You are getting ready to leave school and go to work since you have 5th period off roll, but realize the schedule was modified due to the digital citizenship lessons required by the District. This causes you to call your boss and tell them you are going to be late, causing stress for you and your coworkers.
As the school year proceeds, students have been confused by the random schedule changes due to the Digital citizenship lessons. Students are confused and are still trying to figure out why we have to do these digital citizenship lessons when it seems those 20-minute-long lessons are just a waste of their time. These lessons are not making an impact on the students.
Poway High School has had two Digital Citizenship lessons and has another one in the future. The first two were on Dec. 17 and Jan. 28, and there is one planned for March 18.
Each lesson is 20 minutes, but it alters the daily schedule for both students and teachers. The first lesson was about the use of AI and how it is affecting students. Teachers were assigned a slideshow and a video to show their students. Everyone in my class did not seem interested and honestly just seemed like they did not want to be there. Students felt like the brief introduction to the concept of AI was not helpful or relevant. The second lesson was about how the things you say can affect others and why bullying is terrible. It asked students how to counter hate speech online and how that can make a positive impact. This lesson also had slideshows and a question for students to answer.
Not only are these lessons not making an impact on students, but they are also affecting students’ schedules. Students with off rolls are also getting out of school later. Many students have jobs that they need to get to, and the extra eight minutes could cause them to be late.
Students are not paying attention to these lessons. I feel that there are better ways to spread the messages instead of just throwing slideshows and videos at students. Instead of this, the school could put up flyers and spread messages through Titan TV or even the intercom just to spread more awareness. I believe that these lessons are wasting both students’ and teachers’ time in the day by changing the schedule.
