Our Āhurutanga Charter

Overview

In this final lesson of Āhurutanga Online: Safe Connections, students apply their learning about safe, respectful and inclusive technology use. They collaborate to make a class digital safety charter that protects privacy, upholds mana and supports āhurutanga for everyone.

Learning intentions

• WALT collaborate to create guidelines for respectful, inclusive and safe technology use.
• WALT explain how digital choices can protect people and uphold mana.
• WALT communicate an idea through a visual, spoken or performed outcome.
• WALT make a collective decision about responsibilities in our class community.

Success criteria

• I can contribute one clear digital safety rule.
• I can explain why my rule matters.
• I can help create a charter that includes privacy, kindness, consent, passwords, trusted adults and reporting.
• I can describe how our charter supports āhurutanga.

Curriculum links

• Social Sciences — collective decision-making and responsibilities in communities.
• Technology — planning, creating and evaluating a digital or visual outcome.
• English — creating persuasive and multimodal texts for a real audience.
• Health and Physical Education — hauora, inclusion and maintaining safe relationships.
• Learning Languages — using target-language greetings, encouragement and safety terms where appropriate.
• Key competencies — participating and contributing; relating to others; managing self; thinking; using language, symbols and texts.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Reconnect and hook. Teacher opens the introduction and hook slides and asks, “How can one class agreement make online spaces safer for everyone?” Students quietly recall one safe-connection idea from the unit, then share with a partner using “I remember…” or “A safe choice is…”.

2. 5–11 min · Unpack the challenge. Teacher revisits the WALT and WILF on the learning intention and success-criteria slides, models turning an idea into a clear rule, and introduces the six required areas: privacy, kindness, consent, passwords, trustworthy adults and reporting. Students suggest possible rules and identify which area each rule supports. Reinforce that no one needs to share personal online experiences.

3. 11–16 min · Plan in groups. Teacher forms five groups of five and distributes the digital charter planning sheet. Each group chooses or is allocated one required area, drafts one or two rules, and completes: “Our rule is…”, “It matters because…”, and “It supports āhurutanga by…”. Students use icons, sentence starters and a class word bank; groups appoint a facilitator, recorder, designer, speaker and checker.

4. 16–30 min · Create a multimodal outcome. Teacher displays the group-task instruction and design-choice slides and conferences with groups, checking that rules are positive, specific and achievable. Students create one poster, illustrated charter panel, short audio presentation or two-minute role-play. Their outcome must include a clear rule, a reason, and an example of what to do; they may include a greeting, encouragement or safety phrase in the class target language.

5. 30–39 min · Share and evaluate. Teacher invites each group to present and uses the presentation prompts and listening slides to guide feedback: “What rule did we hear?”, “Who does it protect?”, and “How does it show manaakitanga?” Students listen respectfully, identify one strength and offer one kind, useful suggestion. The class checks that all six safety areas are represented and agrees on wording for any overlapping rules.

6. 39–45 min · Commit and reflect. Teacher combines the agreed rules into a visible class charter and leads a brief commitment: “In our class, we will…” Students complete the self-assessment on the reflection and commitment section and use the reflection prompts poster to choose one reflection prompt. Invite students to share one action they will take to help make digital spaces safe, warm and inclusive.

Resources

• the complete Āhurutanga Online teaching deck
• the digital charter planning and self-assessment worksheet
• the reflection prompts poster
• Large paper or poster card
• Coloured pens, pencils and sticky notes
• Devices and simple audio-recording tools, if available
• Class digital-safety word bank and accessible icons
• Display space for the completed charter

Assessment

• During planning, listen for rules that are clear, positive and connected to privacy, consent, kindness, passwords, trustworthy adults or reporting. Prompt with: “What would this look or sound like?”
• Use group presentations to assess whether students can explain why a rule matters and connect it to āhurutanga, mana, inclusion or hauora.
• Review the self-assessment for each student’s contribution, explanation and next step. Note students who need support distinguishing a safe action from a rule that is too vague.

Differentiation

• Provide picture icons, read-aloud instructions, sentence starters and a completed example for students who need language, literacy or processing support. Accept spoken, drawn, signed or recorded responses.
• Give groups pre-written key words and allow students to rehearse presentations with a partner before sharing. Pair EAL learners with supportive peers and explicitly model respectful disagreement.
• Offer choice of poster, audio or role-play to support UDL and different strengths; ensure every student has a defined, valued role.
• Extend confident students by asking them to combine two rules, explain a possible consequence, or evaluate whether the charter would protect someone with different access needs or cultural practices.
• Maintain āhurutanga by avoiding personal disclosures, using fictional examples, and reminding students that a trusted adult should be told if something online feels unsafe or unkind.