Imagine you are an English teacher at a high school, and you have found one or some of your students suffer(s) from cyberbullying. How would you react, what would you do, what would you say/write (to victims/bullies and parents), how would you "punish" it?
There would be disciplinary action in that I would report it to the higher-ups at the school by writing a detention and seeing if it was grounds for suspension/expulsion depending on the severity of the cyberbullying. I would also pull that student aside and explain to them the inappropriateness of his/her behavior and how he/she should be ashamed.
ReplyDeleteI would possibly contact the student's parents depending on the the language used in the cyberbullying, but I would also make sure that the victim wouldn't suffer any repercussions for the disciplinary action taken against the student.
I would first ask the student(s) privately if they know who is bullying them.
ReplyDeleteIf so, I would then pull that student or students aside to get the bully and the student together and have them speak about it. I would let them discuss it, but intervene when I feel that it is necessary. I would then tell the bully that actions have consequences and I would give a punishment accordingly.
If not, then I would do an activity in the classroom that focuses on cyberbullying, but I would incorporate it into my lesson at the time. I would place my students into small groups and give each group a scenario involving cyberbullying. I would then have my students act out the scenarios and then discuss them as a class. I would also students how they would have responded to situations that were in the other groups.
Cyberbullying is a major issues that needs to be dealt with on a individual basis. Based on the severity of the bullying, the student might be sent to the principal do judge the situation or it might simply be resolved between teacher and student. The student being bullying needs to know that they have people at the school they can talk to such as guidance counselors. Parents need to know what is going on as well. They should be aware of both sides, the bully's punishment and the victim's help. If this is occurring in the classroom, the parents should know how the teacher plans to stop or prevent this from occurring again.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher we also have the responsibility to make sure the students are aware of these topics and know what to do and to whom they can talk.
I would talk to the victim first privately. Then I would ask them if they knew who the bully was. If they did then I would pull the bully or bullies aside and explain to them that their actions are not right and explain to them what the consequences of their actions are. I would definitely get the principal or a dean involved. I think that it is very important that both the victim and the bully's parents are informed of what happened because I know the students would most likely not tell them what happened. I think that bullying is a very serious problem and should not be taken lightly.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends how severe the "bullying" is. I think that cyber bullying is serious, but it cannot be controlled by a teacher. There are so many avenues where students communicate and it would be hard to know if something was going on in their personal lives. If it happens through a blog or through technology used for my classroom, the student would face consequences.
ReplyDeleteIf I heard about an event of cyber bullying that was outside of my class, I might question students about it. Parents should be notified about cyber bullying because they, most likely, will not be aware of it happening. An in class activity would be a great way to raise awareness about this problem and to educate students they their words and actions have a huge impact on others.
At the beginning of the school year -- before any bullying has even taken place -- I make sure to have a discussion with students about how bullying is 100 percent unacceptable. Not only is it wrong, but it is also a federal offense to bully, whether it's in person or on the internet. Prevention is a much more affective step to take than reaction. If students know from the get-go that bullying is not acceptable, then they are less likely to do it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIf that does not stop a student from cyberbullying, I would first have a discussion with both the victim(s) and bully. Before taking any action, it is important to understand any personal history and background information about the students who are involved.
I then would alert both the administration and parents that the bullying is going on. I would have discussions with all parties needed and decide from there the necessary punishment.
I would gather information about what happened from the post that was written, the bullie, and the victim. I would do this because there is often more to the story that you do not see. Such as the the victim was the original bullie and the new bullie was getting revenged. i would report the finding to the administration. If it was deemed serious enough by administration or if I felt it to be serious enough, I would request a parent/teacher conference with all students involved. If it was to the fact of a crime, I would of course call the police. If it was something minor, I would try to make it into alearning experience. I would want to try to help all students involved to move on from the situation.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would talk to the students individually and privately. This would help me to know both sides of the story. My action after this would depend on the severity of the attack. If it was minor, I would have the students meet with me together and try to resolve the issue between us. If this did not resolve the issue, or the attack was more severe, I would talk to the administration about the issue and have them talk to the students. I feel that parents should be aware of bullying issues, so I would call the parents of every student involved. Then I would take action to ensure this did not happen again.
ReplyDeleteAs a person who first-hand experienced bullying in my younger years in school, I cannot bring myself today or as a future teacher to accept or allow ANY form of bullying. Bullying is extremely harmful to the victim, not just inflicting physical harm sometimes, but long-term emotional and psychological issues. I personally know people who were bullied even harder than me today, and I can see how it totally changed them for the worse - those people are consistently less confident, less outgoing, more isolated, and more depressed.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I'm not entirely sure what I would do about a situation like that. I suppose I would look at my district or school's policies and rules and see what the standard procedures were. I would certainly report the incident if it came to my attention to both the families of the victim and the bully, as well as the school. I would likely suspend or ban that cyber-bullying student from any classwork that involved computer use with me (and give them some less exciting, harder paperwork). Depending on the severity and frequency, I would likely seek out what other, more severe disciplinary actions are available, including detentions, suspensions, and if severe enough, expulsion.
Teachers need to do everything they can to stomp out bullying. Of course, we never will completely stop bullying, but we can create an environment where students know what that sort of behavior is not only not tolerated, but will consistently receive serious punishments. If that has to go to the point of expelling certain students, so be it. School is hard enough for students without having to deal with something like this on a regular, or even an isolated basis.
I would immediately report the bullying to the my department chair and the principal. Reporting the bullying swiftly is incredibly important. I would send the offenders to the principals office. I would request that the students online access at the school be restricted.
ReplyDeleteTherein lies the real problem. Cyberbullying doesn't happen primarily at school or on school related sights. It is usually on Myspace or Facebook. Mass texts are used to spread embarrassing photographs. It is difficult to monitor students use of technology when they are not on school grounds. Cyberbullying is such a large problem in our society that it may be prudent to get the authorities involved if the bullying is prolific in nature.
It is important to stop the bullying if possible. What is probably more important is to get the victim support. A school counselor may need to get involved. Victimized students need to know that that picture or that text does not define them. It will not follow them for the rest of their lives. They need to know that high school is not all there is. There are many helpful organizations that combat bullying. High School is not Forever is one of these. http://www.highschoolsnotforever.com/
If cyber bulling was happening in my own classroom under the supervision of my own blog, I would absolutely put a stop to it. I would first make sure that the student that was being bullied was alright. I would do this in private to ensure that the student didn't feel anymore embarassment towards his/her peers. To the student that was bullying, I would take all of his/her internet opportunities away from him/her. Even though it would be a greater inconvenience to me, I would ask that student to submit his/her homework assignments, hand-written, but still addressing all of the prompts and questions on the blog. I would try to teach a mini lesson on cyber bullying so that students that may have been unaware of the situation would then know what is not acceptable on a classroom blog.
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