Discussing Cyberbullying with a Class
It was an interesting morning today. Bullying comes in all shapes and sizes. Today I shared a video with my grade 5 class. What started out as interesting quickly became serious. The 50 second video, Cyberbullying Talent Show, hit them with a shack and awe effect. The discussion that followed was excellent, especially when I helped them to see the words they write can be as destructive as their voice. And then we took it to the level of how your emails can be traced. It does not matter if you delete your email, it can be found.
A second video was even more profound. Let’s fight it together, was produced by Childnet (a non-profit organisation working with others to “help make the Internet a great and safe place for children”) for the Department for children, schools and families in England (DCSF).
One person can cause others to follow and in turn destroy another. The students kept wanting to discuss each point as the video played and so that is what we did. I especially liked the way it dealt with a variety of technology, not just emails but real life. It was a real discussion starter.
The videos managed to pack a punch, far more than any information I could relay by simply talking about the issue. Make sure you watch both and think about using them in your classrooms. Thanks to Jenny Luca I’m passing them on to you.
Leave a Reply