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Stop Bullying on the Spot

When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time.

Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy.

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StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on bullying, cyberbullying, prevention and response.

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25 Eye-Opening Statistics About Cyberbullying [Infographic] - EdTech Magazine

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25 Eye-Opening Statistics About Cyberbullying [Infographic] - EdTech Magazine

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Technology Solutions That Drive Education

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When filmmaker Lee Hirsch released his critically acclaimed documentary earlier this year, educators, students and celebrities came out against a problem many advocates say has reached epidemic proportions.

The film chronicles the verbal and physical abuse suffered by five schoolchildren at the mouths - and often the fists - of their classmates. In one scene, a 14-year-old Sioux City, Utah, student named Alex is hit and verbally assaulted on a school bus; in another scene, a father fights back tears as he recounts how his son hanged himself in a closet after being routinely bullied by classmates at school.

It's impossible to walk away from the film without empathy for the victims, who lower their heads and trudge off to school every day knowing what awaits them. Recent history, of course, has taught us that bullying is not confined to school buses and halls and locker rooms. It also occurs on the Internet, where the lengths to which some students will go to hurt and disparage their classmates is unfathomable.

Thirteen-year-old Megan Meier killed herself in 2006 after a classmate's mother repeatedly threatened and insulted Megan on MySpace. Late last year, 15-year-old Amanda Cummings jumped in front of a bus on Staten Island. Several news reports said classmates had tormented her about a boy. The abuse continued on her Facebook page, even as she lay dying in a hospital bed.

To stop the abuse, students, parents, teachers and anyone who works with young people must understand how these attacks occur and do whatever they can to promote respect both online and in our schools.

For more about how our growing Internet culture has emboldened bullying, check out this infographic from OnlineCollege.org, which we first encountered on the online news site Mashable.

It's impossible to deny the good that computers and the Internet have done for education, but what can be done about this problem of bullying? Tell us in the Comments section.

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25 Eye-Opening Statistics About Cyberbullying [Infographic]

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When filmmaker Lee Hirsch released his critically acclaimed documentary earlier this year, educators, students and celebrities came out against a problem many advocates say has reached epidemic proportions. The film chronicles the verbal and physical abuse suffered by five schoolchildren at the mouths - and often the fists - of their classmates.

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We have tons of free, quality resources for Educators, Parents, and Youth for you to download and check out.

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The Parent’s Guide to Cyberbullying | ConnectSafely

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The Parent’s Guide to Cyberbullying | ConnectSafely

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Parent’s Guide to Cyberbullying - ConnectSafely

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Thanks to increased research around cyberbullying, we know more about the problem and what will help, and we’re more motivated as a society to address it.

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Spotting Fake News Infographic - Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Misinformation: Learning to Critically Evaluate Media Sources. - LibGuides at Cornell University

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Spotting Fake News Infographic - Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Misinformation: Learning to Critically Evaluate Media Sources. - LibGuides at Cornell University

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LibGuides: Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Misinformation: Learning to Critically Evaluate Media Sources.: Spotting Fake News Infographic

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Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Misinformation: Learning to Critically Evaluate Media Sources.

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Video: Spotting Fake News - FactCheck.org

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Video: Spotting Fake News - FactCheck.org

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Made-up news isn't new, but it now spreads quickly through social media. Readers remain the first line of defense against the dissemination of these bogus reports.

So, how do you spot a fake? We offer a video guide of the advice we detailed in our report " How to Spot Fake News."

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Video: Spotting Fake News - FactCheck.org

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Made-up news isn't new, but it now spreads quickly through social media. Readers remain the first line of defense against the dissemination of these bogus reports. So, how do you spot a fake? We offer a video guide of the advice we detailed in our report " How to Spot Fake News."

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Battling Fake News in the Classroom | Edutopia

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Battling Fake News in the Classroom | Edutopia

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Media Literacy and "Crap Detection"

Teaching media literacy is not new, but with the explosion of social media and the lightning speeds at which information is shared, critical evaluation skills have never been more important. Howard Rheingold, who has been on the forefront of media literacy since the 1990s, coined the term crap detection as a way to describe the necessary skills needed to consume media of any kind. Similarly, Renee Hobbs, the founder of the Media Education Lab, has been advocating for media literacy for over a decade.

