Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is an extremely difficult issue to prevent and then respond to as an educator. In James’ situation, it seems as though the group of males that are creating the fake email addresses and sending notes to other male students posing as James can be identified. If all of the group members can be identified then further disciplinary action can be taken. But if the group of males targeting James cannot be identified then the course of action as an educator becomes more difficult. I would first sit down with James and his parents and let them know that James is not in the wrong in this situation and that he is the victim, regardless of his sexual orientation. Then I would ask James who was behind these messages and emails. If James did not know who was behind them, I would ask for the school’s resources in finding the IP addresses, if the emails were written from a school computer. I would then begin interviewing the male and female students in James’ classes to see if they knew anything about Cyberbullying going on, without mentioning James by name. It also seems as though repeating and enforcing the “regular” bullying rules might be of help. The students need to understand that Cyberbullying is just as punishable and unacceptable as physical bullying at the school. The students need to know that in order to have a good classroom culture, Cyberbullying cannot exist in my classroom, or in the school. If the situation does not get solved in the short term, then more exhaustive efforts must be made by the school and possibly the local law enforcement in order to identify and punish those responsible for James’ uneasiness at school. Not only is this harming James’ and his education, it is taking away from the classroom culture and the other student’s educations as well. This is a hard topic to understand, as bullying has changed drastically since I was in grade school. The preventative measures for Cyberbullying may not always be enough. It would be helpful to gain more knowledge about how to handle situations like these in your classroom.

Reflection ?'s

This is my reflection from an article we had to read about cyberbullying in today's schools. In this reflection I give my strategies on how to identify the victim and offender in a cyberbullying incident as well as possible ways to prevent cyberbullying.

To be honest I think cyberbullying is ridiculous. When I was growing up a bully was someone who wanted to take your lunch money and fight you after school, so this concept of anonymous bullying is new to me. I think that cyberbullying will be a new challenge for teachers to face, and by knowing more about technology, we as educators will have a better chance at stopping it in its tracks.

I plan on trying to prevent cyberbullying in my classroom. I think that by using examples of cyberbullying and its effects on students, you can show your students how not to act when it comes to gossip through technology.