What struck me the most reading about cyber bullying was the categorization of different types of bullying. This is such a change from when I grew up and a bully was identified as simply that- a bully. A kid with problems. A kid to avoid.
The acknowledgement of the nuances of bullying and bullying types identified by Faucher as: overt and covert, physical, verbal,
and psychological, and cyber-bullying (2015) demonstrates to me a thorough commitment to reducing bullying. The identification of bullying categories seems to be a start towards helping bullies change their behaviors.
Bullying will never be completely eradicated. As we interact over more and more virtual platforms, bullies will find more ways to bully. I plan to teach cyber-bullying to my older students by presenting scenarios of cyber-bullying on cards for small groups of students to read out loud and discuss what type of bullying is being presented on the scenario card and how to deal with it. I also invite my students to present their questions about what is cyber-bulling. They come up with great on-the-spot questions such as, "If someone takes a picture of me with their school device and without my permission, is that cyber-bullying?"
For my younger students, I plan to teach cyber-bullying through a Kahoot to first identify what is bullying. I find that my younger students are quick to assume they are the target of bullying when really the behavior is teasing. Correctly identifying bullying behavior in real life interactions will set up a solid base for identifying cyber-bullying later in virtual interactions.
Faucher, C., Cassidy, W., & Jackson, M. (2015). From the Sandbox to the Inbox: Comparing the Acts, Impacts, and Solutions of Bullying in K-12, Higher Education, and the Workplace. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 3(6). doi:10.11114/jets.v3i6.1033
I love your lesson ideas. For the younger students specifically, I think that it is so important to clearly establish an understanding the definition of a bully. In the last couple years in the classroom, the word bully was tossed around left and right. I fear that if that continues, the word will lose it's meaning and so it needs to be used accurately.
ReplyDeleteHeidi- I agree that the term "bully" has changed since we were little. I remember a kid on the bus verbally bullying another kid for a pencil and it has stuck with me. Now bullying has gone from face-to-face to hiding behind a computer screen. That is exactly why it is so important to teach students about digital citizenship. I like both of your lesson ideas. Asking older students to discuss the issues of bullying is a great way for students to gain an understanding of what it is. Using Kahoot to teach the difference between bullying and teasing is also a great idea. Older students (5th grade in my case) would benefit from that as well!
ReplyDeleteAs you and Melissa stated, correctly identifying bullying is so important. So much of what my 2nd and 3rd graders report as bullying is in fact a 1-time teasing incident. Teaching resilience and the ability to ignore teasing is important and something that I haven't focused on but I know my guidance team is. Role-playing and scenario-based conversations are also important for our pre-teens and teens, I like your plan for the cards. Seeing themselves in the situation helps to visualize and plan out how to react. Thanks for your post!
ReplyDeleteI really like the poster on how to stop cyber bullying. I am going to post it in my library. The word bully and bullying is used a lot in education today. CCSD has a great poster that I use in parent conferences. When they start saying that someone is bullying their child I pull out the poster and we go over what exactly makes something bullying. Great post.
ReplyDeleteHeidi, you make a great point that kids often mislabel teasing as bullying, and I think that that can contribute to a reluctance to report later on. Your activity idea, where students work to identify types of bullying, will go a long way in helping form the anti-bullying foundation.
ReplyDelete