Digital Communication

I know now that I have a little personal work to do in my digital communication. I do use email and instant messaging technologies appropriately. However, I do need to think more about what I put into emails and instant messages. Sometimes, my messages are somewhat to the point, and others can mistake that for anger. The most frequent violation that I have in cell phone etiquette would be to continue to have someone on hold on my cell phone while checking out at a store. That is showing very little consideration for the person checking me out, and I need to make certain that in those instances I’m not on my cell phone.

Students don’t always understand the import of their actions. Especially in middle school, they are often not aware of others at that age. Having a conversation with these students to make them aware of how their actions affect others is a good first step. Students need to be aware of all cell phone etiquette rules because most of them have never thought about it at all. Not having a private conversation in a public place is usually a good rule to start with for sixth graders. After discussing that, I would move on to excusing yourself before taking a call. Sixth graders don’t think about the possible ways that their actions affect or are interpreted by others. This would be a novel concept to them. However, these rules are just for cell phones. Students also communicate via social networking sites, blogs, text messages, and emails. They for the most part need to be aware of how their actions affect others. I personally think that you have to address cyber-bullying here, and they need to understand the possible consequences of their actions.