Mickey G. Ottawa photostream - flickr.com
I came across an article today from nytimes.com bringing attention to the recent suicide of a freshman girl at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. The suicide was a result of constant bullying over the Internet. It's sad that something like this had to happen for states to realize they need to re-examine their laws on bullying.
Anyway, Kevin Jenkins, a fourth-grade teacher, decided that he would take things into his own hands and teach his students through Common Sense Media what's appropriate to post, what's not appropriate, to be cautious of what goes on the Internet and to be aware that they can get into trouble for whatever they post.
Besides the whole social aspect of the Internet (I think it's important that it was brought up in the article), students should learn about and be aware of cookies and viruses.
Anyone and everyone can see what you post, so think twice before you do.
The Internet can be a helpful AND dangerous place. Of course, we will need to incorporate use of the Internet into school curriculum. I think it's imperative to include a lesson, if not an entire unit, on Internet safety and appropriateness. It's easy for people to say what they want from behind a screen, and bullying is rampant in K-12 anyways. So, I think it'll be our responsibility as teachers to ensure that students understand what kind of online communication is and is not tolerable.
ReplyDeleteI heard about this story too. I feel as though there are many students who do not know how to use the internet properly and unfortunately terrible things are happening because of this. I feel as a future educator it is my job as a teacher to teach and instruct students how to use the internet appropriately. I know that many students know when they are doing things they should not be doing on the internet. However if you explicitly give a lesson plan on what you can and can not do and talk about the consequences, children might think twice before they do something wrong.
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