource: A brief, 6-step guide, offering examples of how to frame effective engagement and discussion for students and adults.
Family Pledges to Encourage Appropriate Online Behavior
These pledges, which are signed by both student and caregiver create a set of expectations that the student follows when engaging with peers, teachers and others, while online. 

*Key features of these resources: one-page contracts that are age-appropriate and are applicable to all forms of online engagement.   
Five Do's of Digital Citizenship for Students
This tip sheet created by commonsensemedia.org is for students and includes etiquette for positive online engagement.
 
*Key feature of this resource: A brief list of common tips students can print and keep next to their device.
To keep up with the latest information and resources related to families, educators and providers, check out these links from CHDI and our Project AWARE partners:

CHDI website:  COVID CHDI Portal

 CT State Department of Education website:  COVID SDE Portal

DCF website:  COVID DCF Portal
 
Read last week's newsletter on Caregiver Wellness .
Stay tuned for next week’s newsletter, Staff Wellness - which includes resources to effectively manage anxiety, secondary traumatic stress, and tips for engaging with positive social supports.


If you would like to opt out of receiving future School Mental Health Newsletters, please email:  thill@uchc.edu . 
For more info about Project AWARE or this newsletter contact:
Child Health and Development Institute
860.679.1519 | info@chdi.org

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