“But just hang on because it gets better.”
Or does it?
In this week’s research on bullying and cyberbullying in schools, I was shocked to learn that not only does it not get better in high school, but it can also continue right through high school, university, and into the workforce. In the workforce, it may go by a different name (incivility, mobbing) but the underlying characteristics are woefully familiar. In K-12 school, university, and the adult work, bullying and cyberbullying all include “repeated aggressive behaviours that are intended to cause harm to a victim with relatively less power to defend themselves” (Faucher, Cassidy, and Jackson, 2015). The authors report the results in children are impactful primarily for the victims: “depression, poor self-esteem, concentration problems, anxiety, stress…” (2015).
Those symptoms alone can have long-lasting deleterious effects. However, when the bullying continues into the
workforce, the effects are farther reaching, including absenteeism,
disengagement, reduced productivity... all of which will affect the profitability of the business. Faucher
et al report that “it is easy to place the costs of bullying in the millions of
dollars annually” (2015).
All this to say that it makes emotional, compassionate , and economic sense to do our best to reduce and even eliminate cyberbullying
from K-12 schools. There are a plethora of resources available. It is not sufficient to claim one day as
“Let’s not cyberbully day!” This is
bigger than a video shown during an assembly.
The problem is a significant one with prevalence studies showing
victimization rates between 20% and 40% of students, and some studies put the
rate as high as 72% (Faucher, Cassidy, and Jackson, 2015). Therefore, combatting the problem will
likewise be a sizable undertaking.
Faucher, Cassidy, and Jackson do outline solutions in their paper. It appears “students teachers, school administrators, and parents agreed that education and awareness are key” (2015). K-12 students additionally desired a method of reporting incidents of bullying. As a high school librarian, I believe I have discovered the perfect activity to both increase awareness of bullying at my school level and allow middle school students a way to report acts of bullying, all thanks to Jon Orech’s Digital Citizen Project. (click to link)
The plan is to
have a group of my high school students create blog posts for an authentic
audience: middle school students. The goal is to begin a dialogue about
bullying, not for a school assignment, but to reach another person.
To begin the planning, I would need to do some cyberbullying prevention lessons with my high school students. Smith (n.d.) has a LiveBinder with excellent resources, including this YouTube video.
This would be practical for my high school students as a starting point. To stimulate deeper discussion, the website “Seven Deadly Sins” could provide multiple avenues of exploration. (click to link)
Here
students can find true stories, statistics, and participate in polls for each of
the deadly digital sins. One sin is “wrath”
which nicely ties in with cyberbullying, but there are also posts about “envy”
(where everyone else has a wonderful life… on social media) and “sloth” (losing
connections with real people as we become content to sit with screens).
Finally, I would like to supply my high school students
with positive examples of social media.
As mentors, they can guide younger students toward the power of social
media to do good in the world. I’ll leave you with these two resources from the
Cyberbullying Research Center. The first is an exceptional spoken word look at choices we make on social media. The second will make your heart glad.
Resources:
Cyberbullying Research Center. (n.d.). Cyberbullying
videos to use in presentations. https://cyberbullying.org/videos
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). 111-125.
Orech, J. (2012). How it's done: Incorporating digital citizenship into your everyday curriculum. Tech & Learning. 33(1). 16-18.
Smith, K. (n.d.) Digital Curation: Cyberbullying. How
to beat cyberbullies. Retrieved from http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1968391
Vio, P., Mendes,
J. (n.d.) Seven deadly digital sins. National
Film Board. http://sins.nfb.ca/#/Grid
I like your plan. You gave some concrete ways that cyberbullying can be combatted. I want to work with our librarian to see if this is a project that we can implement between our schools. I think that both of our schools cold benefit from a joint program like this. Your also choose some great videos to highlight. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteStacey Templin
I'm a big fan of the Common Sense Media curriculum on digital citizenship. Check it out here: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship-week. You may like it! - Sherry
ReplyDeleteI have a son in high school and I hopw tht his teachers have share these videos with him. I thought "What's the Story?" was especially effective. I think the letter writing approach is a great one because it gives students a way to write their experiences down for someone they can trust to give them good advice. Mentors make such a difference in people's lives! Jus tthat connection with someone that understands and listens could mean the world to a student that is struggling with a bully.
ReplyDeleteI work with elementary students so I really liked the Common Sense Media videos and lessons on digital citizenship. Starting young to build a good foundation of digital citizenship can hopefully help students avoid or at least know how to handle a cyberbully.
Suzanne Spearman
I like the idea of having your students create meaningful content for the middle school students to use. This will keep both groups of students engaged in cyberbullying prevention.
ReplyDeleteI recently observed an elementary school librarian working with a group of first graders and her lesson was from Common Sense Media. She taught the students to "Pause, Think, Ask." First, they thought about how different scenarios made them feel. Then related that to their devices. They said "I feel..." to respond. Then she asked how they feel when a commercial comes on TV that seems like it was made for a grown up instead of a child. Or how they feel when there is a pop-up ad on their game that is not meant for children. She assured them that the pop-up ads are not their fault and they need to pause, think about how it makes them feel, and ask their parents for help. It was such an age-appropriate way for them to learn about dangers online, but also know that they can communicate with their grown-ups when things feel unsafe.
Melissa Bryan
I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't recognize the "rapper" in the "What's Your Story" video was none other than the lead singer of the band twenty-one pilots. My daughters were quick to point this out to me when they heard it as I listened to it in the next room. They had both heard it before as a matter of fact! I think that, just as the high school students made such great "cyber-mentors" for middle school students, that anytime ridiculously famous pop stars make videos like this it probably does more to address the culture of bullying that anything we parents and teachers can preach about it!
ReplyDelete