Unit 6 - Cyberbullying

What online resources and information did you find most useful?

I found the first three websites to be the most beneficial, but for different reasons. The website: http://www.internetsafety101.org/cyberbullying.htm had a wealth of resources under each very important category. These resources were for parents, students, and teachers alike. The Safe Online Surfing website would be a great place to introduce the topic or use it as a pre and post-test for SLOs or just checking content acquisition. Teachers and parents could both use this site. The last website: http://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/index.html was about defining and presenting users with hard facts about what is and where is cyberbullying happening. The site noted the definition of cyberbullying, laws, resources for teachers/students, tips, reporting, and many other things.

 

How can these resources be used in your school to address cyberbullying?

The name of the game is awareness. The first step is making sure that parents are aware of these resources. Parents need to know what this looks like and the apps that might be used. Parents also have the jurisdiction to check phones and devices. These resources could be used at a general assembly with parents, teachers, and students. These resources could also be used within different curriculums throughout the school. The Safe Online Surfing website would be a great place to start students in lower grades. These resources could also be sent out in newsletters to parents.

 

How do you teach students and staff about cyberbullying?

With students, education about cyberbullying needs to contain what it looks like, how to avoid it, what to do if they or someone they know is being bullied, and resources for them outside of the school. They also need to be told to keep whatever evidence the bully is using. This can be done in many forms. As stated above, an assembly could be used or it could be placed throughout curriculum in subjects like computer, guidance, English, etc. Students also needed to be reminded that what they post on the web or in social media never goes away and can never be taken back.

With teachers, the primary focus of cyberbullying needs to be identification. Teachers need to be able to identify some of the signs of possible cyberbullying. They also need to build great relationships to be able to ask students if there is an issue. Lastly, they need to know where to point the students to find help and resources.