Thirty-two
percent of the students who responded to the 2004 Speak Up
Day survey said that you or someone you know has been bullied
or harassed by another student online. That's almost one
out of every three students. Does this sound like a familiar
problem to you?
This How-to Guide is designed to give you some information
about cyberbullying and some ideas about what YOU can do
in your community to help. Use this guide for your own research,
or follow all of the steps to create a presentation that
you can present to your school board or other decision makers
to help them understand the need for programs that address
cyberbullying.
Below is a list of ideas for finding out about cyberbullying
and for taking action. The
Resources section of SVRC includes links to many organizations that
support these ideas. You can also search using your favorite
search engine.
Educate Yourself
Reading about online bullying and ways to prevent and react
to cyberbullies is a good way to become a safe online student.
Visit the websites in the Resources section
to get started right away! These websites offer suggestions
and good practices related to online safety. For example:
(1) What is cyberbullying? When a student is bullied, harassed,
or attacked by other students by email, text messaging, on
discussion boards, on online gaming sites or using other
technological means, this is called cyberbullying. It can
sometimes be more hurtful than face-to-face bullying. Read
more about it at StopCyberbulllying.
(2) Safe Practices: Be safe online and avoid being
bullied (for example: Do not give out personal information
freely. Keep your passwords private. Be thoughtful about
how you give out your email addresses, phone numbers, and
IM addresses.
(3) When Bullying Happens: Find out who you can report online
bullying to. Start with your parents. Some forms of online
bullying are against the law and should be reported to the
police.
(4) Your Personal Reaction: Bullying can be extremely hurtful.
If you are a victim, find someone in your community who you
can talk to. MindOH! offers
a series of useful worksheets called "Thinking
it Through."
Educate Others
There are many ways to open dialog about this issue.
- Organize a lunchtime conversation with students at your
school.
- Organize an evening event with representatives from the
school board, faculty, parents, and the student body to
discuss the problem of cyberbullying in your community.
- Some organizations like i-SAFE,
MindOH!, and Wired Safety offer opportunities for students to become online safety
mentors. These websites also offer worksheets and programs
for educating groups about online bullying. Visit the Resources section for links to these organizations.
- Create posters with information about online bullying
to post in computer labs at your school. Be sure to include
information about who students can contact if they are
a victim of bullying.
- Work with adults in your community to start a victim
support group for students who have been the victims of
bullying.
Get Your School Involved
Find out if your school's anti-bullying policy already covers
bullying using computers and cell phones. If not, work with
your school board or other decision-makers to amend the policy
to include disciplinary action for online bullying attacks.
Start a Conversation at Your School
Are there any of the ideas listed above that you want to
pursue with your school or community? Follow the steps below
to engage students and adults in conversation about supporting
these programs.
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Problem and Proposal
What is your problem? What is your proposal?
Problem: |
There are technology
issues like bullying that I want to discuss with
students and adults in my community. |
Proposal: |
Support programs for discussion,
prevention, action, and support systems related
to online bullying. |
Print out this worksheet to collect your ideas and
your research for your action proposal. |
|
Rationale
What reasons support your goal? Some examples might
include:
- Statistically, almost one-third of high school
students are involved in some way in online bullying
or harassment by other students.
- Discussion opportunities, prevention and action
steps, and support systems can help reduce online
bullying and its effect on victims.
What is your school's technology plan? Can you
show how your idea supports your school or district’s
plan for technology?
Read about school technology plans.
|
|
Research
Find
news articles and other research to learn how other
schools have approached this same problem.
Browse the SVRC Success
Stories for advice from the student community.
To gain support for your proposal, you may want to
organize a poll to find out your classmates' opinions
about online bullying. You might ask questions such
as:
- Have you or someone you know ever been bullied
or harassed online by another student?
- Do you know someone who has bullied someone
else online?
- On a scale of 1-5, how big a problem do you
think online bullying is for students in your community?
- Do you know who you would report a case of
online bullying to?
Find resources and articles about planning research
projects. |
|
Obstacles
What other issues do you need to consider?
Read about issues to consider when suggesting change.
|
|
Details of your
proposal
What is your proposal? Now that
you’ve identified
your goals and completed your research, write a summary
of your proposal. |
|
Support
Think about groups and individuals who would be willing
to support your idea. Some examples may include individual
teachers, student clubs, your school’s PTA, the
student government, service clubs, and local business
groups. Try to think of a group that would have an interest
in volunteering some time to help you.
Share your research and your proposal and see if these
groups are willing to support you as a volunteer, a
mentor, or even just adding their word of support to
your proposal. |
|
Make a presentation
A successful presentation summarizes your proposal,
your rationale, and your research. This is what
you are going to use to convince the decision-makers
to support you.
Review the worksheet of what should be in your
action proposal.
See
an example of an Action Proposal presentation. |
|
Set up a meeting
Write a letter, make a phone call, or send an email
to set up a meeting with decision-makers to present
your idea. Your letter should include an introduction
of your proposal and a polite request for a time when
you can share your idea. Explain that you have done
research and have a proposal to share with them regarding
the problem of online bullying.
Who makes decisions about this topic?
Read a who’s who of school decision makers. |
|
Present Your Action
Proposal: This is your chance you use your
best manners. Remember, you want to be convincing and
likeable. If you’ve followed the steps in this
guide, you are prepared with good research and support
for your ideas. Your job now is to present your
proposal and gain support from decision-makers. |
Have you had success creating new dialog about this issue at your school?
Please submit your Success
Story or email
any feedback about this module to
SVRCStaff@netday.org.
You are a star! |
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