Norms and Responsibilities

I believe the norms and responsibilities we have in the digital world are just the same as they are in the real world.  As a middle school teacher I frequently talk to my students about conversations they have with others online.  It is important to me that I teach my students not only the curriculum in my classroom but also how to be good adult citizens; being rude and disrespectful to others online does not fall into that category.  It's important for students (and all of us) to learn that although it may be easier to be disrespectful to someone from behind a screen, that doesn't mean the words don't have just the same affect on the person the words are directed towards.