Which Me Should I Be?
Students learn about the risks of presenting themselves different ways online.
Ask: Do you think there are benefits and risk to presenting yourself in different ways online?
Teach:
Define the vocabulary terms motivate, consequences, and anonymous. Explain that the last term will play an important part in the activity they will do following the movie.
Remind the class that it’s perfectly normal to try out different identities online. However, they have to think about what motivates them to do so, and the possible consequences. Tell them:
Sometimes you might express different parts of your personality online because you want to be accepted by friends or people in an online community. Or you might do it to experiment and see how others react. Other times, you might cross over into lying to or deceiving others by pretending you are someone you’re not. It is important that you take responsibility for who you are and what you want to be online, and also consider how this might affect people you interact with online.
Explain to the class you will now show them a video about Henry, a real boy who enjoys participating in an online world where he doesn’t (fully) reveal his identity.
Show: Click here to show Henry's Story- Creating Online Identities
Ask:
What motivates Henry to hide his age?
Henry wants to fits into the community and not be judged by his age. He doesn’t want to have to “prove” himself.
What were the consequences of Henry hiding his age?
In this case, Henry’s deception did not seem to harm himself or anyone else. On the positive side, Henry feels more respected because he is treated like an adult.
Encourages students to keep the story of Henry in mind as you move on to the next activity.
Ask: Do you think there are benefits and risk to presenting yourself in different ways online?
Teach:
Define the vocabulary terms motivate, consequences, and anonymous. Explain that the last term will play an important part in the activity they will do following the movie.
Remind the class that it’s perfectly normal to try out different identities online. However, they have to think about what motivates them to do so, and the possible consequences. Tell them:
Sometimes you might express different parts of your personality online because you want to be accepted by friends or people in an online community. Or you might do it to experiment and see how others react. Other times, you might cross over into lying to or deceiving others by pretending you are someone you’re not. It is important that you take responsibility for who you are and what you want to be online, and also consider how this might affect people you interact with online.
Explain to the class you will now show them a video about Henry, a real boy who enjoys participating in an online world where he doesn’t (fully) reveal his identity.
Show: Click here to show Henry's Story- Creating Online Identities
Ask:
What motivates Henry to hide his age?
Henry wants to fits into the community and not be judged by his age. He doesn’t want to have to “prove” himself.
What were the consequences of Henry hiding his age?
In this case, Henry’s deception did not seem to harm himself or anyone else. On the positive side, Henry feels more respected because he is treated like an adult.
Encourages students to keep the story of Henry in mind as you move on to the next activity.
Take A Stand!
Prepare the classroom by clearing space in the room and creating a HARMLESS/HARMFUL line with tape down the center of the room. At one end of the line put a sign that states " Harmless" and the other end of the line put a sign that states "Harmful". Now use the Take A Stand handout (provided below) and read each scenario out loud to the class and have them stand along the line to determine how harmless or harmful the situation was.
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