Planning Guide

1. What is your overall idea for this project? To develop lessons for a unit on
internet safety. I want to show The Social Dilemma, have discussions, show clips
of videos, have articles for students to read, have them do experiments, and
draw attention to how often they use their phone/internet (and have them try to
use it less!)

2. What local, personal, or professional motivations do you have for choosing your
topic? I think a lot of people, regardless of age, use their phones WAY too much,
myself included. I think it is bad for mental health and it distracts from important
things that we could be doing, like homework, spending time with loved ones,
exercising, learning, being creative, etc. I would love to help my students use the
internet more wisely and I hope this unit will enable them to do that.

1. What resources do you need? The internet (ha ha). The Social Dilemma
documentary, printed copies of articles, the students will need their phones.

2. How will you access your resources? Netflix and the internet in general

3. How do you anticipate this project will help you understand the reading about
intellectual property? The intellectual property reading brought up a lot of
questions to think about with intellectual property moving forward in this new
digital age. I honestly have no idea how to answer most of them and I think that
even Intellectual Property lawyers will have a tough time answering them. This
article brought a lot of questions to think about and be critical of. This project will
take that idea, of being critical of digital media, and take it in a direction that is
more relevant to my students’ lives.

1. What comments/questions/concerns will you bring to the Zoom meeting? Mental

health concerns that have to do with photo editing apps. Unrealistic expectations.
Lesson Plan

Day 1-

How often do you use your phone?

Students will guess how many minutes/week they use their phone. Then they will check.
They will fill out this chart:

How many minutes What do you How many minutes What is the
do you THINK you THINK is the do you ACTUALLY maximum amount
use your phone per maximum amount use your phone per of time per day you
week? of time per day you week? use your phone?
use your phone?

Then I will encourage students to set a goal to use their phone less.

My goal is to use my phone no more than _______ minutes per day.

My goal is to use my phone no more than _______ minutes per week.

BONUS***

For 1 week, try not to use your phone: (choose 1 or be super brave and try all 3!)

1. For an hour after you wake up

2. For an hour before you go to bed.
3. While you eat.

If you are willing to try this, take note if you feel differently and how. We will discuss next
week.

Discussion-

Have you ever gone a long period of time without using your phone?

How did you feel?

How do you feel when you use your phone for a long period of time?
Homework: Read about cell phone addiction
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/12/11/phone-addiction-is-real-and-so-ar
e-its-mental-health-risks/?sh=4c13886813df

Day 2-

Journal (reflection from previous day) and Review Day 1 and discuss new thoughts and
homework.

Quick write and discussion:

Do you ever feel like your phone listens to you? What is actually going on?

Watch and discuss Trevor Noah-

https://www.cc.com/video/ecq6vw/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-if-you-don-t-know-no
w-you-know-apple-drops-iphone-update

Discuss:

● Implications of opt in vs. opt out

● What would be an alternative that can help keep advertising for small
businesses?

Facebook makes it seem like all they use our data for is to sell us products that we
might want. They send you information to make you mad and keep you engaged for as
long as possible.

Read: Targeted Ads- dangerous

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/05/targeted-ads-fake-news-clickbait
-surveillance-capitalism-data-mining-democracyUse these questions to guide
your planning.

Experiment-

Have students search something random they haven’t searched before 5 times in one
day and then track how many advertisements they see for something similar. (For
example; Pyrex tupperware, dog beds, camping tents, etc.)
Day 3 & 4

Journal (reflection from previous day) and Review Day 2 and discuss new thoughts.

Watch and discuss issues in The Social Dilemma. Take notes for Socratic Seminar.

Discussion:

“So What?” asking students to reflect on whether or not they think the issues in the
documentary affect them negatively or not.

Day 5

Journal (reflection from previous day) and Review film and discuss new thoughts.

Filters and editing apps

Show instagram clip of photo editing apps/competing with yourself/harmful to mental

health

Read: https://happiful.com/image-editing-apps-problem-mental-health/

Read:
https://pagesix.com/2021/04/05/kardashian-team-working-hard-to-remove-unwanted-khl
oe-photo/

Project: Have students create a side by side of an original image and the image edited,
noting all the edits made.

Discussion:

Do you edit your photos for social media? Why or why not?

When you see nice photos of other people, do you think about whether or not they are
edited?

Have you ever had expectations of someone/something from social media and then the
reality be way different?

Day 6-7

In groups or solo: create a campaign to provide awareness to your peers about

internet/social media usage. It can be about any of the topics we covered in class. If you
have another idea, clear it with me first.
Ideas: excessive phone usage, data tracking, targeted advertising, photo editing apps,
internet/app/phone use and mental health.

● Find and use 2 outside sources relating to your topic (cite them in your project).
● Project can be a poster, short video (2-3 minutes), skit, powerpoint, or pamphlet.

Intellectual Property

3 2 1

Connections to Project references Project makes Instructor must

reading reading (mandatory cursory reference to make inferences as
and 1 optional) in reading. to student’s
ways that connections to
demonstrate critical reading.
thinking.

Display of personal Project reflects Project is useful for Project has no clear
investment student’s scholarly, a scholarly or intended audience.
teacherly, or teacherly audience.
personal interests.

_________/6

Self-Reported Scoring (You complete this part)

1. Did the project take you 2-3 hours to complete? Yes No

1. Did you seek additional resources (websites, offline resources, people) to complete this project? List.

The Social Dilemma, Trevor Noah video, articles, Instagram post Yes No

1. Did you share this project with a colleague, family member, classmate, or friend?

Who?___Not yet, but I am excited to share this unit next year with my students!
Yes No

1. Did you think about what you would do differently next time you consider digital intellectual property?

What did you decide? This lesson plan was as much for my own learning as it was for the students. I will be
mindful of my time spent on my phone, I will be mindful of what I share, I will definitely download the iPhone
upgrade
Yes No
________/4

Total ________10