The Cyberbullying Epidemic

I watched two videos this week that addressed cyberbullying, and I found them to be very interesting and thought provoking.  The first was a Ted Talk by Monica Lewinsky, who you’ll remember became known as the young White House intern that had an affair with then President Bill Clinton (Lewinsky, 2015).  Monica Lewinsky’s talk was particularly interesting to me because I remember living through the whole Lewinsky/Clinton scandal.  While I was young (12-13 to be exact) I remember it so vividly, and I remember the cruel words that were used to describe her.  Even worse, many people in my immediate circle of family and friends were ones that used some of those words to describe her.  Words like “mistress”, “the other woman”.  Although we didn’t use the more vulgar words, she still had this negative image painted about her.  And what’s sad is that while I remember living and hearing of the whole ordeal, I don’t think I really knew the whole story, and hearing her point of view in the talk was a bit of a wake up call for me.  My biggest takeaway from the video? There are always two sides to a story, and we (the whole world) got one side of it… what the media wanted us to see and think.. for nearly a decade.  Yes, the circumstances were unfortunate, but having to live through the ridicule played out for the whole world to see has got be incredibly difficult.  But can you imagine what it would have been like had it have happened in a time where everything is posted on social media?  I actually feel a bit sick to my stomach because I can easily see how some people would think it is unbearable to live through.  Society scrutinizes every single thing about celebrities, politicians, etc.. and society is relentless.  The Lewinsky/Clinton scandal broke out before Facebook and Twitter, but we did have the internet.  If anything, watching her speak made be feel guilty, a bit shameful but inspired by her courage.

The  second video was also an inspiring Ted Talk given by Shane Koyczan.  The video was really amazing.  He not only spoke truth of what often times is considered “taboo” to talk about, but he put on quite a performance.  He words were so so powerful and nearly brought me to tears, because he is the voice of so many people, young and old, that endure such hateful words and harassment.. and many times when the issue is brought up to an adult, family member or parent, they blow off the issue.  “Oh, toughen up”, “it wasn’t that bad” (Koyczan, 2013).  But what are we telling our youth?  That how they’re feeling and how someone is treating them doesn’t matter?  This is what is scary.  I want my kids coming to me with any issue that might be bothering them.  I am their advocate and if I don’t stand up for them and let them know that they matter, no one will.  What would I do to prevent cyberbullying and promote kindness if I had unlimited resources?  I really don’t believe that this epidemic is a matter of resources.  Parents need to be involved in their kids lives.  Kids need to be shown and taught respect.  Respect and Compassion trump nearly everything for me, and my kids will show respect to their elders and to their peers.

Just two days ago on the way to school, we were listening to the radio and the father of a local girl that committed suicide as a result of cyberbullying and harassment back in November was on the air speaking with the radio hosts of two arrests that were recently made in the case.  My 7 year old son was listening and casually asked me, “Mom, what are they talking about?”  While I didn’t get into the way the girl passed, I simply told him, “A young girl that passed away was being bullied and made fun of by other people, and even though the bad things they said about the girl were not true, she believed them.  The words we use with others can really affect how they feel about themselves, which is why we always need to be respectful and use honey sweet words with everyone.”  There is also another local situation going on in a neighboring school district that goes a long with this topic.  Another beautiful girl, 17, passed away this passed Sunday by taking her own life.  While the family and student body are coping with her loss, several students approached the school’s yearbook committee asking them if they could create a memoriam page dedicated to her to celebrate her life.  They quickly declined stating, “you know we can’t do that because of the way Hannah died”.  Instead of celebrating the life of a beautiful student and friend to many, they are afraid of glorifying the way she died.  I feel like THIS is part of the problem.  Ignoring the situation does NO good.  I understand it is a touchy situation for many, but these sorts of things need to be talked about.  We need to do better and be open with our children, teach them and our students important values like respect, compassion and forgiveness, and talk about these sorts of things, should they come up.