Hobbs and Rheingold share the view that the ability to effectively analyze digital media is a vital 21st-century skill. Back in 2009, Rheingold said, "Unless a great many people learn the basics of online crap detection and begin applying their critical faculties en masse and very soon, I fear for the future of the internet as a useful source of credible news, medical advice, financial information, educational resources, [and] scholarly and scientific research." Seven years later, this fear is getting closer to becoming a reality.

The Role of Educators

So how can educators address this emerging crisis in digital literacy? As digital technology becomes more integral to 21st-century classrooms, educators now have no choice but to teach these crap detection skills. While the idea of teaching yet one more thing can feel overwhelming, it can be surprisingly easy to incorporate these skills in even a simple class assignment. What can be overwhelming is the seemingly endless list of places that students can come across fake news or biased information disguised as news and the seemingly endless ways that it can be presented. The best educators can do is teach young people to be critical of everything they read and to take the time to cross-check what they find. There are also simple lessons that teach kids how to easily pick out ads and sponsored content by just looking for visual cues.

Crap Detection in the Elementary Classroom

It's never too early to teach media literacy skills. Teachers can start in the first or second grade with a simple activity where students look at a home page and pick out the ads. For example, elementary school students can look at a site that they may already be using, like Coolmath.com, and identify the ads as distinct from the content. This simple task will help them start to visually discriminate between what is actual content on a site and what is an ad. A teacher can also use this opportunity to help students understand what ads are and why they exist. You can also ask students what they think the ads are trying to sell, and why a company might choose to advertise on this site instead of another.

In the upper elementary grades, a teacher can provide students with links to both real and fake sites and give them a checklist to fill out for each site, and then have students decide which one is more trustworthy and why. Great sites for this activity are The Tree Octopus and All About Explorers. Sample questions can come from these sites, though if you are working with elementary students, you may not want to use the metaphor of crap detection (or the CRAP acronym from media literacy circles) to help them remember. In that case, there is also the CARS acronym, which has similar questions. Teachers should also have students create a list of trusted sites and ensure that they look for the same information on two or more of these trusted sites to verify the validity of the information.

Crap Detection in the Middle and High School Classroom

In a middle or high school classroom, it may be more acceptable to use the CRAP acronym. An activity with a checklist like the one above can be helpful. A site that is a real stumper is DHMO.org. This fake information site even has its own Snopes page. As students delve into more independent research that may also be more in depth and complex, sites like Snopes.com and Politifact.com can help them sort through information they are finding to see whether what they are reading is true. This is also a good time to include discussion around opinion versus fact and to have students analyze articles for bias. For example, compare " Russian hacking and the 2016 election: What you need to know" (CNN) with " The big problem isn't that the Russian hackers tried to influence our election-it's more that we let them " (Salon). Too many opinion articles disguise themselves as news or are improperly shared and quoted as news. Luckily, sometimes a simple read of a URL will reveal "/opinion/," which is a sure bet that what you are reading is biased.

In addition, the Stanford study shared some great lessons for the classroom around analyzing tweets and social media posts. Have students view social media posts and do detective work around their validity. Sadly, the study found that many of the students who were asked to analyze a tweet that had an embedded image never even clicked on the link in the tweet. Believe it or not, having middle and high school students identify ads on web pages is also an important skill, as is identifying sponsored content and articles that are fluff written to simply draw readers to a site that sells ad space. Sometimes these can be discerned by a simple visual cue, but sometimes interpreting them requires a deeper reading and comparison of information across multiple sites.

What's Next?

Over the last decade, we've seen an explosion of resources to support educators in ensuring high-quality technology integration across the curriculum. We will likely see this happen with media literacy as well. Just as technology-infused instruction has moved out of the computer lab, we will see media literacy begin to move across the curriculum, especially as teachers rely more and more on online resources and the access that students have to the internet for information. While this could be seen as a burden at first, it is a vital part of educating young people to be responsible and informed citizens.

How have you been helping your students deepen their media literacy skills? Please share your experiences and ideas in the comments section below.

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Teaching media literacy is not new, but with the explosion of social media and the lightning speeds at which information is shared, critical evaluation skills have never been more important. Howard Rheingold, who has been on the forefront of media literacy since the 1990s, coined the term crap detection as a way to describe the necessary skills needed to consume media of any kind.

