Lesson 3.9

Digital Footprint and Online Relationships and Stress Plan

Unit: Unit 3: Growing Up, Getting Along
Topic: 3.2 Self-Concept, Peers, and Stress
Grade: 6 to 8 (written at grade 7; see Differentiation for the grade 6 support and grade 8 stretch)
Days: 1 class period of 40 minutes (day 76 of the year). The last 10 minutes are the Stress Plan, the formal check for Topic 3.2.
Room: Classroom or FACS lab

For this lessonHandout Digital Footprint Check and Stress Plan Slides Digital Footprint and Online Relationships and Stress Plan

Standards

NYS module line

HDR 2. Self-Concept and Self-Image d)Describe ways personal image is projected to others through physical appearance, verbal and nonverbal communication, behavior, and action
HDR 3. Peer Influence and Stress Management e)Identify the causes of stress and examine appropriate ways to manage stressors
HDR 4. Human Relationships a)Identify characteristics of healthy human relationships

CTE theme line

CTE CIR 1. Communication b)Describe types of communication (e.g., oral, verbal, nonverbal, digital)
CTE HSW 5. Social-Emotional Learning e)Identify school personnel with whom to discuss social, emotional, or mental health issues

NYS FACS learning standard

NYS FACS Learning Standard 2 (Intermediate)Key Idea: Students will know the basic principles of home and community safety. They can demonstrate the skills necessary to maintain their homes and workplaces in a safe and comfortable condition. They can provide a safe and nurturing environment for themselves and others.
Performance Indicator: none of the three Standard 2 indicators fits; the key idea's "safe and nurturing environment for themselves and others" is what a phone boundary and a log-off rule protect. The state assigns only Standard 2 to HDR.

CDOS

CDOS Standard 3aTechnology

National FCS 3.0

National FCS 3.0 13.3.6Examine how technology changes communication at home, at work, and in the community.
National FCS 3.0 13.1.4Examine what makes relationships healthy and what makes them unhealthy.

(The task asked for a CIR 5. line on digital or online communication. The Peer Relationships topic has none; CIR 1. b) is the theme's only line that names digital communication and is cited as the task allowed. HSW 5. e) is the "who to tell" line. Both National FCS numbers are confirmed in the 3.0 text.)

Enduring understanding and essential question

Big idea: Everything you post, send, or like is a footprint that can be copied and can last. Online friends and offline friends are both real, and both need the same things: honesty, respect, and the ability to walk away. Knowing when to log off and who to tell is a stress tool.
Essential question: If a screenshot of your last 24 hours online was handed to a stranger, what would they think you are like?

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

(Low) Define digital footprint, list four things that are public or copyable forever (posts, comments, photos, messages that get screenshotted), and describe two ways a person's image is projected online.
(Mid) Given six short scenarios (a group chat, a shared photo, an online friend asking to meet, a late-night argument, a post that got no likes, a screenshot going around), classify each as healthy, unhealthy, or "log off and tell," and name the person to tell for each "tell" case.
(High) Create a Stress Plan that names one stressor, two tools from the toolkit card, one person to talk to, and one boundary with a phone, and justify the boundary in one sentence.

Vocabulary

Tier 2 (general academic): permanent, public, private, boundary
Tier 3 (FACS): digital footprint, screenshot, online relationship, group chat, log off, Stress Plan. See the unit vocabulary list (Vocabulary 03.md) for Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Materials and setup

Handout 03.09 - Digital Footprint Check and Stress Plan.md, one per student; page 1 is the footprint check and scenarios; page 2 is the Stress Plan with the mini rubric printed on it
The toolkit card from Lesson 3.8 (students bring it; keep three spare blank cards for anyone who lost theirs; they can rebuild it from the test sheet, which you have)
The exit strips from Lesson 3.7 (the two most common categories become the two example stressors on slide 11)
Slides: Slides 03.09 - Digital Footprint and Online Relationships and Stress Plan
The school's who-to-tell list (counselor, technology coordinator, any teacher, an adult at home) on slide 8 [Sal: names and rooms]
Timer visible to the class
Setup notes: none beyond the slides. The Stress Plan is scored with the three-criterion mini rubric below; print the rubric on the handout so students see it before they write.

Pre-assessment

The do now asks students to count, privately, how many things they posted, sent, or liked yesterday, and to guess how many of those a stranger could find. The gap between the two numbers is the lesson. Lesson 3.5's closure cards (which channel you project through) tell you whether "image is projected" is already understood.

Do now and hook (Time: 4 min)

On the board: "Private. Count: about how many things did you post, send, or like yesterday? Now guess: how many of those could a stranger find or be shown? Two numbers."

