Whole Earth Curriculum WEC

Lesson 02 — Respect in the Feed: Using Digital Tools Well

Learners practice using digital tools respectfully: pausing before they post, running a message through three gates (true, kind, would-I-want-it-said-about-me), and honoring consent, privacy, and boundaries. They close by drafting a personal "respectful use" rule.

D02 P1: Emotional & Social Awareness D02.S1 55 minutes Draft

Objectives

Essential question

How do I use digital tools respectfully — toward others, and toward myself?

consentprivacydigital footprintpausepublic-by-defaultboundaries

Materials

Standard materials

Low-tech / no-cost

Enriched / lab & device

Works in different contexts

A pause-before-you-post flow with three gates — Is it true? Is it kind? Would I want it said about me? — leading to a consent-and-privacy check, with the message shown passing or pausing at each gate
A pause-before-you-post flow with three gates — Is it true? Is it kind? Would I want it said about me? — leading to a consent-and-privacy check, with the message shown passing or pausing at each gate

Lesson 2 — Respect in the Feed: Using Digital Tools Well

Summary

Learners turn from what screens change to how to use them respectfully. They practice a pause before posting, run a message through three gates — is it true? is it kind? would I want it said or shown about me? — and honor consent, privacy, and boundaries. They close by writing one personal rule for respectful digital use.

Objectives

  • Evaluate how technology and social media shape communication and use digital tools respectfully — the “use it well” half of the standard. (D02.S1.10.01)

Connection

Imagine a photo from a friend’s party appears online — tagged with your name, or with your friend mid-laugh looking silly. No one asked first. Now flip it: you are the one about to post. The pause you take in that moment — should I ask? would they want this shown? would I want it shown about me? — is the whole skill in one breath. Whether your screen is a phone, a shared family device, or a public kiosk, and whether you are in a big city or a small town, respect online is the same as respect anywhere: it is about treating the person on the other side as a person, even when you cannot see their face. Learning to pause, check, and ask is a habit you will carry everywhere.

Materials

  • Pause-before-you-post decision card
  • Writing journal

Preparation

  • Copy or draw the three-gate decision card.
  • Retrieval: from Lesson 1, recall that screens hide tone and face, so misreading is common — which is why the pause matters. Today we practice the respectful moves.
  • Prepare one worked example of a draft that fails a gate and gets revised.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). The idea to land: respectful digital use is a practiced skill — pause, check the truth and the kindness of a message, ask before sharing others’ words or images, and set boundaries for your own privacy. The anchors are well established: online-safety guidance centers keeping personal information private and telling a trusted adult when something feels wrong (S-127, S-128); media literacy frames asking where information comes from and separating fact from persuasion as a core skill (S-063, S-217); and the reduced-cues picture from Lesson 1 (S-343) explains why a pause is needed. Present these as skills to practice, never as a list of forbidden things — the goal is a learner who acts with care, not fear.

Model the flow once, then let learners practice (worked example → guided practice → independent work; S-011). The ethics lens: respect online is the same ethical work as respect offline — truthfulness, kindness, consent — with a new tool in hand. The egalitarian lens: “respectful use” must not become a lecture aimed only at some learners; everyone posts, everyone is posted about, and everyone’s boundaries count equally. The technology lens: read the defaults — posts are often public-by-default, records persist, and audiences are invisible — and notice that respectful use often means changing a default. The social-emotional lens: this topic touches real moments of hurt, shame, and being left out; invite, never force, and let learners share only what they choose. The critical-thinking lens: “is it true?” means checking before sharing — rumors and edited images spread fast, and a respectful user does not pass them on unchecked (S-063). The global lens: norms of what is respectful differ across cultures and platforms; the three gates are a starting place, not a universal law. Preview: Lesson 3 moves from screens to conflict — how to cool a fire down.

Procedure

  1. Recall (5 min). From Lesson 1: screens drop tone and face, so the reader guesses. That is why we pause. Today we learn the pause itself.
  2. Meet the three gates (10 min). Look at the decision card. Watch a worked example: a draft that says “you always ruin everything.” Run it through the gates — is it true? (no — “always” is not true), is it kind? (no), would I want it said about me? (no). Revise it: “I felt hurt when that happened. Can we talk?” Notice what changed.
  3. Learn the consent and privacy check (10 min). Before sharing anything about another person — a photo, a story, a tag — ask yourself: did I ask? would they want this shown? And for yourself: who can see this? Learn that posts are often public-by-default and that what is posted tends to persist, so choosing who can see your words and pictures is part of respect (S-127, S-128).
  4. Practice the pause (15 min). Write a real draft — a message you have wanted to send, or one you have seen sent. Run it through the three gates one at a time. Revise it so it can pass (or decide it should not be sent at all — sometimes the respectful move is not to post).
  5. Draft your rule (10 min). In your journal, write one personal rule: before I post, I will ___; and I will not share about others without ___.
  6. Close (5 min). Remember: the person on the other side is a person. A pause, a check, and a question are all the respect you need to start with.

Differentiation

  • Support: Offer a two-gate version (“true? kind?”) and a sentence starter (“Before I post I will ___ so that ___.”).
  • Extension: Analyze a platform’s default privacy settings and redesign them so the default is respectful — then argue for your change.

Assessment

  • Formative (self): Can the learner run a draft through the three gates, name the consent check, and state one personal rule for respectful use?
  • Portfolio artifact (summative for the unit): The personal “respectful use” rule, added to the unit portfolio as the “digital tools used well” reflection.

Home connection

Ask an adult you trust: what is one rule you follow before you share something online — and why? Compare your rule with theirs.

Resources