Assignment 1 (PART 2)

Assignment 1 (BLOG POST- PART 2)

Topic 1- Internet Safety & Cyber Bullying

Rethink to stop cyberbullying (Trisha Prabhu)

Prabhu, T. (2017, December). Rethink to stop cyberbullying. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from https://www.ted.com/talks/trisha_prabhu_rethink_to_stop_cyberbullying?language=en#t-347312

1)    I have always been a fan TED Talk videos, and with increase in the use of technology and the emergence of the digital age, it becomes increasingly important to give students the tools on how to navigate the internet. As we learned from Richardson schools are great institutions, but they do not necessarily individualize the curriculum (2012). Instead the data found in the digital world does provide students the opportunity to explore their interest, and with students no longer depending on school to tell them when and how to learn, it is becoming increasingly important to teach them. The first question I had when thinking about cyber bullying was how do we stop it. I was able to find a TED Talk India video by Trisha Prabhu. The video was published in December of 2017 at which point Trisha was 17 years old. She was born in Chicago to Indian parents and referred to herself as a social entrepreneur. There were several things I enjoyed about this video. Firstly, it is extremely hard to explain to student’s the impact of cyber bullying. Trisha summed it up nicely when she stated that the danger with the digital world was that anything said on social media could not be taken back. Cyber bullying was like an arrow shot from a bow that could not be taken back, and could sometimes take someone’s life. Her example was so powerful, but it made complete sense. Nothing can fix and remove cyber bullying. As a teacher I like to always think cyber bullying can be reversed, but once it takes place as Trisha stated a student can face psychological distress. Trisha’s example made me further think about the way I taught about bullying. I often would engage in an activity where I would ask my students to take a piece of paper and crumble it. Bring it down to its smallest form. I would then ask my students to bring it back to the original form. It would be during this activity that my students would realize it is impossible to bring aback the paper to the original form because then markings or scars will remain. This is what bullying does to a person I would explain to the students. I wondered after her example and my own, if there would or could be any other way to explain cyber bullying or educate students on it. I also learned some new interesting facts about cyber bullying in India. For instance, I had no idea that India was ranked 3^rd for cyber bullying. What was of most interest however, was Trisha’s solution to cyber bullying, the ReThink app. It seemed so simple, an app that allowed a person and pause and think do I really need to send this message. I would not have thought something so simple would work, but as she stated 93% of people out 150 who were given the app choose not to send a cyber bullying message, whereas only 32% choose not to send a message when they had no ReThink app. Based on these results it appears as though people are pausing and thinking as she intended for them to do. This TED Talk made me wonder, what else could be done to prevent cyber bullying.

PREVNet – Promoting Relationships & Eliminating Violence Network: Canada’s Authority on Research & Resources for Bullying Prevention.

https://www.prevnet.ca/bullying/facts-and-solutions

(n.d.). PREVNet – Promoting Relationships & Eliminating Violence Network: Canada’s Authority on Research & Resources for Bullying Prevention. Retrieved January 16, 2019, from https://www.prevnet.ca/bullying/facts-and-solutions.

2)    After viewing Trisha’s TED Talk I was on a mission to find some preventative web sites. I came across PREVNet, which was very informative. Upon navigating this website I found that there were tabs for teens, parents, signs, dangers, types of bullying, facts & solutions, research, and cyber bullying. It was supported by 130 experts, 30 Universities, such as Queens University and York University, and also 62 national organizations. Among these organizations is the Canadian School Board, Canadian Teacher’s Federation, Canadian Safe Schools Network, Facebook Canada, and much more. From this information we know the website is well supported and backed up, and credible with research from individuals such as Dr. David Wolfe of the University of Toronto.

One of the things that I took away from viewing this site was the importance of adult intervention. As teachers it is especially important to be aware of the signs and dangers our students face. The website broke up the signs into emotional/behavioural signs and relationship signs. Some of the emotional/behavioural sign of someone being bullied (victim)  includes being afraid to go to school, feeling anxious, low self-esteem, lower interest in activities and appear unhappy. The emotional/behavioural signs of a bully includes being bossy, aggression towards parents, and positive view towards aggression. The relationship signs of a victim includes overprotective parents, lonely and isolated at school, and fewer friends. Relationship signs of a bully incudes teacher and parents modelling aggression, and friends and siblings who are bullies. Following signs I found in important to learn more about the impact of bullying. The danger for those bullied for instance is that they face depression, social anxiety, and low self-esteem. Dangers for the bully includes delinquency, substance abuse, gang involvement, and difficulty in relationships.

