Internet safety is not always something teachers feel should be there job. That is something the parents should be teaching their children at home. It has nothing to do with education, but all with parenting. However, that passive attitude is how children get hurt. We cannot assume that all parents teach their children how to be safe on the Internet. They may not know how to talk to their children or do not know about the dangers they may face. There are many things that educators need to address with their students to secure that they are at least aware of the dangers the Internet holds. I always worry about my students who talk about that they friend anyone on social networks. They are not aware that just friending everyone is not safe because when you are on the Internet, you can pretend to be anyone! So the cute guy you friended and are now making plans with just might be a 45 year old bald man. Not okay! You should always know who you are friending because letting strangers into your "world" can lead to trouble.
I also worry about cyber bullying and how it affects my students. I know that while they are in my classroom I can keep an eye on them and intervene if I see bullying. However, when it occurs on the Internet and no one is there to intervene, it can have detrimental consequences. We need to find a solution to cyber bullying that is not so hands off on the education part. There was a cyber bullying problem with some of my students last year and I was told there was nothing we could do on our end. However, the boys involved brought the bully to school and we were able to handle that part of it. I still wish we could have tackled the real problem, which started on a social network site. I know that there have been a lot of changes in made in education to protect the students from cyber bullying, but I am still waiting for my district to jump on the "we need to stop cyber bullying" wagon!
I like the cyber bullying band wagon. Maybe the county could do a "Just Say No to Cyber Bullying," like the "Just Say No to Drugs for Red Ribbon Week."
ReplyDeleteI agree with the passive attitudes- the followers, they are the ones getting hurt most often.As I mentioned in Aprils blog, all we can do right now is model and explain the correct internet safety usage. Most students will listen and some will learn.
I wish they could create a week for respecting each other. They can call it Don't Bully Me week. Just in the past month so many students were bullied in so many ways from words to comments on the internet. These students didn't have to make a decision to take their life. As adults, we need to model how to handle a bad situation and using are actions to show confidence.
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