References

2 People Charged in Connection to Texas City Teen’s 2016 Suicide. (2017, March 16). Retrieved from http://abc13.com/news/2-arrested-in-texas-city-teens-suicide/1803923/

Bludau, J. ((2017, March 22). Family Petitioning for Daughter’s Memorial Page in Yearbook After She Took Her Own Life. [Web Log Post]. Retrieved from http://www.click2houston.com/news/family-says-pearland-school-denies-yearbook-page-in-memory-of-daughter-who-took-her-own-life-

Koyczan, S. (2013, March 8). “To This Day”… For the Bullied and Beautiful. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa1iS1MqUy4

Lewinsky, M. (2015, March 20). The Price of Shame. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U

Applicable Resources

Diep, F. (2014, September 30). Confronting My Cyberbully, 13 Years Later. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/09/confronting-my-cyberbully-thirteen-years-later/380888/

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J.W. (2015). Developing a positive school climate: Top ten tips to prevent bullying and cyberbullying. Cyberbullying Research Center. Hinduja_Patchin_School-Climate-Top-Ten-Tips-To-Prevent-Cyberbullying.pdf

Hoffman, J. (2010, June 27). Online Bullies Pull Schools Into The Fray. [Web Log Post]. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/style/28bully.html

Strut Central. (2012, March 22). The Cyber Bullying Virus. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5PZ_Bh-M6o

What Is Cyberbullying? (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/index.html

 

 

 

Copyright for Dummies… and Dylan Dylan Confusion

I found this week’s topic of why the U.S. Copyright Office should be separated from the Library of Congress to be rather interesting.  I wasn’t familiar with U.S. Copyright Office and ALL other functions that fell under the Library of Congress before reading The White Paper released by The Hudson Institute.  I think in the years since it’s implementation in 1870, many things have changed, and with the other priorities that the Library focuses on, there definitely needs to be a separation of the Office.  I find it ridiculous for the Register of Copyrights to have to wait on the library to approve budge requests, IT issues and for everyday issues they may need to sign off on (Tepp & Oman, 2015).  Clearly, either the Library of Congress doesn’t take the Office seriously to put the needs of their customers on hold, or they have too much on their plate.  The paper does make it clear that it isn’t a question of whether the Office needs to modernize- we know that it does, however, I do think they’ve built a good and valid case on the separation between the Office and the Library of Congress.

Oyy… now, this part always makes my head hurt.  I KNOW how important terms like plagiarism, copyright infringement, attribution and transformation is and the importance of relaying this information to our students.  I just need to make sure I get it right and understand it completely.  Plagiarism is probably the one term I am most familiar with from high school and college.  We were always told how plagiarism is not tolerated and would then be told the consequences if anyone was found plagiarizing.  I loved the note in the Plagiarism Today (2013) article that stated, “where copyright infringement is a construct of the law, plagiarism is a construct of ethics”.  I found that to be pretty profound.  We all know that plagiarism, the act of taking another person’s work and passing it off as your own, is wrong, but more so, it is morally unethical (Plagiarism Today, 2013).  When put in that sort of context, it seems to create a larger impact, especially when talking about the subject to students.  A very easy and often seen example is when a student turns in a paper and presents research or spoken thoughts without citing where they got their information and instead, making it look like it is their own work/words.

Copyright Infringement is the act of infringing on the rights of a copyright holder (Plagiarism Today, 2013).  Every year, our 8th graders put on the 8th grade play.  They have put on many different plays, including a handful of Disney plays.  It’s a huge production and the school usually sells t-shirts for fundraising.  Last year, they put on Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Jr. It was an amazing show, however, unlike every other year, they didn’t sell shirts this time.  It was basically a copyright issue.  While the school had permission to put on the play, we did not have permission to reproduce the art work and then sell t-shirts promoting the play.

From my understanding, attribution is giving credit where credit is due.  You are properly citing and giving credit to the source of your information, however, when it comes to publication, attribution is often not enough (The Copyright Detective, 2014).  For example, when publishing a piece of work, it isn’t enough to just credit the source of information, you must also seek proper permission for someone else’s work to be included in the publication.

