Lesson Plan - The Secrets of Social Media 

Watch a Video: Digital Decisions: Pause Before You Post
Discuss each situation as you watch the video. Ask: Which situation do you think is the trickiest one to handle? Explain.

Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

• dilemmas
• digital citizen

Set a Purpose for Reading
Note the “As You Read” question and have students think about ways people can be good digital citizens.

1. Based on the article, what is a person’s “digital footprint”?
A person’s digital footprint is anything they post or that is posted about them online. It can last forever.
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2. Why shouldn’t kids count on being able to delete social media posts?
Kids shouldn’t count on being able to delete posts because it’s not always possible. People may have taken screenshots of a post, or the post may be stored online.
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3. Why does the author put quotation marks around the word “friends” in the section “Beware of the Share”?
The author puts quotation marks around “friends” to show that the people Kathryn interacts with on Roblox are not really friends. Kathryn doesn’t know most of them in real life.
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FEATURED SKILL: Collaborative Discussion
Use the skill builder “Reading Roles” to have students discuss the article in small groups. 
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