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What is media literacy, and why is it important?

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What is media literacy, and why is it important?

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Looking for free resources on fighting fake news and developing your students' media literacy skills? Here are some highlights from our activities, lessons, case studies and guest blog posts.

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New Video - What is Media Literacy? | Center for Media Literacy | Empowerment through Education | CML MediaLit Kit ™ |

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New Video - What is Media Literacy? | Center for Media Literacy | Empowerment through Education | CML MediaLit Kit ™ |

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New Video - What is Media Literacy? | Center for Media Literacy | Empowerment through Education | CML MediaLit Kit ™ |

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Dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Thoman, media literacy pioneer and CML founder.

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Analyze Media Understand both how and why media messages are constructed, and for what purposes Examine how individuals interpret messages differently,

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Internet Safety 101, is an initiative of Enough Is Enough, a 501c(3) whose mission is to make the Internet Safer for Children and Families.

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The 10 Best Internet Safety Rules for Everyone to Remember [Infographic]

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The 10 Best Internet Safety Rules for Everyone to Remember [Infographic]

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The Internet is an amazing resource for people of all ages. A solid awareness of Information Fluency coupled with a sense of good digital citizenship will keep any Web user on the straight and narrow. But what about beginners? What are the best basic Internet safety rules we can give to young ones who are venturing into cyberspace on their maiden voyage? That's what this infographic from Pumpic focuses on. It features 10 timeless and trusty Internet safety rules for kids exploring online for the first time.

While we here at the GDCF don't believe that the Web is strictly a dark place for cyber-criminals that act in shadow, we still encourage everyone to recognize that some online perils exist. A good dose of common sense goes a long way in keeping us safe online. The Internet safety rules in this infographic are ones that not only kids can benefit from, but that all of us can. The folks at Pumpic seem to agree:
"Our infographic with 10 guiding principles aims to ensure your child is both safe and responsible online. The Internet needn't be a dangerous place if treated with caution and respect."
10 Internet Safety Rules: A Brief Snapshot

Let's take a look at a rundown of the Internet safety rules provided in the infographic.

1. Post Mindfully: This is how we represent ourselves online, and the permanence of the information we place on the Web.

2. Be Socially Conscious: How we manage our social media profiles is very important.

3. Don't Go Phishing: Be aware of email scams and suspicious links.

4. Talk About Cyberbullying: Make sure kids have someone safe to open up to if they see or experience online bullying.

5. Keep Kind in Mind: Always be kind and friendly online; no exceptions.

6. Power in Passwords: Always make sure passwords are unique and special; use specific guidelines when creating them.

7. Watch In-App Purchases: Be careful when upgrading a new game or app-it can add up to a lot of additional costs.

8. Danger Zones: Avoid unfriendly risky places on the Web. Always talk to a parent or teacher about where to avoid.

9. Know When to Shut Off: The Web needn't take up all hours of our free time. Learn when it's healthy to walk away and leave the computer alone.

10. Watch What You Share: Be careful about sharing personal information online.

This Internet safety tips infographic also features advice that will keep you and your loved ones safe. Enjoy searching, learning, and sharing. That's what our Internet is for.

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The 10 Best Internet Safety Rules for Everyone to Remember [Infographic]

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The Internet is an amazing resource for people of all ages. A solid awareness of Information Fluency coupled with a sense of good digital citizenship will keep any Web user on the straight and narrow. But what about beginners?

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The vast majority of us use the internet to socialize, work, learn, and play. But widespread use doesn't necessarily mean widespread understanding. The good news is there are easy ways to keep your internet use safe and constructive. We've compiled some of our best advice here.
Interacting with old and new friends

Be kind online. It's OK to disagree, but don't be disagreeable.

If you get together with someone you first met online, have the first meeting in a public place.

Know how to report abuse or block anyone who bothers you and others on social media.

Be weary of anyone who says you or a family member owes them money, unless you are sure they are legitimate.

Be very cautious before sharing intimate photos with anyone, even someone you trust. A friend can become an ex-friend and once an image is online, it may be impossible to have it removed. For more, see our advice on sexting, sextortion and revenge porn.

