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Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Students in a Westwood Public Schools digital literacy class examine a slide projection that advises, "Pause & Think Online."
10-16-2025 11:13pm
Westwood Elementary Students Learn to Navigate a Digital World
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Thanks to Westwood Public Schools for contributing this article to Westwood Minute.
Go into any classroom across the country and you’ll notice that technology is an integral part of 21st century learning. Massachusetts officially enacted Digital Literacy curriculum standards in 2016, but this instruction looks different from school district to school district. Last year, Westwood Public Schools (WPS) implemented Digital Literacy Computer Science classes for children in grades two through five. In addition to using technology in their core classes, students in these grades see an Instructional Technology Coach once a week for a 45-minute session.
Westwood’s new program is designed to meet the growing needs that come with students’ increasing use of technology. As children gain access to personal devices and social media at younger ages, the program takes a proactive approach to helping them build healthy technology habits. The curriculum goes beyond basic computer skills, guiding students to navigate the digital world safely, responsibly, and effectively. Lessons emphasize critical thinking—helping students recognize bias, evaluate online sources, and separate fact from misinformation. At the same time, students develop the digital skills they need to create quality work, communicate clearly, and collaborate with their peers.
“We are bridging the gap between the classroom and technology use for researching online, reading online, evaluating websites and producing work,” said Judy Kress, Instructional Technology Coach at the Downey Elementary School.
The technology coaches at Westwood’s elementary schools work in different buildings, but they collaborate regularly to develop a curriculum that aligns with the state standards and centers on teaching students about digital literacy, computer science, digital citizenship and online safety. A recent lesson with one of Kress’ second-grade groups centered on digital citizenship, using the ‘Common Sense’ website as a guide.
“When we get to fourth grade, we talk about influencers and your digital footprint,” said Kate Merten, Instructional Technology Specialist at the Sheehan Elementary School. “In fifth grade we talk about online bullying and social media.”
Old-fashioned typing lessons are making a return to the classroom, featuring the famous English pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” which contains every letter of the alphabet. A curriculum review and parental survey revealed the need and desire for students to learn typing again. Students spend the first five minutes of each class in a typing lesson on their Chromebook laptops.
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. In a WPS digital literacy class for elementary school students, children work away at their individual laptop computers.“The standard is to teach them to type their grade level times five” said Kress. “Third graders should type 15 words a minute by the end of the year. Rather than just teaching it for two or three weeks, we thought it would be better to do it throughout the whole year.”
Students compete against the teachers to show off their typing skills.
“Parents are worried about technology being everywhere and the harmful effects of it,” said Steve Ouellette, director of Technology, Learning and Innovation for WPS. “I’ve been in this role since 2010, and I’m seeing the evolution of technology and the increased access that kids have to it at such a younger age. It is imperative that students have deliberate, intentional instruction on this.”
Teachers say the kids enjoy the class because they often don’t realize they are learning. They think they’re playing games, when they are actually coding. Per Megan, a second grader at Downey, “I like using the Chromebook. We have more fun learning when we use technology.”
Students in the digital literacy classes are also learning about artificial intelligence, working with email, conducting online research and generally learning how computers work.