This website also provided some interesting facts. For starters 60% of boys who frequently bullied others in elementary school by the age of 24 had a criminal record. I also learned that people do not grow out of bullying. Typically, they carry bullying with them to adulthood, but the nature of the bullying changes. Statistics also stated that majority of our kids faced bullying with 4 to 6 being bullied in a class of 35. I was not shocked to hear that we were not doing enough with Canada ranking 26/27 out of 35 countries in regards to preventing bullying. In Canada we lack a national campaign. Lastly, I appreciated the information on the importance of reporting. Once a student is bullied they are often unsuccessful in stopping the bully, so adult intervention is key to changing the power imbalance.

Some posters from PrevNet

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I was very curious about what I was learning in regards to cyber bullying, so I did not really wish to spend too much time on the other topics, but did manage to curate some sources from our course and online for a second topic, just in case. Listed below is a list of some potential resources.

Topic 2- Technology in learning/literacy education (inquiry-based learning possibly)

Collaborative Inquiry and Knowledge Building in Networked Multimedia Environments

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-0-387-73315-9_18

Voogt, J., & Knezek, G. A. (2008). International handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education (20). Springer.

1)    Upon examination of the course resources I came across the International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education. This resource contained

several articles, many of which presented some promising information on my topic. As we learned from Richardson, one of the literacies mentioned by the National Council of Teachers of English was that of building relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively (2012). Another literacy which I found to be important in my discussion post was that  of developing proficiency in technology. Keeping in mind all of my buzz words such as, collaboration, technology, and inquiry I found an article that tied in all of my interest. This chapter examines multimedia networks that support inquiry, collaboration, and knowledge building. The author in writing this believes that multimedia environments can enrich the theorizing of new models of learning such as inquiry-based learning.

Technology Tools to Support Reading in the Digital Age

https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/23317415?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Biancarosa, G., & Griffiths, G. (2011). Technology tools to support reading in the Digital Age. Future of Children, 22.

2)    If I decide to remove the inquiry to the topic and just focus on technology in learning, then there is also another resource in our course that could support my topic.

This article looks at how the digital age has changed and altered how texts and tools are available. It goes into how there is lots of potential for instructional tools, but also can increase the literacy challenges mentioned in other articles on the topic. The authors of this article Biancarosa and Griffith argue that technology can be conceptualized as an affording tool that teachers use on their journey of creating young readers with high literacy skills and knowledge demand in an information based society. They discussed e -reading technology and some of the practical issues that it brought forth. They also however, presented some possible solutions to e-readers such as only using technology that supported Universal Design for Learning.

To Move Forward, We Must Be Mobile: Practical Uses of Mobile Technology in Literacy Education Courses

https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/doi/abs/10.1080/21532974.2013.10784726

Husbye, N. E., & Elsener, A. A. (2013). To Move Forward, We Must Be Mobile. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education,30(2), 46-51. doi:10.1080/21532974.2013.10784726

3)    In my previous discussion spoke I made mentioned to my role as a high school teacher and the use of the cell phone. I have seen cell phone usage within the classroom both fail miserably and work effectively. I have always wondered how to and if to use cell phones in my classroom. I enjoyed this article because it provided ways in which to incorporate technology that benefits the students. For example, a digital read aloud think aloud in which a program called Croak is used. This program is free and easy to use and allows for students to record oral directions that they could have access to via a QR code. Another interesting way to use the phone was the digital gallery walk. Instead of a standard gallery walk where students would walk around posters, a digital gallery walk meant a posted question would be linked to a QR code with web sources, encouraging students to use them and think prior to answering questions. I found these both to be useful ways to incorporate technology in the classroom, and find this article very practical and useful.

Work Cited:

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere.