On Friday, July 8th, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 746, a bill that will allow schools to suspend students who use social networking sites to bully other students. The bill modifies California’s AB 86 (2008), which gave school administrators the authority to discipline students for bullying others offline or online.
The original cyber-bullying law (AB 86) targeted instant messages, text messages and e-mails sent to individuals. It did not apply to comments or pictures posted on social networking sites. For example “Facebook burn pages” did not exist in 2008. They are now a growing disruptive issue today. Burn pages are created by students to harass, ridicule, or embarrass students at particular school sites. As fast as they are taken down, new burn pages pop up. The language of AB 746 would give schools the ability to discipline students for creating these social networking website burn pages.
As stated on the CA Watch Website:
According to the state education code, students who engage in bullying or cyber-bullying face possible suspension and expulsion. Stephanie Papas, a bullying specialist with the California Department of Education, said it’s up to administrators to determine if behavior is “materially disrupting the learning environment,” even if that bullying is happening outside of school.”
As Papas points out, the gray area still exists when the cyberbullying happens outside the school day. Articles such as the California Watch article, point out two sides of the issue: freedom of speech versus student well-being and safety.
So who should be responsible and accountable for cyberbullying? Schools? Parents? Both? This question provides material for classroom debates/essays and dinner table conversation around a serious topic and concern. We would love to hear how you are addressing this issue at school or within your home.
One of our favorite Internet safety organizations - Common Sense Media – has just updated their list of Social Networking Sites for Kids. The organization does an outstanding job of reviewing, ranking, and regularly updating their list of kid-oriented social networks.
According to Caroline Knorr, parenting editor at Common Sense Media, “The key to all of this for parents — for getting the most out of social networking and all technology – is understanding the technology, setting usage rules, setting privacy settings and, most importantly, training your kids to practice responsible online behavior.”
Here’s their latest list:
1. ScuttlePad (2010) Age 7+
Social network with training wheels is safe but limited.
2. Togetherville (2010) Age 7+
Kids’ social site connects to parents’ Facebook friends.
3. WhatsWhat.me (2011) Age7+
Tween social network with top-notch safety features.
4. Yoursphere (2009) Age 9+
Kid-only social network promises to block dangerous adults.
5. Franktown Rocks (2009) Age 10+
Music and social networking combine in safe, cool hangout.
6. GiantHello (2010) Age 10+
Facebook-lite gets a lot right, but watch out for games.
7. GirlSense (2009) Age 10+
Safe, creative community for tween fashionistas.
8. Sweety High (2010) Age 11+
Fun, closed social network for girls is strong on privacy.
9. Imbee (2011) Age 10+
Safer social networking if parents stay involved.
10. YourCause (2009) Age 13+
An easy, fun, socially networked way to fundraise.
If you have any feedback on the above sites, or know of a site that should be added to the list, please jump in and add a comment.
2WebWatchers would like to acknowledge two new resources provided by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). The first is Net Cetera – Chatting with Kids about Being Online, available as a free download (PDF) or as a booklet that you can order through OnlineOnguard.gov. Educators and parents can order multiple copies at bulkorder.ftc.gov. The booklet “covers what parents need to know, where to go for more information, and issues to raise with kids about living their lives online.” We really appreciate being able to provide our workshop participants with this great take-away.
In connection with Net Cetera, the FTC also recently posted a short video called “Stand Up to Cyberbullying.” This is a great tool to teach students to be kind online and stand up for bullying victims. The video calls cyberbullying a “lose-lose situation” because “it makes the person being harassed feel bad, and it makes the bully look bad.”
According to STOP Cyberbullying.com, some methods of cyberbullying are unique to certain kinds of cyberbullies and so are the ways the cyberbully maintain their secrecy or broadcast their actions to others. Some are secretive, some require an audience and some are entirely inadvertent.
The Five Types of Cyberbullies Include:
- The Vengeful Angel
- The Power-Hungry
- Revenge of the Nerds
- The “Mean Girls”
- The Inadvertent Cyberbully or “Because I Can”
The “Vengeful Angel”
In this type of cyberbullying, the cyberbully doesn’t see themselves as a bully at all. They see themselves as righting wrongs, or protecting themselves or others from the “bad guy” they are now victimizing. They may be angry at something the victim did and feel they are taking warranted revenge or teaching the other a lesson.
The “Power-Hungry”
Just as their schoolyard counterparts, some cyberbullies want to exert their authority, show that they are powerful enough to make others do what they want and some want to control others with fear. “Power-Hungry” cyberbullies usually need an audience. It may be a small audience of their friends or those within their circle at school. They often brag about their actions. They want a reaction, and without one may escalate their activities to get one. The “Power-Hungry” cyberbully is often the victim of typical offline bullying.