Transformation is confusing.  From what I’ve been able to gather, transformation is taking parts of a copyrighted work and transforming it to give it new meaning or expression.  I don’t have a great example for this.  For some reason, one thing that comes to mind (and I’m not even sure it falls under transformation!) is from the movie, Dangerous Minds.  You might remember the part where Ms. Johnson is introducing the class to poetry and holds the Dylan Dylan contest.  She uses parts of Bob Dylan’s, Mr. Tamborine Man, and Dylan Thomas’, Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night. She uses the copyrighted works to give the students new understanding of the original material.  I don’t know if that’s a good example because it’s from a movie… and the Dylan Dylan contest wasn’t a published thing.  But then I think… wait,  it was part of the movie.  So was permission needed?  Does it fall under transformation?  I’m not so sure… help me out!

References and Applicable Resources

The Copyright Detective. (2014, August 13). Credit Due- Attribution.  Retrieved from http://thecopyrightdetective.com/attribution/

Plagiarism Today. (2013, October 7). The Difference Between Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism – Plagiarism Today. Retrieved from https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/10/07/difference-copyright-infringement-plagiarism/

Smith, J. N. (Director). (1995). Dangerous Minds [Motion picture].

Tepp, S., & Oman, R. (2015, October). A 21st century copyright office: the conservative case for reform. Retrieved from https://hudson.org/research/11772-a-21st-century-copyright-office-the-conservative-case-for-reform

Watters, A. (2011, September 9). Teaching Copyrights in the Age of Computers and Mashups. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-copyright-audrey-watters

From Handheld to Smartphone: A Look at How the Evolution of the Smartphone Impacts Digital Citizenship

Footprints & Technology

I found this week’s readings, videos and topics in my Digital Citizenship course to be so interesting because we are all forced to evaluate ourselves and think about something that we love, something that has become so second nature to us and yes, something that we are addicted to- Technology.  We are also forced to think about the affect it has on ourselves, our students and our own children.  I do happen to remember a time of no cell phones and I remember writing papers in early middle school on a typewriter instead of a computer.  After finally getting a family computer, I remember having to print out directions on MapQuest before we went any where new.. I mean, the thought of no GPS on my phone or no Waze is frightening to me now! I also remember my mom always having her nose in the encyclopedia trying to answer my many questions throughout the day.

Technology has made our lives much more convenient, but has it made us dumber?

For some reason, this thought always pops into my head, because I have those memories of my mom.  When we didn’t know something, we turned to a book to find out.  Now, we just google it on our smart phones or ask Alexa. When I think about my own kids (and my very young students) and the access they all have now to digital technology, the only thing that I can try my best to do is to be sure that there is a balance with the amount of screen time they get, whether it be on the T.V., iPad or phone, and allowing them to discover the world in an adventurous, hands-on sort of way.  What I do not want to happen is for the technology use to take away from the opportunity for gross motor learning and discovery.  I work with 3 and 4 year olds on a daily basis and I’ve seen kids that know exactly what to do with an iPad or phone… what those devices have become to them are an extension of their own bodies, and while they have all this tech knowledge at such a young age, what they need to be doing more of is playing with play-doh, or digging in the dirt, ripping some paper and building with blocks.  These activities will help their gross motor skills and core development.  We still need to discover ways in which we can continue to explore this big world we live in and I just don’t want to see technology take away from that.

As we get older and we continue to grow up in a digital world, we begin to leave traces of who we are and where we’ve been.  A digital footprint/tattoo refers to the information that can be found online about a person based on their online activity (Common Sense Education, 2013).  What we search for and what we post on our social media accounts are all bits of information that can be gathered about us, whether they be intentional or not.  I think, whether a person’s social media accounts are private or not, they need to be conscious of the things they post, and even the things others post about or with them.  While photos and words are only snippets of a person’s life, it doesn’t take much else to use these things to form opinions of a person’s character.  It’s important to teach our children to have an awareness of how the information they post online can affect their personal, educational and ultimately, professional lives.  By building this awareness, students can have some control over the digital footprint they leave behind.  Student ePortfolios are a great way for them to be deliberate in how they portray themselves, in that there are plenty of opportunities for self reflection.  An ePortfolio can act as an electronic resume by letting a person know who you are, what your interests are, where you have been, what you have done and where you are going.