Be cautious about sarcasm and humor. Something that may be funny in person, could be misinterpreted online

Security and passwords

Use strong and unique passwords (more at connectsafely.org/passwords)

Don't automatically click on links in emails. They can be fake and lead you to malicious sites. Type in the web address yourself. When in doubt call the bank or other company that sent you the email.

Make sure your phone is locked. Secure your smartphone with a PIN (minimum 4 digit number), password, fingerprint or other method.

Don't respond to anyone who tells you your computer is infected with a virus even if they claim they're with Microsoft, Apple or your internet provider.

Shopping, banking, donating and contests

If it sounds too good to be true, it's too good to be true. You can't win a contest you didn't enter and there are no Nigerian princes willing to send you money.

Only shop at reputable online merchants. When in doubt, ask around.

Never send cash or wire money, Use credit cards if possible, otherwise debit cards or legitimate payment services like Paypal.

When shopping or banking look for secure sites where the web address starts with HTTPS. The "s" stands for "secure.

Do some research before donating online to make sure the charity is legitimate and that the money is going to the right place.

Never give out your social security number, medicare number or any other identification unless you're sure it's necessary, such as applying for credit.

Using apps and unknown websites

Read reviews before downloading smartphone apps.

Pay attention to what permission smartphone apps ask for before you download or use them.

Know and use the privacy settings for any device, app or service you use.

Don't provide any personal information on a website unless you are certain it's legitimate and, even then, only if necessary.

Social media safety tips

Learn to use each service or app's privacy settings.

Don't let friends or strangers pressure you to be someone you aren't. And know your limits. You may be internet savvy, but people and relationships change, and unexpected stuff can happen on the internet.

Be nice online and treat people the way you'd want to be treated. People who are nasty and aggressive online are at greater risk of being bullied or harassed themselves. If someone's mean to you, try not to react, definitely don't retaliate. Use privacy tools to block anyone who is being mean

Think about what you post. Sharing provocative photos or intimate details online, even in private emails, can cause you problems later on. Even people you consider friends can use this info against you, especially if they become ex-friends. And even if they remain good friends, they can be hacked, their device can be stolen or they could accidentally forward what you sent them.

Read between the "lines." It may be fun to check out new people for friendship or romance, but be aware that, while some people are nice, others act nice because they're trying to get something. Flattering or supportive messages may be more about manipulation than friendship or romance.

Avoid in-person meetings. The only way someone can physically harm you is if you're both in the same location, so - to be 100% safe - don't meet them in person. If you really must get together with someone you "met" online, don't go alone. Have the meeting in a public place, tell a parent or some other solid backup, and bring some friends along.

Media literacy and fake news

Be aware that not everything you read online is necessarily true

Consider the source and if you have any doubt, so a little online research to see if it's likely true

Never share anything that you have any reason to doubt. It's not only bad to share inaccurate information, but it also hurts your credibility

Be aware of your emotional response to media. Just because something seems horrible, confirms your bias or makes you feel "right," doesn't make it true.

For more, see ConnectSafely.org/fakenews

Cyberbullying: Tips for kids and teens

Know that it's not your fault. What people call "bullying" is sometimes an argument between two people. But if someone is repeatedly cruel to you, that's bullying and you mustn't blame yourself. No one deserves to be treated cruelly.

Don't respond or retaliate. Sometimes a reaction is exactly what aggressors are looking for because they think it gives them power over you, and you don't want to empower a bully. As for retaliating, getting back at a bully turns you into one - and can turn one mean act into a chain reaction. If you can, remove yourself from the situation. If you can't, sometimes humor disarms or distracts a person from bullying.

Save the evidence. The only good news about bullying online or on phones is that it can usually be captured, saved, and shown to someone who can help. You can save that evidence in case things escalate.

Tell the person to stop. This is completely up to you - don't do it if you don't feel totally comfortable doing it, because you need to make your position completely clear that you will not stand for this treatment any more. You may need to practice beforehand with someone you trust, like a parent or good friend.

Reach out for help - especially if the behavior's really getting to you. You deserve backup. See if there's someone who can listen, help you process what's going on and work through it - a friend, relative or maybe an adult you trust.

