Online Communication & Netiquette

What does this unit cover?

Every activity in this unit ends with words a student would actually send — a reply, a question, a private message, an apology. Day 1 starts from something most students have never been told: your first idea about a text is a guess, and it came from you rather than from the sender. The test is physical. Underline the words that say it. If you can underline them, answer the message; if there is nothing to underline, your idea is an assumption, and the move is one clarifying question of twelve words or fewer, about one thing.

Day 2 is audience. A group chat has a number at the top and nobody ever looks at it, so before sending, students pick one of four choices: send it as it is, change the words, send it to fewer people, or talk instead. The unit then says the thing that keeps this from turning into never post anything — most messages are fine to send, and checking first does not mean staying quiet. Day 3 is repair: a real apology has two parts, say what you did and say one thing you will change, and students also learn the two moves almost no lesson teaches — when not to apologize, and how to accept a no.

Each day runs the same way: a bell ringer (4 minutes here, not 5), guided notes off the deck, the activity where the learning actually happens, and an exit ticket on the way out. Everything follows the same open-and-teach folders as the rest of the line: 00 Start Here / 01 Present / 02 Student Handouts / 03 Scenarios / 04 Activities / 05 Assessment / 06 Answer Keys. Every student page uses short, complete sentences, so students at every reading level can follow along.