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Digital Wellbeing

Ninth graders learn to build a healthy relationship with media — taking breaks, controlling notifications, choosing when to log on, and balancing screens with offline life. Sorting healthy habits from unhealthy ones helps them use media on their own terms.

Grade 9Digital Wellbeing55 minutes1 class periodMedia Literacy · CCSSExplicit teaching4 StandardsCCSS / NAMLE
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Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Build digital wellbeing.
  • ✓Tell healthy from unhealthy.
  • ✓Sort the habits.
  • ✓Use media on your terms.
Essential Question

Media can serve you — or run you. What habits build healthy digital wellbeing, and which ones don’t?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Sort It · Interactive

Healthy or Unhealthy Habit?

Project this and sort each into Healthy or Unhealthy media habits.

⚖️ Sort each — a healthy or unhealthy habit?Try it
✅ Healthy Habits
⚠️ Unhealthy Habits
Tap a habit, then tap a box.
The Lesson · Literacy Flow (Hook · Explore · Practice · Apply · Reflect)

55 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Hook — Media on Your Terms

6 min

Media can serve you or run you — what habits build healthy wellbeing?

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Ask about phone habits.
  • Ask which feel healthy.
  • Set the goal.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Reflect.
  • Think.
  • Get ready.
2

Explore — Digital Wellbeing

13 min

Students explore.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send students to the sorter.
  • Sort each one.
  • Explain each.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Sort.
  • Say.
  • Explain.
3

Practice — Practice

15 min

Students practice.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Name a healthy habit.
  • Name an unhealthy one.
  • Explain the difference.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Name it.
  • Name it.
  • Explain.
4

Apply — Apply

15 min

Students apply.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Audit your own habits.
  • Pick one to improve.
  • Share your plan.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Audit.
  • Pick.
  • Share.
5

Reflect — Reflect

6 min

Students close.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Name a healthy habit.
  • Name an unhealthy one.
  • Complete the exit ticket.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Name one.
  • Name one.
  • Complete the exit ticket.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to the Common Core ELA Standards (informational literacy) & NAMLE media-literacy competencies.

CCSS
SL.9-10.1

Discuss & reflect collaboratively.

CCSS
W.9-10.6

Use technology thoughtfully.

NAMLE
Act

Practice healthy media use.

CCSS
SL.9-10.4

Present reasoning clearly.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Habit cards.
  • Sentence frame: “___ is a ___ habit.”
  • Use examples.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with a break vs endless scroll.
  • Sort one at a time.
  • Use examples.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Make a media-balance plan.
  • Track a week of screen time.
  • Design a wellbeing poster.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Screen / board
  • ⚖️Habit cards
  • 💻Healthy or Unhealthy Habit?
  • 📋A balance planner
  • ✏️Notebooks
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

digital wellbeinga healthy media lifemedia balancescreens plus offline lifescreen timetime spent on devicesbreaka pause from screensnotificationan alertmindfulaware & intentionalofflineaway from screenshabita regular behavior
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
Name one healthy digital habit.
Taking screen breaks, muting notifications, or balancing with offline time.
QUESTION 2
Name one unhealthy digital habit.
Scrolling for hours without noticing, or comparing yourself to highlight reels.
QUESTION 3
What does “media balance” mean?
Balancing screen time with offline activities.

Reflect: digital wellbeing.

Have students pick one healthy media habit to build and explain how they’ll start. A printable wellbeing sheet is in the ELA library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 Digital WellbeingFlip
Card 1
Term
Tap to flip →
Meaning
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Nice work!

Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 Digital WellbeingQuiz
Score: 0
1 / 6
Question 1
0%

Nice work!

Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ Digital WellbeingPrint
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: break, digital wellbeing, habit, media balance, mindful, notification, offline, screen time
  1. an alert
  2. a regular behavior
  3. screens plus offline life
  4. time spent on devices
  5. a healthy media life
  6. aware & intentional
  7. a pause from screens
  8. away from screens

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. Name one healthy digital habit.
  2. Name one unhealthy digital habit.
  3. What does “media balance” mean?
Answer key — Part A: 1) notification · 2) habit · 3) media balance · 4) screen time · 5) digital wellbeing · 6) mindful · 7) break · 8) offline
Part B: 1) Taking screen breaks, muting notifications, or balancing with offline time. 2) Scrolling for hours without noticing, or comparing yourself to highlight reels. 3) Balancing screen time with offline activities.