The “Revenge of the Nerds”
“Revenge of the Nerds” cyberbullies usually target their victims one-on-one and the cyberbully often keeps their activities secret from their friends. If they share their actions, they are doing it only with others they feel would be sympathetic. They also often resort to cyberbullying-by-proxy. Because of this and their tech skills, they can be the most dangerous of all cyberbullies.
The “Mean Girls”
The last type of cyberbullying occurs when the cyberbully is bored or looking for entertainment. It is largely ego-based and the most immature of all cyberbullying types. Typically, in the “Mean Girls” bullying situations, the cyberbullies are girls bullying other girls. “Mean Girls” cyberbullying is usually done, or at least planned, in a group, either virtually or together in one room. This kind of cyberbullying is done for entertainment. It may occur from a school library or a slumber party, or from the family room of someone after school. This kind of cyberbullying grows when fed by group admiration, cliques or by the silence of others who stand by and let it happen.
The Inadvertent Cyberbully
Inadvertent cyberbullies usually don’t think they are cyberbullies at all. They may be pretending to be tough online, or role playing, or they may be reacting to hateful or provocative messages they have received. They may feel hurt, or angry because of a communication sent to them, or something they have seen online. And they tend to respond in anger or frustration. They don’t think before clicking “send.” They do it for the fun of it. They may also do it to one of their friends, joking around.
STOP Cyberbullying.com Resources
What we are experiencing is an epidemic of ineffective bullying prevention educational programs and public service announcements (PSA’s).” Rosalind Wiseman
The Huffington Post now features a section on bullying, with some great articles, including What Makes a Good Anti-Bullying PSA? In two 10-point lists, author and educator Rosalind Wiseman sums up both the bad and the good:
A bad bullying prevention program or PSA:
1. Relies on gimmicks, like anti-bullying T-shirts, useless slogans like, “Bullying isn’t cool. Don’t do it,” bracelets, pledges, and celebrity appearances as the principle educational strategy.
2. Depicts stereotyped situations.
3. Shows all white people at the center of the plot, or has token racial diversity. For example, the Queen Bee white girl with her backup Black and Asian friends.
4. Presents suicide as a natural consequence of being bullied and as a revenge fantasy against the bullies. Kids don’t have to have suicide thrown in their face to take bullying seriously. Emphasizing suicide will make children think that any feelings less than that aren’t worth reporting.
5. Portrays no realistic and comforting adult presence.
6. Provides no skills or strategies to stop bullying beyond, “Tell an adult” and doesn’t acknowledge that telling an adult often doesn’t help at all.
7. Assumes that bullying is always one-way.
8. Gives the primary motivations to not bully as that you will be punished or feel guilty.
9. Emphasizes blame.
10. Ignores the fact that most bullies think they’re defending themselves or are at least justified; e.g. the victim deserves it. This is one of the primary reasons why a bully won’t see themselves in these types of campaigns.
A Good Bullying Prevention PSA and Campaign:
So what makes a good bullying PSA? How about the sample below from Adina’s Deck:
And the 10 points for an effective PSA….
1. Depicts realistic scenarios, knowing that if presented realistically the topic will hold the viewer’s attention. (T-shirts, bracelets and celebrities are unnecessary.)
2. Incorporates the power, negative or positive, of the by-stander.
3. Clarifies, age appropriately, the difference between snitching and reporting.
4. Reflects young people’s understanding and experience of race dynamics. i.e. while racism can be a weapon to bully, children have a nuanced perspective on race.
5. Understands how homophobia is tied to bullying.
6. Has an adult (maybe a parent) comforting a child.
7. Doesn’t patronize the viewer.
8. Provides skills and inspiration in equal proportion to depicting the problem.
9. Is willing to acknowledge that adults can be part of the problem as well as help solve or improve the situation.
10. Inspires people to take the risk to publicly support victims and responsibly confront bullies.
Is there anything you - or your students – would question, add to or change on either list?
At a time when school councilors are spending countless hours dealing with issues of cyberbullying, including the current rage of Facebook “burn” pages, we thought readers might find the infographic below of interest. From the Schools.com organization, this infographic unveils ways college admission officers are looking at prospective students’ social media accounts.
Courtesy of: Schools.com
We’d love to hear your ideas on how to use this poster. If any of you shared it with students, what were their reactions? Were they surprised by any of the statistics? Did any voice concerns about their own digital footprints?
How often do you see drivers texting or talking with hand-held cell phones? California is taking a stand against this dangerous practice. Across the country and up and down the state, law enforcement kicked off the first-ever Distracted Driving Awareness Month. The California Highway Patrol is partnering with more than 200 other law enforcement agencies to maximize enforcement this month. A ticket for violating either the hands free or no texting law costs a minimum of $159, and subsequent tickets cost $279.
Want to read more about more reasons to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road? Check out the Distracted Driving Fact Sheet and FAQs from the California Office of Traffic Safety.