Use available tech tools. Most social media apps and services allow you to block the person. Whether the harassment's in an app, texting, comments or tagged photos, do yourself a favor and block the person. You can also report the problem to the service. That probably won't end it, but you don't need the harassment in your face, and you'll be less tempted to respond. If you're getting threats of physical harm, you should call your local police (with a parent or guardian's help) and consider reporting it to school authorities.

Protect your accounts. Don't share your passwords with anyone - even your closest friends, who may not be close forever - and password-protect your phone so no one can use it to impersonate you. You'll find advice at passwords.connectsafely.org.

If someone you know is being bullied, take action. Just standing by can empower an aggressor and does nothing to help. The best thing you can do is try to stop the bullying by taking a stand against it. If you can't stop it, support the person being bullied. If the person's a friend, you can listen and see how to help. Consider together whether you should report the bullying. If you're not already friends, even a kind word can help reduce the pain. At the very least, help by not passing along a mean message and not giving positive attention to the person doing the bullying.

For more, see ConnectSafely.org/tips-to-help-stop-cyberbullying

Smartphone use

Phones are personal. Letting other people use your phone when you're not around is like letting them have the password to your social network profile. They can impersonate you, which gives them the power to mess with your reputation and relationships. Lock your phone when you're not using it, and use strong and unique passwords for all your apps.

Watch your photos to make sure that they are appropriate. Think about how you and others are dressed and be aware of how anything in the background could embarrass you or give away your privacy. Know how to turn off location sharing on photos and respect other people's privacy by not posting pictures of them without their permission.

The value of presence. If you do a lot of texting, consider the impact that being "elsewhere" might be having on the people around you. Your presence during meals, at parties, in the car, etc. is not only polite, it's a sign of respect and appreciated.

Know what your apps know. Pay attention to any permissions apps request as you install them. If an app asks to access your location, contact list, calendar or messages or to post to your social networking services, consider if the app really needs that information to function. When in doubt, consider withholding permission or not using that app.

Down time is good. Constant texting and talking can affect sleep, concentration, school, and other things that deserve your thought and focus. You need your sleep, and real friends understand there are times you just need to turn off the phone.

Share location mindfully. A growing number of apps allow friends to pinpoint each other's physical location. If you use such a service, do so only with friends you know in person, and get to know the service's privacy features.

Have a conversation (not a lecture) with your kids about smartphone use. Consider drawing up a family cellphone contract and talk with your children about why each point is important (there's a sample contract at ConnectSafely.org/mobile). If you decide to use parental-control apps, discuss them with your children.

Consider parental-control tools. There are actually two major types of parental controls. The first is family rules or guidelines that you establish with your children, and the second is technology tools provided by cellphone companies, smartphone makers and app developers. If you do use technology to monitor or limit your child's phone activities, in most cases it's a good idea to be up front with them and revisit it every now and then as they mature.D\

Don't text or handle your phone while driving. Texting or even touching your phone while driving is dangerous and illegal in many states. If you must speak on the phone, use a speaker or headset and hands-free controls. Never text, send or read email or post online and if you use your phone for navigation or listening to music or podcasts, set it before you leave or use hands-free voice recognition.

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The vast majority of us use the internet to socialize, work, learn, and play. But widespread use doesn't necessarily mean widespread understanding. The good news is there are easy ways to keep your internet use safe and constructive. We've compiled some of our best advice here.

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Explore this Editor's Choice of the best Internet Safety Resources on TeachersFirst. Modeling and helping students learn about Internet safety is the responsibility of every adult in our students' lives, including teachers in all subject areas and parents at home.

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Strategies and resources for integrating media literacy into the curriculum.

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The 4 Best Cyberbullying Resources for Middle School

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The 4 Best Cyberbullying Resources for Middle School

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Every year we hear the same challenge from hundreds of middle school teachers: Finding good cyberbullying resources takes too much time and effort.

Teaching lessons on cyberbullying to middle school students is tough. You need to discuss this important digital literacy topic, but getting through to your students is an uphill battle.

You need relevant, engaging, and impactful cyberbullying lessons to help your students learn about and prevent it.

Fortunately, we have several solutions for you.

The four best cyberbullying resources for middle school are:

1. Cyberbullying lesson from InCtrl

2. Common Sense Education's Anti-Cyberbullying Toolkit

3. Cyberbullying resources from MediaSmarts

4. Business&ITCenter21

In this article, we'll share details about each resource to help you decide which one(s) will work best in your classroom.

