Cyberbullying is “the use of Internet technology to inflict emotional harm through repeated and deliberate harassment, threats, and intimidation. Cyberbulling can consist of making threats; issuing insults and slurs; and other activities that are designed to inflict harm or damage to a person and his or her reputation, life, or even computer system.” As stated by Taylor in Cyberbullying: Is There Anything School Can Do? I personally do my have any experience with cyberbullying. I feel very fortunate to not have to deal with this although in reading the article about the girl committing suicide after a fake boy on MySpace told her too it opened my eyes to what is out there.
Schools are faced with a huge problem regarding cyberbullying because they don’t know where they can intervene and when they can’t. Many people will argue what kind of reach a school district has on issues and events that happen outside of the school. There have been law suits that schools have won over cyberbullying although it is very hard to convict someone when the event does not occur on school grounds or even school hours.
There are warning signs to look for if a student is being bullies such as they are regularly absent or late to class, there grades drop significantly, they are not hanging out with their friends as much as they used too and they are overly angry after using a cell phone or computer. There is a time and place for when school should intervene. Schools can’t always take action because they can be violating student’s rights although if the problem continues to exist something needs to be done.
I will address the issue right away in my classroom telling the students any form of bullying is not allowed and explain to them that cyberbullying is a form. I would define cyberbullying for the students that might not know what it is. This will be another step taken at the beginning of the year, so if an event happens over the course of the year I can say refer to your syllabus and they will see consequences for cyberbullying. I will also enlist trust into my students that if they see bullying happen they will inform me or another staff member at the school.
I enjoyed your answer to the cyberbully assignment. I would be curious to hear what your answers might be in regards to the school trying to regulate behaviors off school grounds. Do you think they can do this or that they cannot? A better question would be should they or should they not? Students need to feel safe in school and, if cyberbullying is causing them to feel unsafe, does it really matter where it happened? Your proposed method to deal with cyberbullying is sound. Tell them about it ahead of time, give it to them in writing, and punish students for breaking the rules. Nice work.
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