Debrief: "Hands if your second number was zero." Usually a few. Then the hook, slide 2: a pair of footprints in wet cement described in words. "Sand washes away. Cement does not. Everything you send online is closer to cement than sand, because anyone can screenshot it. Today: what is public, who is real, and when to log off."

Procedure

Step	Teacher will	Students will	Time
1. Direct instruction: the footprint	Slides 3 to 5. Digital footprint: everything about you online, including what others post about you. Public forever, or close to it: posts, comments, photos, likes, and any private message the other person screenshots. Deleting removes your copy, not theirs. Then the image you project (Lesson 3.5's four channels, online version): your photos (appearance), your words (verbal), your emojis, timing, and what you like (nonverbal), and what you do when someone is being picked on (behavior). Two fictional students apply for the same volunteer job; the coordinator looks both up; one feed shows a person who helps, one shows a person who mocks. The second student is kind in person; the feed did not show it.	Fill Part 1: the definition, four things that last, and the four online channels with one example each.	7 min
2. Online friends, offline friends, and group chats	Slides 6 and 7. Online friends are real friendships when they have what offline ones have: honesty about who they are, respect, and the freedom to say no. Red flags: someone who will not video call or who says they are your age but the details do not add up; someone who asks you to keep the friendship secret from adults; someone who asks for photos or to meet. Group chats: they move fast, jokes land wrong without a face, and a pile-on can start in thirty seconds. The rules: read it twice before you send it; if you would not say it in the cafeteria, do not type it; leaving a chat is allowed. Then the six scenarios on Part 2: classify each as healthy, unhealthy, or "log off and tell," and name the person to tell.	Classify six scenarios. Write the person to tell for each "tell" case (a role: counselor, parent, teacher).	8 min
3. When to log off and who to tell	Slide 8. Log off when: the chat is making your body signals go off (Lesson 3.7), it is after your sleep window (Lesson 2.6), an argument has gone three messages with no one calmer, or someone is being hurt. Tell an adult when: anyone asks to meet or for photos, a screenshot of someone is going around, anyone talks about hurting themselves or others, or you are scared. The who: the school's list on the slide. Reveal the scenario key and take questions.	Correct any wrong scenario. Copy the log-off list and the who-to-tell list onto Part 2 for keeps.	6 min
4. Formal check: the Stress Plan	Slides 9 to 11. Hand the task: page 2. One stressor (by category, or a general description; no names), two tools from your toolkit card with the situation each fits, one person to talk to (a role), and one boundary with a phone (a time it goes away, a chat you leave, a notification you turn off, a place it does not go) with one sentence on why that boundary would lower the number. Show the mini rubric on slide 11 and the two example stressors from yesterday's exit strips. 10 minutes, quiet, individual. Collect at the timer.	Write the Stress Plan. Check it against the rubric before handing it in. Hand it in.	10 min

Questions to ask

Monitor understanding:

What is one thing you can delete that still exists somewhere?
Which of the four online channels is the one people forget they are sending? (Likes and timing.)
Which scenario was "log off and tell," and who is the person?

Deepen learning:

The second student in the volunteer story is kind in person. Is it fair that the feed decided? Does fair matter to the coordinator?
Leaving a group chat is allowed. Why does it feel like it is not?
Your phone boundary on the Stress Plan is a rule you set for yourself. What would make you actually keep it next Tuesday?

Check for understanding

Thumbs at the scenario reveal in Step 3: thumbs up for five or six right. A whiteboard check before Step 4: "Which category is a screenshot of a classmate going around: healthy, unhealthy, or log off and tell?" A "got it" answer is "log off and tell," with a person named. If more than a third of the room writes "unhealthy" with no tell, reteach the tell list for one minute before the Stress Plan.

Closure (Time: 5 min)

The Stress Plan is the closure. After it is collected, one line on the back of page 1 (turned in with the plan): "The one thing from this topic I will actually use is ___." Two students read it aloud by choice. Say what Topic 3.3 is: "Next: listening, I-messages, and how to fix a fight without losing the friend."

Stress Plan mini rubric (printed on the handout, scored by the teacher)

Criterion	Not Yet (1)	Approaching (2)	Meets (3)	Exceeds (4)
Stressor and tools	The stressor is missing or the tools are not from the toolkit	One stressor and one tool, or two tools with no situation	One stressor (by category or description) and two tools from the toolkit card, each with the situation it fits	Meets, and the two tools are ranked with the student's own before and after ratings from Lesson 3.8 as evidence
Person to talk to	No person named	A person named with no reason, or "nobody"	One person (a role) named, with one sentence on why that person for that stressor	Meets, and a second person named for the case where the first is not available
Phone boundary	No boundary, or a boundary that is not about the phone	A boundary with no reason	One specific boundary (a time, a chat, a notification, a place) and one sentence on why it would lower the stress number	Meets, and one sentence on what will make the boundary hard to keep and how to handle that

Total: 12 points. Topic assessments category. One retake after a conversation; best score counts. A plan that names a real person by name instead of a role is handed back to fix before it is scored, not marked down.