Let's get to it!

1. Cyberbullying Lesson from InCtrl

InCtrl is dedicated to teaching digital citizenship to students in grades 4-8. They have an entire lesson dedicated to cyberbullying as a part of their digital citizenship curriculum.

The cyberbullying lesson is called Stand Up... Be InCtrl! and it includes a lesson plan and two videos.

The first video is for you. It introduces you to background information on cyberbullying like bullying and conflicts, and how you can help students recognize cyberbullying.

The second video is for students. In it, a high school student shares how he and other students are working to reduce bullying in their school. It encourages students to act responsibly online and help stop cyberbullying.

Here is how the lesson content is laid out and how much time you'll spend on each section:

Introduction - 30 minutes

Activity 1 - Two 40 minute periods

Activity 2 - 40 minutes of planning, with project time varying

Reflection - 20 minutes

What's great about InCtrl is the lesson plan includes everything you need to conduct the lessons. There are teacher tips, links to extra resources to enrich the lessons, and student handouts.

Another plus is the lesson plan also lists national educational standards addressed in the lesson.

But InCtrl lacks assessments. While the content is all there, you have no way of testing student knowledge on the subject. It will take you a bit of extra time to create assessments if you want to grade student performance.

2. Common Sense Education's Anti-Cyberbullying Toolkit

Like InCtrl, Common Sense Education includes their lessons on cyberbullying as part of a digital citizenship curriculum. They crafted these lessons into their Anti-Cyberbullying Toolkit.

Common Sense Education has three cyberbullying lessons for grades 6-8 integrated into their digital citizenship curriculum. The lessons are:

Here's a bit more detail on what each lesson covers:

Cyberbullying: Be Upstanding introduces students to cyberbullying. They learn what it means to be a bystander compared to an upstander when cyberbullying occurs.

The Reality of Digital Drama is a more generic lesson designed to spark discussion on digital drama and how gender stereotypes relate to that drama.

Cyberbullying: Crossing the Line is more focused on the act of cyberbullying. Students learn about behaviors that cross the line to cyberbullying and what they can do to stop them.

Each lesson includes a lesson plan, related videos, discussion questions, student activity handouts, and a short assessment.

Having the assessments is a real plus when it comes to using the lessons from Common Sense Education. That's one more piece you don't need to worry about when teaching about cyberbullying.

However, these cyberbullying lessons are designed to work as a part of a bigger curriculum. If you don't use the whole curriculum, you risk losing some students with the lack of context. This is especially true since some of the assessments include questions from other lessons in each unit unrelated to cyberbullying.

3. Cyberbullying Resources from MediaSmarts

MediaSmarts is dedicated to education about digital and media literacy. The website has a section on digital issues with resources for teaching about cyberbullying titled Classroom Resources to Counter Cyberbullying.

The site includes resources for varying grade levels, with four specifically for grades 7-8. The lessons are:

Each lesson includes a detailed lesson plan with activities, student handouts, rubrics, and other varying resources.

MediaSmarts also provides additional materials for your students to share with their parents. This is a great way to have your lessons reinforced at home while helping parents understand the dangers of cyberbullying.

One downside is that MediaSmarts is based in Canada, so American teachers will have to tweak the lessons according to state standards.

For example, you'll need to use the Cyberbullying and the Law lesson loosely since it gets pretty specific with Canadian laws. While the content is relevant, you'll need to spend time fine tuning the details.

4. Is Your Child a Victim? from Mom Loves Best

Mom Loves Best isn't intended for teachers - it's intended for parents.

As a result, it's not ideal for taking and presenting directly to a classroom.

However, the information from MLB is perfect!

On their cyberbullying prevention page, MLB dives deep into the concepts and culture behind cyberbullying to a startling degree.

You'll find statistics, types of bullying, methods of bullying, at-risk conditions in children, common behavioral traits, and so much more!

With all of this information at your fingertips, it's never been easier to create your own lesson plans on cyberbullying with up-to-date, credible information.

5. Business&ITCenter21 from Applied Educational Systems

At AES, we have lessons on cyberbullying as part of our larger digital citizenship curriculum.

