Cyberbullying is the act of using technology to harm an individual. Cyberbulling can consist of making threats; issuing insults and slurs; and other activities that are designed to inflict harm or damage to a person and his or her reputation, life, or even computer system. That harm can come through negative speech towards the individual with the express purpose of putting them down. The harm can also come through using technology to capture compromising pictures or videos and then posting them on the internet with the purpose to embarrass or demean the individual. I did not bully nor did I ever receive any bullying towards myself. I did not like to use instant messaging (which was the only thing in my day that could be used to bully) with many people so the only people I would talk to on those technologies, my close friends, I would not want to bully.
Some of the main problems facing schools when dealing with cyberbullying is that children who are bullying others will probably be doing it from computers that are not school district property. The legal issues there is that if the student is doing it off campus with their own computers then it might be protected under free speech. The main way a teacher could find out about cyberbullying is to listen to what the students are talking about. It is very hard for anything to stay a secret within a student body; everyone is always talking to everyone. A astute teacher would be aware of this and be paying attention to what students are talking about. I think the school should be aware of what is going on off-campus but because of the law being against the school intervening they should help parents be aware of what is going on so that they can take care of the issues whether that be punishing the student/s or getting the authorities involved.
In my classroom I will explain and cultivate a culture of respect in order to head off the cyber or any other type of bullying. I will not tolerate any kind of putdowns in my classroom. I will have harsh penalties where fun activities will be taken away as well as other disciplinary actions in case there happens to be cases of bullying in my classroom. I will want to work towards having the whole school being on board with my desire to have school be a safe haven for the students.
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I agree that a teacher can easily find out what is going on in and outside of school just by listening to the students. I also agree with you that a classroom should be an environment where students feel safe and there will not be any type of bullying or harassment tolerated.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a teacher should be in tune with their students. They should have a great relationship with them, and know what is going on. Teachers can also act as super sleuths - digging around in the hall gossip. It might also be a useful tool to discuss what's going on with your student with other teachers. In a high school setting it's neat because students move from class to class. So, other teachers will get to see and interact with particular students. Using their perspective as a tool for monitoring behavior could make a big difference in detecting cyberbullying.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see which ways that you'll be able to establish respect in your classroom. Have you looked into ideas of classroom management and creating relationships with your students?
Leon –
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments about not tolerating any kind of bullying in your classroom. I also, feel that teachers should be on the look out for this behavior, and try to inform the student’s parent(s) of the possible situation. This is a difficult issue being fairly new to schools, but I feel that teachers must try to protect their students as much as possible. All we can do is look for warning signs and pay attention to what our students are saying.