Here are a few more sites to learn more about distracted driving and what YOU can do:
- National Safety Council – Info, studies, tips on distracted driving
- Focus Driven – advocates and families of distracted driving victims give you the facts, stories and tools you need.
- Impact Teen Drivers – working to share with teens the dangers of reckless and distracted driving through their effective campaigns online and in schools.
- Distracted.Gov – the US government’s official website on distracted driving.
- No Phone Zone – Oprah Winfrey’s distracted driving website.
Too many lives are destroyed every year because of distracted driving. It’s time to remind family, friends, and co-workers that “it’s not worth it!”
President Obama was joined by the First Lady for last week’s White House Summit.
In a video posted on the safety page, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama encourage Facebook members to join in the effort to decrease bullying, both online and off.
“For a long time, bullying was treated as an unavoidable part of growing up,” President Obama says in the video. “But more and more we’re seeing how harmful it can be for our kids, especially when it follows them from their school to their phone to their computer screen.”
As part of the Summit, Facebook rolled out a new set of anti-bullying tools that allow users to privately report bullying to parents or teachers. In recognition of the serious consequences that often accompany issues of bullying, Facebook said the “social reporting” feature is intended to get reports of bullying to the people with the best chance of stopping it.”
If you’ve attended any of our Web 2.0 workshops, then you’ve probably heard us talk about the many reasons why we believe VoiceThread is an awesome PreK-Adult, cross-curricular tool.
If you’re new to VoiceThread and are wondering how your school site might benefit from having a VoiceThread School Account, we recommend taking a quick tour. Start with an in-district project from a group of Prairie Elementary School 4th graders. With over 20,000 visitor’s to their Letters from the Internment Camps VoiceThread, these students have invited a worldwide audience to reflect on and document an event that overnight changed the history and demographics of the Elk Grove-Florin community.
Need more examples of how VoiceThread can extend learning across the curriculum? Head into the VoiceThread Library and browse the projects or scroll through the Ideas for Using VoiceThread.
So here’s the good news: The wonderful developers of VoiceThread have offered to provide all EGUSD schools with a free trial account for the remainder of the school year. But wait…there’s more! One site will win a year-long school account for the 2011-12 school year!
Here’s how to bring your site into the contest:
- Take this quick survey.
- Forward the survey link to any teachers at your site you think would be interested in adding VoiceThread to their teaching toolkit
- Each time you create and integrate a VoiceThread into one of your lessons, please leave a comment on the VoiceThread below. Be sure to include your full name and school site as part of your comment.
The 2011-12 VoiceThread School Account will be awarded to the site that makes the best use of this year’s trial offer. The contest ends on June 15, 2011. We’ll announce the winning site on June 30.
Want to learn more about VoiceThread before entering the contest? Join our next class on Monday, March 14th, 2011 or Tuesday, March 22, 2011 from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. at the EGUSD Technology Services Annex.
VoiceThread Tutorials
Getting Started With VoiceThread
Creating a VoiceThread Video Tutorial
One of our readers suggested that we take a look at this NBCAction News YouTube video. We felt that it was important enough to share with our readers.
Social Network stalking on Smartphones
Some people voluntarily tell the world where they are and what they’re doing by ”checking in” on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Most social networking websites have made it very convenient for you to post your status and whereabouts by using your smartphone. Gowalla and Foursquare have turned “checking in” into a fun way to earn badges, titles, and other rewards. Not only do these sites keep a log of your check-ins, they also let you automatically send status updates to Facebook and Twitter.
You could be very careful not to give away your location on your Facebook or Twitter pages, but the camera on your smartphone could be supplying people with that information. Many people take photos or video and upload them to social networking websites. A few years ago you needed to be careful that the background in your photos didn’t include any personal information – street address, license plate number, street signs, easily identifiable landmarks, etc. Now most smartphones come equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) technology, which allows many smartphones the capability of geotagging your photos when you take them. The geotag data is then uploaded along with your photo, revealing when and exactly where it was taken. Photos posted to photo sharing sites like Flickr and Picasa can also be tagged with location, but it is not an automatic function.
In August of 2010, Adam Savage, of the television show “MythBusters,” took a photo of his vehicle using his smartphone. He then posted the photo to his Twitter account including the phrase “Now it’s off to work.” Since the photo was taken by his smartphone, the image contained metadata reveling the exact geographical location the photo was taken. So by simply taking and posting a photo to Twitter, Savage revealed the exact location of his home, the vehicle he drives and the time he leaves for work.
Web Photos That Reveal Secrets – Like Where You Live – New York Times
Please pay attention to the camera settings on your smartphones. It’s too easy for your location information to become public. If you are interested in turning off ”location services” on your cell phone, you can usually find the information in your general phone settings. Call your service provider or look online for model specific instructions if you need assistance.