We hand-crafted these lessons to teach students how to:

Define cyberbullying

Determine how to handle cyberbullying

Identify school, state, and federal policies and penalties for cyberbullying

The content on cyberbullying includes an interactive, digital lesson for students, lesson plans for you, a presentation, a student worksheet, and other resources.

Unlike our previous options, Business&ITCenter21 includes automatically graded assessments to make your life even easier.

The other difference is that Business&ITCenter21 is an actual product to be purchased for your classroom. The program includes lessons on cyberbullying, and other topics related to digital citizenship, as well as content for computer applications, career readiness, and business education.

With easy-to-use lessons, resources, assessments, and a full LMS, Business&ITCenter21 makes your life easier while helping your students learn.

Thousands of teachers already teach with Business&ITCenter21. You can start too!

Sign up for a free trial today to join these teachers and help your students succeed!

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The 5 Best Cyberbullying Resources for Middle School

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Every year we hear the same challenge from hundreds of middle school teachers: Finding good cyberbullying resources takes too much time and effort. Teaching lessons on cyberbullying to middle school students is tough. You need to discuss this important digital literacy topic, but getting through to your students is an uphill battle.

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Media educators base their teaching on key concepts of media literacy, which provide an effective foundation for examining mass media and popular culture. These key concepts act as filters that any media text has to go through in order for us to respond.

To help teachers introduce these to elementary students, MediaSmarts has partnered with Companies Committed to Kids (formerly Concerned Children's Advertisers) to develop a suite of videos on each of the key concepts. Each video is accompanied by a lesson plan that reiterates the main ideas from the videos and helps students expand and apply what they've learned.

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Media educators base their teaching on key concepts of media literacy, which provide an effective foundation for examining mass media and popular culture. These key concepts act as filters that any media text has to go through in order for us to respond.

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4 resources for fighting fake news - Innovation: Education

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4 resources for fighting fake news - Innovation: Education

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Standard 3-part story-driven post: 1) what it is, 2) what it looks like in a school, 3) how to do it in your school

We've been hearing a lot lately about the problem of fake news stories and how they might impact our impressions of the world. Imagine: if it's hard for adults to spot fake news stories, then how hard is it for students?

Turns out: VERY HARD.

Let's look at some resources for helping students determine when a source is truly credible or not.

What's the problem?

A recent study from Stanford University (pdf) indicates that middle, high school and college students are easily misled about news and information coming in through various social media channels. According to the study authors, "When it comes to evaluating information that flows through social media channels, [students] are easily duped."

It's that second part that's concerning to many teachers. Our job is to challenge students' (and our own) biases during the time when student brains are the most open to new perspectives, new ideas and new information. But the social media age has just made that job a little harder.

So let's load up on some resources to help you teach your students to find accurate information, manage their social media feeds and make good choices about what to share.

4 Resources for teaching about fake news

1. Analyze fake news stories: what are the tip-offs?

PBS Newshour has released this lesson plan geared for students in grades 7-12. In it, students explore the benefits and drawbacks of schools blocking access to certain sites as they relate to this issue, and they analyze the most widely shared fake news stories for clues.

Make it real: follow up work with this lesson plan by drafting two lists of 10 news stories talking about your local or state community. In each list, grab a couple true stories from the local newspaper and make up the rest. Give one list as a pre-test and the other after students work through the PBS Newshour lesson plan.

2. Examine what makes false news so compelling

Another great resource comes to us from the School Library Journal. Their Pinterest board features many great links and images about helping students learn to recognize fake news. It features gems like this lesson and video from TedEd:

Another helpful video (and post) is here by Factcheck.org. This one explores the concept of confirmation bias, which could be a helpful concept for students to explore in our current society.

3 from the New York Times

The New York Times has published three helpful articles for teachers.

Lastly, in a post written specifically for teachers of English Language Learners (ELL), Larry Ferlazzo gives teachers clear ways to help ELL students decipher fake news stories, including this helpful list of news articles at different reading levels:

News in Levels and the Smithsonian's Tween Tribune provide articles about current events that can be read on multiple levels of text complexity depending on students' English proficiency.

Learning English from the Voice of America provides texts and videos about current events that are also designed to help students learn English.

Youngzine and the Newsround from the BBC both provide regularly updated news articles designed to be specifically more accessible to young readers.

Newsmap and Newser both provide short news summaries in visually engaging formats.

