Hi Everyone,
I brought up a point in the first welcome thread (before we knew how to start our own threads), about Cyberbullying. We didn't really get a chance to discuss it, and I'd like to start a conversation about how our increased reliance on technology is opening up more avenues for kids to be bullied at school, and at home where they in past would have been "safe".
In my past note, I mentioned the book "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult, and I encourage anyone who is interested in the topic of cyberbullying, or bullying in general to read it. It covers the bullying topic from many people's persepectives, and how it affects each person. Again, here's the link to a synopsis and some questions for us to think about.
What does everyone think about cyberbullying? Do we, as educators need to address the issue even, or should it be left to police?
And the link, because I missed it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jodipicoult.com/nineteen-minutes.html#eqs
Lindsay I appreciate you bringing this subject up again because I think that it is a very real issue that we will be dealing with all the time either directly or indirectly. The scariest part of cyberbullying for me is the fact that unlike regular bullying students cannot escape it! It goes on constantly and home is no longer a safe haven away from bullying because the computer and cell phones are constantly connecting students.
ReplyDeleteI think as teachers we have the responsibility to educate students to respect each other and to encourage students to stand up for what they think is right and when it is necessary discipline students that participate in behaviour that is detrimental and hurtful towards other students. I do believe that there is a time to let students sort out their own issues but it is our job to ensure that students learn and how can we expect students to learn if they are afraid or constantly antagonized. We learnt in our Pscyh class that students with high self esteem do better in school so we should be attempting to create an environment that fosters high self esteem and cyberbullying does exactly the opposite.
Important topic, the importance of which cannot be understated. These forms of personal technology are providing an increased platform for bullies, and probably for those who wouldn't be bullies if it weren't for the safety of their laptop.
ReplyDeletehttp://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/03/11/stefanie-rengel-s-accused-killer-frantic-in-hours-before-death.aspx
and
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1
We need to be informed, be fluent with these technologies whenever possbile, and watch for signs and symptoms of cyber bullying.
Chris
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteIn Laurie Baxter's Philosophy class, Laurie encouraged us to look up CBC Radio 2's program Ideas as there is a great series going on about bullying in Canada, among other "adolescent life" topics that may be interesting to us.
Here is the link: you can stream it and listen:
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/teens-world/index.html
You may also be interested in all the amazing links listed at the bottom of the webpage.