Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites. Examples of cyberbullying include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.

Kids who are being cyberbullied are often bullied in person as well. Additionally, kids who are cyberbullied have a harder time getting away from the behavior.

•   Cyberbullying can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and reach a kid even when he or she is alone. It can happen any time of the day or night.

•   Cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a very wide audience. It can be difficult and sometimes impossible to trace the source.

Deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures is extremely difficult after they have been posted or sent.

As illustrated in the chart above, the rates of cyberbullying victimization have varied over the years in studies conducted by the Cyberbullying Research Center. On average, about 26% of the students who have been a part of the most recent 9 studies have said they have been the victim of cyberbullying at some point in their lifetime. The rates of cyberbullying offending have also varied among the research studies they have conducted. On average, about 16% of the students who have been a part of our last 9 studies have admitted that they have cyberbullied others at some point in their lifetime.State and local lawmakers have taken action to prevent bullying and protect children. Through laws (in their state education codes and elsewhere) and model policies (that provide guidance to districts and schools), each state addresses bullying differently. Find out how your state refers to bullying in its laws and what they require on part of schools and districts.

Bullying, cyberbullying, and related behaviors may be addressed in a single law or may be addressed in multiple laws. In some cases, bullying appears in the criminal code of a state that may apply to juveniles.

In December 2010, the U.S. Department of Education reviewed state laws and identified 11 key components common among many of those laws.

http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/key-components/index.html

To see those 11 key components click on the following link above.

 In the article, “Invited expert discussion paper, Cyberbullying: An overrated phenomenon?” by Dan Olweus, discusses the idea of cyberbullying being a sort of madeup media phenomenon and should not be worried about too much. I disagree and feel that it should definitely be discussed in our schools, classrooms, and at home. It is something that is just going to become a bigger problem as time goes on because of students gaining easier access to computerized devices and social applications. I think it depends on the age of students on how to address this problem so I will give some examples below on how I would introduce it to my second graders.

Second Grade Lesson on Cyberbullying

https://youtu.be/YFzay3Vm860

I would play this video in my classroom that is located up above in the hyperlink. I would want my students to watch it and we would have a discussion afterwards.

·      How did this video make you feel?

·      Have you ever felt excluded?

·      Have you ever been bullied?

·      How can you make sure this doesn’t happen to our classmates?

I would then read the book, “Have You Filled A Bucket Today?” by Carol McCloud.

I would ask open ended questions while reading the book and then ask questions to connect the book to the video that we watched earlier.

I would make a big classroom poster with examples of being a bucket-filler and a bucket-dipper and make sure that cyberbullying is under the bucket-dipper category.

I would hang this poster up in my classroom for students to use as a reminder of good computer etiquette and safety.