I.T.S. News and Events

In today’s interconnected world, helping students develop the skills to navigate technology responsibly and thoughtfully is essential. Digital citizenship goes beyond online safety—it’s about fostering empathy, responsibility, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making in all spaces, online and offline. At Thompson School District, we want to support teachers in facilitating these conversations in school and providing guidance families can use to continue them at home.

October 20–24 marks Digital Citizenship Week, a great opportunity to introduce or highlight these conversations and engage students in meaningful activities.

Build Your Understanding: Teachers as Digital Citizenship Guides

Effective digital citizenship instruction begins with teachers developing a strong understanding of the skills, habits, and strategies students need to navigate online and offline spaces responsibly. Before introducing students to concepts like digital footprints, respectful communication, or media literacy, it helps to explore these skills yourself and reflect on how they connect to everyday interactions.

• Explore resources and lessons: Many resources, including Common Sense Media, provide frameworks for thinking about responsibility, respect, and ethics in digital contexts. You can adapt these lessons to show that the same principles apply in classrooms, playgrounds, and communities.
• Reflect on personal practices: Consider how you model respectful communication, collaboration, and problem-solving, both online and offline. Students notice both and benefit from seeing consistency.
• Collaborate with colleagues: Discuss ways digital citizenship lessons can reinforce broader citizenship values like empathy, fairness, and civic responsibility.

Bringing Digital Citizenship into the Classroom

Once you’ve built your understanding, you can begin integrating digital citizenship into everyday teaching. The goal is to make these concepts a natural part of learning rather than a separate unit.

• Start small: Even short conversations about online safety, respectful behavior, or critical thinking can spark reflection. Emphasize that these skills are used both online and in real-world interactions.
• Embed into lessons and projects: Connect digital citizenship to teamwork, classroom discussions, and problem-solving activities, highlighting parallels between online and offline behavior.
• Model thinking aloud: It’s okay to not have all the answers. Share your own thought process when faced with a digital citizenship question. This shows students that reflection, questioning, and learning alongside others is part of responsible decision-making.
• Use real-world examples: Bring in current events, social media trends, or school-based scenarios to illustrate how digital and civic responsibilities intersect.
• Encourage reflection: Ask students to consider how their actions affect others and themselves in all contexts, promoting empathy, fairness, and accountability. Activities during Digital Citizenship Week can be a helpful starting point.

Supporting Families at Home

Families play a critical role in helping students practice responsible citizenship both online and offline. Teachers can guide families in starting conversations that feel natural, age-appropriate, and ongoing.

• Provide simple starting points: Suggest discussions about kindness, respect, and safety. For example, ask students how they would respond to a situation on social media and then discuss how those choices might look in real life.
• Encourage modeling and reflection: Families don’t need to have all the answers either! Thinking aloud together helps students see that learning and decision-making are lifelong skills.
• Use resources as conversation tools: Share the TSD flyer or web version on talking with their child about AI.
• Grade-level focus: Tailor discussions by age: younger students on safety and sharing, upper elementary on privacy and respect, middle school on reputation and media literacy, and high school on ethics and responsible decision-making.

Bringing Digital Citizenship to Life

Start small, reflect, and model thoughtful decision-making in the classroom and beyond. Collaborate with families and students to explore questions together, helping students develop the habits, empathy, and critical thinking they need to be responsible citizens online and offline. Digital Citizenship Week is a perfect time to have these critical conversations and set the stage for ongoing learning throughout the year.

More Ways to Earn Credit This Year

This year, the Ed Tech team is expanding opportunities for teachers and staff to earn credit through a wide range of professional learning events as part of the TSD Ed Tech Redefining Learning series. We know your time is valuable, and we want to give you options that support your goals, your schedule, and your curiosity.

TSD Ed Tech Redefining Learning Series

Why this matters

We designed this menu of learning to give you more flexibility in how you participate and earn credit. Whether you want to dip into a short AI activity, join a conversation with colleagues, or take on a longer study, you’ll find a pathway that works for you. Our professional learning theme this year is redefining learning, and each of these opportunities is designed with that vision in mind. They are not just checking a box for credit, but rethinking how technology, collaboration, and innovation can transform teaching and learning. We hope that these options encourage you to stay curious, connected, and growing throughout the year, while helping us collectively redefine learning for our students.

How it works

For each of the learning opportunities that you participate in through I.T.S., we’ll track your attendance and hours. At the end of the year, you’ll receive a certificate that summarizes the professional learning hours you’ve completed with our department. For hours that you are not paid, you can apply those hours toward TIC credit, and we can register you for the appropriate TIC level.  Then you’ll work with the Professional Development Team to finalize the paperwork and payment.

Highlights for This Year

• AI Discovery Choice Board: Explore artificial intelligence at your own pace with interactive activities that connect directly to classroom practice.
   
• Online Meetups: In these 1.5-hour sessions, you’ll get the latest district updates in educational technology, practical AI strategies, insights on digital citizenship and media literacy, ready-to-use slides for your site staff meeting, talking points about AI in TSD, and answers to your AI questions, all while collaborating with colleagues across the district.
   
• TeachMeet Mini-Conference: A two-hour opportunity featuring four fast-paced, 20-minute sessions focused on educational technology. Hear from colleagues, gather new ideas, and walk away with practical tools you can use right away.
   
• Technanigans: Our signature event returns this summer with a full day of learning, exploration, and hands-on sessions. With multiple strands that highlight AI, digital citizenship, innovation, and classroom-ready tools, this event is designed to inspire and equip you for the year ahead.

Looking ahead

This year’s professional learning menu is designed to give you choice and flexibility in meaningful opportunities to support your instructional journey. Whether you’re curious about AI, eager to try new ed tech tools, or looking to connect with colleagues, there is a pathway for you. We invite you to jump in, explore the opportunities that fit your goals, and be part of redefining learning in Thompson School District. If you have ideas for sessions or opportunities you’d like to see offered in the future, please reach out to our Ed Tech team. We’d love to hear from you.

On June 3, 2025, nearly 200 educators from TSD and across Colorado came together for Technanigans—the district’s celebration of learning, collaboration, and innovation in educational technology. The day was filled with practical strategies, new tools, and powerful reminders of why educators do what they do.

Keynote speaker Matt Miller, author of Ditch That Textbook, set the tone with his trademark energy and forward-looking perspective. “We tend to make decisions looking through our today's glasses,” he said, “yet we need to help prepare our students for the future—tomorrow.” His message encouraged participants to shift their perspective on how and why they teach, embracing the big changes shaping education today.

Throughout the day, teachers explored tools and platforms both familiar and new, sparking new ideas for classroom application. One participant shared, “Being able to learn about platforms and tools that I had not previously known or used was great!”

Sessions were designed to be hands-on, relevant, and immediately applicable. Educators left with strategies they could implement right away, echoing comments like, “I enjoyed hearing specific information that I can use right away in the classroom!”

The heart of Technanigans was the people. Collaboration and peer learning were clear highlights, with one teacher noting, “I loved learning from other teachers!” Another summed it up perfectly: “It was so friendly and casual. So much to learn in each class!”

Technanigans 2025 demonstrated that teaching is as much about adapting as it is about inspiring. As ideas from the day continue to shape classrooms across the district, the spirit of innovation sparked at Technanigans will carry forward.

More information will be coming soon for Technanigans 2.0. Together, Thompson educators will continue exploring, experimenting, and learning—one innovative step at a time.

Continue your learning

AI Discovery self-paced course

AI for Educators Book Study (registration open until Sept 26)

Online MeetUps