On Going Professional Learning
I know this is going to make me sound old but when I went to school traditional bullying involved acts such as teasing, name- calling, kicking and fist fighting. That is not to say that I am naïve and have no idea how bullying has evolved. I have six children three of whom are now adults and three who still live at home. My thirteen year old is about to start year nine and my second youngest is starting prep this year while my youngest starts prep next year. I chose cyber bullying because as a mum I am concerned with bully in all of its forms. In addition as a pre service teacher I want to make sure I do not put this topic on low priority because I do not have a true understanding of the causes and effects.I have to admit that I have only allowed my thirteen year old daughter limited and monitored access to the internet in fear of her being subjected to some form of harassment. Over the past three years she has come home from school on numerous occasions complaining of being bullied by others (mainly other female students). Unfortunately my first instinct was to limit her internet access and not allow her any access to social media sites. I say unfortunately because since carrying out my enquiry I now realise that I should have actually educated her rather than segregated her.
It is never easy being a parent and I can imagine it will be just as difficult being a teacher. Although in saying that I can now see the importance of educating even young students about the importance of correct internet behavior. I feel that with a better understanding of why and how children use cyber space to bully I will have a better chance of relating to the students and vice versa. Research shows that students relate and learn more when the educator has a firm understanding and a passion of what they are teaching (Churchill et al., 2011).
I hope to introduce students to strategies that will help them protect themselves on the internet such as personal security for example keeping their passwords a secret from others and if they need to record the passwords to at least keep them in a safe place where they will be less likely to be discovered by others. In addition I want to produce lessons where students will be given opportunities to improve their self image. This could be achieved by having students compile a self portrait of themselves. Concentrating on how they view themselves, how they treat others including some of their positive and negative qualities. This could be taken a step further by pairing students up and asking each pair to name five positive qualities for their partner. Furthermore the class could discuss as a whole class who or what influences each individual’s behaviour., why they think children bully other children? Would they tell someone if they were, or they witnessed someone being bullied? I think these types of lessons could be beneficial to a diverse range of students and all age groups. The social environment
With recent research showing that cyber bullying appears to follow a gender pattern opposite to what occurs offline (Kids health, 2014). It is obvious there is also a need to ensure that both genders are addressed appropriately about bullying. In the past boys were mainly targeted when educating about the negatives of bullying however it is even more important now to cater for the diversity of the modern day classroom. This will also ensure that Indigenous Australians, special needs students and Ethnic students ensuring that all students are provided with the same opportunities to enhance their netiquette. The most important thing for me once I am in the teaching profession is to stay updated with the latest technologies, improve my own technological learnings and listen to my students. I want to share this website with others to spread the word on cyber bullying and how it can be reduced. In addition plan to promote stop cyber bullying day (The scybersmile foundation, 2014). If I can make a difference in one child's life and give them the courage to speak out against cyber bullying then all of my future efforts will not be in vain.
The following clip is an example of the type of presentations I will use to help deliver the 'say no to cyber bullying' message. Children find it fun to hang out with their friends online, but they need to keep in mind a few simple guidelines to keep safe, while doing so (Stay smart online, 2014). The following playing and staying safe online video clip was designed to help all internet users understand cyber security risks and educate them on the simple steps that can be taken to protect their personal and financial information online (Stay smart online, 2014). The stay smart online program is an Australian Government's initiative designed to address cyber security. The Government has recognised the ever rising issues connected to increased internet usage and as such sees the need for providing as much support and information to the Australian community about the risks involved in such interaction