Educator Recognition

Common Sense Educators

Common Sense Educators

Common Sense Educators

Common Sense Educators are committed to creating a culture of digital learning and citizenship in their classrooms, schools, and districts. They harness the potential of technology for learning by implementing meaningful learning experiences within a safe and responsible context. Anyone who is an educator – whether a classroom teacher, tech coach, librarian, homeschool teacher, preservice teacher, parent coordinator, or more – can become a Common Sense Educator.
 
Take a look at the 2016-2017 Common Sense Educators here.

Questions?

Please read through our FAQ. If you have further questions, please post in the Common Sense community or email [email protected].

What is a Common Sense Educator?

Common Sense Educators make up a community of innovative folks who believe in the power of technology to transform learning and who believe that digital citizenship is an essential foundation for effective digital teaching. Being a Common Sense Educator is an official stamp of recognition from Common Sense. Benefits include:

  1. A digital badge that you can put in your email signature (among other places) so others know about your efforts. It's also a great addition to your résumé.
  2. An invitation to apply to be a Common Sense Ambassador. This is a great opportunity to expand your résumé, expand your leadership, attend conferences, and be part of a network of fantastic educators, while also spreading the word about the great work you're doing with digital citizenship with Common Sense Education.
  3. If you give permission, your name and school listed on the Common Sense Education website.

Last, but not least, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you've helped your students develop essential skills to learn and thrive in the 21st century.

What's the process?

Check out the the detailed program requirements below. It's a two-part application process, and criteria should take approximately four to six hours to complete. Applications are rolling, and educators must fulfill criteria during the 2017–2018 school year. Please apply anytime before June 30, 2018 to earn recognition for the 2017-2018 school year.

Part 1: Join

Create your profile on Common Sense Education. If you haven't already, sign up as an educator on our membership page, and create a profile. Questions? Please see our FAQ. 

Become a member of the community. Join the Common Sense Educator community on Facebook. As part of being a Common Sense Educator, we ask educators to share and engage with each other. The community is a supportive place for you to connect with other like-minded educators, Common Sense Educators, and Ambassadors. If you do not wish to join our active FB Group, please write up your reflection on a Google doc or Padlet.

Apply. Becoming a Common Sense Educator is a two-step application process. After completing Part 1: Registering with Common Sense Education and joining the Common Sense Educators Facebook group, submit Part I of your application here. You will receive the link for Part II of the application within 24 hours.

Apply now
Part 2: Learn, do, reflect

Here's the fun part! You have a personalized voice and choice in your own professional learning, how you'd like to implement or teach students, and what you find useful to reflect on and share. For each of the steps below, select one activity for digital citizenship and another for digital teaching. You get to determine which activities you want to complete.

Step 1: Learn

Common Sense Education has many great professional development resources for educators, including webinars, tutorials, Tech Tips & Resources, and in-person trainings. Select two learning activities: one related to digital citizenship and another to digital teaching. Use our Facebook group to explore ideas or get recommendations. Resources can be found on our site for free. 

Digital Citizenship

Digital Teaching

Time commitment: 2 hrs. (estimate)

Step 2: Do

In this step, you implement ideas from the LEARN step into your work or practice. This could involve teaching students a digital citizenship lesson, applying a digital teaching strategy in your lesson, facilitating a parent education event, designing a tech-rich lesson, creating an implementation plan, or more. Select two activities: one related to digital citizenship and another to digital teaching. The community can serve as a place to get support as you teach lessons or incorporate edtech tools into your instruction.

Digital Citizenship

Digital Teaching

Time commitment: 2 hrs. (estimate; time may vary depending on the nature of what you do)

 

Step 3: Reflect

Sharing successes (and failures) is an important part of the learning process and an essential part of professional growth. In this final step, you authentically describe your insights, weaving in ideas that you put into practice from the LEARN and DO steps.

Write a reflection in which you explain your insights from the LEARN and DO activities you completed. Post your reflection in the Common Sense Educator community. If you do not wish to use the Common Sense Educator community, please post your reflection in a Google Doc. For more information on what makes a good reflection please see our FAQ.

Time commitment: 1 hr. (estimate)

Congratulations, Common Sense Educator!

Becoming a Common Sense Educator a two-step application process:

  1. Complete Part 1: Join the Common Sense Educators Facebook group and register with Common Sense Education, submit Part I of your application here. You will receive the link for Part II of the application within 24 hours. 
  2. Complete Part 2: LEARN, DO, REFLECT, submit Part II of your application.

You will hear within four to seven days whether or not your application has been approved. If approved, you will receive a badge with your congratulatory email. Please be sure to add [email protected] to your email contact list.

 

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