While technology and internet access have for sure made our lives much more convenient, I do believe that we are where we are now because of the incredible minds and hard work of many people before us.  We just need to be sure to teach our kids, from an early age, on what a healthy balance of screen time might look like and as they get older, how to problem solve on their own.  While technology has made our lives much more convenient, I think it’s important to still teach traditional life lessons like how to use a dictionary and how to look up other useful information without a tablet or smart phone.

References

Common Sense Education. (2013, August 12). What’s In Your Digital Footprint? [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P_gj3oRn8s

Applicable Resources

Boyle, J. (2014, March 8). 11 Tips for Students to Manage Their Digital Footprint. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/digital-citizenship-the-future-of-learning/11-tips-for-students-tomanage-their-digital-footprints/

Common Sense Education. (2013, August 12). What’s In Your Digital Footprint? [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P_gj3oRn8s

Internet Society. (2016, January 12). Four Reasons to Care About Your Digital Footprint. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro_LlRg8rGg

Pfeffer, J. (2014, August 21). Your Digital Footprint: What is it & How Can You Manage it? Retrieved from http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/main/your-digital-footprint/

Sheninger, E. (2016, January 8). Your Digital Footprint Matters. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-sheninger/your-digital-footprint-ma_b_8930874.html

The Importance of Digital Citizenship

This week marks the first week of my newest course in Digital Citizenship.  With so much technology that surrounds us in nearly everything we do, it’s important to keep digital citizenship in mind.  But was is digital citizenship? Is there a difference when it comes to traditional citizenship and digital citizenship? After researching various articles and videos, I’ve come to realize that citizenship and digital citizenship are quite similar.  The goal for ourselves, and for our students, is to be good citizens of society and to be good classroom citizens.  Add in the the ever changing and rapidly growing digital world we live in, and we’ve got to expand that goal even further.  Simply put, digital citizenship “is the norms of appropriate, responsible technology use” (Ribble, 2017).

We need to teach, and model to our students, how to be responsible technology users.  I found Ohler’s (2012) comparison of the “two lives” and “one life” approach to be of great relevance in terms of bringing technology into the classroom.  Do we want our students to lead “two lives”, where they are to leave all electronics and smart phones at home or in their backpacks, because school is just not the place for technology?  Or is there a way we can use the technology that surrounds us to enhance the learning experience, while also teaching our students how to be good citizens in a digital world- in other words, using the “one life” approach?

I’ve also had some time to review Ribble’s (2015) 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship.  In looking at the nine elements of digital citizenship, there are two that really stand out to me and that I take very seriously.  Those are digital etiquette and digital security.  While I understand that the nine elements are not to be stand alone issues and are all interconnected, I feel like there can never be a shortage of teaching students proper etiquette and security.  Just like I would with my own children, we need to take advantage of all these teachable moments with our students so that they can safely and confidently be active digital citizens of society.

Now that I’m being given the opportunity to have my students use the ePortfolio, I need to use the “one life” approach because as Ohler (2012) stated, “the most important job before us is to help students understand issues of digital responsibility.”  Our school is really on the forefront of incorporating technology within our everyday lessons with our students, and just as exciting as all that is, we need to spend an equal amount of time on the responsibilities and proper behavior when using technology.

References

Ohler, J. (2012). Digital citizenship means character education for the digital age. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 77(8), 14-17. (PDF: Ohler_Digital_citizenship_means_character_education_2012.pdf)

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society of Technology in Education.

Ribble, M. (2017). Digital Citizenship: Using Technology Appropriately.  Retrieved from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net

Ribble, M. (2017). Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html

Applicable Resources

Brichacek, A. (2014, October 22). Infographic: Citizenship in the digital age.  Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=192

Curran, M. (2012, June). iCitizen: Are you a socially responsible digital citizen. Paper presented at the International Society for Technology Education Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX. Retrieved from icitizen_paper_M_Curran.pdf

Ohler, J. (2012). Digital citizenship means character education for the digital age. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 77(8), 14-17. (PDF: Ohler_Digital_citizenship_means_character_education_2012.pdf)

Polgar, D. R., & Curran, M. B.F.X. (2015). We shouldn’t assume people know what digital citizenship is. Retreived fromhttp://www.teachthought.com/technology/we-shouldnt-assume-people-know-what-digital-citizenship-is/