Differentiation and supports

ELL: the four online channels reuse the Lesson 3.5 picture cues; the six scenarios are three sentences each and are read aloud once; word bank on the handout for footprint, public, private, screenshot, log off, and tell in Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish; sentence starters printed on the Stress Plan: "When ___ stresses me, I will ___." "I can talk to ___ because ___." "My phone will ___ at ___."
IEP and 504 (general): four scenarios instead of six; the Stress Plan can be dictated to the teacher or typed; extended time on the plan into the next do now; the rubric criteria are read aloud before students start; a student may write "one tool" if the toolkit card had only two.
Grade 6 support: four scenarios; the Stress Plan asks for one tool and the boundary is chosen from a list of four.
Grade 8 stretch: Part 3 on the handout: write the three lines you would want a coordinator to see if they looked you up, and one line on what you would need to change to make that true (private; not collected). On the Stress Plan, the Exceeds column is the stretch.
UDL checkpoint used: multiple means of representation (a story, a scenario set, a checklist) and multiple means of action and expression (the plan can be written, typed, or dictated; the rubric is visible before writing).
No-kitchen or no-machine alternative: not needed. No device is required; the lesson works with no screen in the room.

Assessment

Objective	Standards met	Learning task	Assessment (formative or summative; tool)
1. Define the footprint, list what lasts, describe how image is projected online	HDR 2. d); CIR 1. b); National FCS 13.3.6; CDOS 3a Technology	Part 1, Step 1	Formative; handout checked for the definition, four items, and four channels; the footprint definition returns on the Unit 3 test
2. Classify six scenarios and name the person to tell	HDR 4. a); HSW 5. e); National FCS 13.1.4	Part 2, Steps 2 and 3; whiteboard check	Formative; thumbs at the reveal; handout key
3. Create a Stress Plan with a justified boundary	HDR 3. e); Std 2 KI; National FCS 13.3.6	Stress Plan, Step 4	Summative; the Topic 3.2 formal check, scored on the three-criterion mini rubric above, 12 points

Homework

None. The Stress Plan is done in class. Optional: keep the phone boundary for three days and write on the back of the toolkit card whether it held.

Connections

Inside the building: the technology coordinator, who owns the school's acceptable use policy and should see slide 8 so the "tell" list matches the school's process; the counselor, who is on the list; the health teacher, who owns cyberbullying if health covers it. Unit 7 (careers) returns to the footprint when students build a resume. [Sal: your Brentwood personal branding unit ran a digital footprint audit; the audit here is shorter and never asks for account names.]

Sources

NYS Middle Level CTE FACS Content Module 02, Human Development and Relationships (nyctecenter.org, June 2018), lines 2. d), 3. e), and 4. a). Copy in 02 Standards/NYS Module PDFs/.
NYS Middle Level CTE Theme Module, Communication and Interpersonal Relationships, line 1. b); Theme Module, Health, Safety, and Wellness, line 5. e). Same folder.
NYS Learning Standards for Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Sciences (1996), Standard 2, Intermediate, FACS strand. Wording per 02 Standards/STANDARDS SOURCES - web research.md, section 2.
National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education 3.0 (LEAD FCS Education, 2018), competencies 13.3.6 and 13.1.4.
Sal's own materials: the "digital footprint detective" packet (Brentwood, Unit 5 Personal Branding, April 2026) supplies the definition, the "deleting removes your copy, not theirs" point, the two-applicants story, and the footprint audit; the "online you vs the real you" packet supplies the privacy boundary idea. Both are rewritten here without the branding language; the fictional students are new.
Grading pattern: 03 Course Design/03 Grading Plan.md (topic assessments, one retake).

Teacher notes

The Stress Plan needs its full 10 minutes. If the period runs short, cut Step 2 to four scenarios and Step 3 to the tell list only. Never cut the plan.
Common mistake: a student writes a real person's name in the "person to talk to" line. Hand it back to change to a role before scoring; the plan goes in a folder that other people may see.
The online friend red flags will produce a question you did not plan for. Answer the general version, then say "and that specific one goes to [the counselor] today, with me if you want." Then go.
The phone boundary is the line students resist most and remember longest. Ask in Lesson 3.10's do now whether it held.
[Sal: if your school has a phone policy (a pouch, a locker), say so on slide 9 and let students pick a boundary for outside school; a boundary the school already enforces is not a plan.]