4. Get this discussion out into the open

One immediately helpful way to address this issue is to share some graphics with students that can help them learn to check if a story is fake news. Here are a few below - including one idea for students to develop their own graphics to share with the class.

Indiana University East has two helpful graphics for teaching and displaying here. It also teaches students the various categories of fake news so students can learn to identify what they are seeing.

More resources for fighting fake news:

Find and use a lesson plan from the above resources.

Share and discuss the graphics and videos included here.

Challenge your students to create infographics or visuals to use to teach other students about this issue.

Find articles and use the guides and visuals to determine if the news is fake. Give students practice in a supportive setting so they can grow confident and independent in their skills.

How are you helping students learn to spot fake news?

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4 resources for fighting fake news - Innovation: Education

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Standard 3-part story-driven post: 1) what it is, 2) what it looks like in a school, 3) how to do it in your school We've been hearing a lot lately about the problem of fake news stories and how they might impact our impressions of the world.

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Reviews & Age Ratings - Best Movies, Books, Apps, Games for Kids

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Reviews & Age Ratings - Best Movies, Books, Apps, Games for Kids

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Common Sense Media: Age-Based Media Reviews for Families

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Common Sense Media is the leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families. Parents trust our expert reviews and objective advice.

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ISTE | Coaches and librarians: Sneak digital citizenship into lessons!

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ISTE | Coaches and librarians: Sneak digital citizenship into lessons!

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Coaches and library media specialists are often go-to experts for educators seeking instructional support and help with tech integration, but they can also be leaders on one of education's most important topics - digital citizenship.

And there's even a cool title for this aspect of their work.

Think of it as being the digital citizenship ninja on your campus, suggests Kristen Mattson, Ed.D., library media center director at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois, and the author of the ISTE book, Digital Citizenship in Action: Empowering Students to Engage in Online Communities.

"When I have conversations with people about things like creating webpages or finding videos for classroom use, I can sneak in some of those quick, easy-to-understand tips about how to ethically use the information they want to use. And that can translate further into, for example, showing teachers how kids in art class can put Creative Commons licensing on their own work."

In other words, Mattson recommends, "get sneaky" about incorporating digital citizenship information as you assist colleagues.

Here are her how-tos:

Be visible. Mattson reached out to all the professional learning communities at her school and offered to attend their meetings to speak about digital citizenship.

Eavesdrop for good. When you hear teachers talking about classroom projects in the hallway, offer to partner with them to add a layer of learning about digital citizenship to the lesson. Your tips can help revamp a lesson to include aspects of digital citizenship that weren't front of mind when the lesson or supporting materials were created.

Say "yes." Sure, it's tough to volunteer for yet another thing, but volunteering can be an entry point to new audiences. Jumping onto a committee or team lets librarians and coaches connect with all the adults in their buildings.

"I volunteer for committees. I say "yes" to lunch. I have to be exposed to people, so I say "yes" to as many people as possible," Mattson says.

Treat it as servant leadership. Often, a teacher doesn't need help with a lesson, but they're open to having you sit in on the lesson in case something goes wrong. Offer to work in the back of the room and listen to what's happening in the curriculum. You might find an entry point for speaking to the teacher later about adding in a layer about digital citizenship.

No matter how instructional partners choose to connect with teachers and students, "it's all about empowering kids to be engaged and active members of digital communities, regardless of what those communities are," Mattson says.

Mattson shares more about about how librarians and coaches are leading on digital citizenship in her recorded ISTE Expert Webinar, " Instructional Partners as Digital Citizenship Leaders," which covers:

Tips for incorporating digital citizenship lessons across curriculum.

How instructional partners can help with ongoing professional development on digital citizenship.

How digital citizenship can be addressed in small ways every day.

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Coaches and librarians: Sneak digital citizenship into lessons!

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Coaches and library media specialists are often go-to experts for educators seeking instructional support and help with tech integration, but they can also be leaders on one of education's most important topics - digital citizenship. And there's even a cool title for this aspect of their work.

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Digital Citizenship and Libraries - EdTech Update

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Digital Citizenship and Libraries - EdTech Update

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Digital Citizenship and Libraries - EdTech Update

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Browse Digital Citizenship and Libraries content selected by the EdTech Update community.