Curse you AOL!

I think I may have been a cyberbully. A cyberbully is a person who uses the Internet to harass, threaten, and intimidate people. Back in the seventh grade, I had a friend who had just gotten AOL and we, along with five of our other friends, would stay up late chatting with strangers. Sometimes we would try to chat with boys, other times we would just be plain mean. If we had been talking to these people face to face, we NEVER would have said some of the things we did. We were mean because we thought it was funny. We never thought of it as being a bully, though looking back now I can see how it was.

One difference between the situation in schools today and my friends and I playing around on AOL ten years ago, is that a lot of the cyberbullying that is taking place now is targeted bullying. Students are using the Internet (or other means of technology) to go after specific peers. One point that the article Cyberbullying: Is there Anything Schools Can Do? brings up is that though the harassment is occurring off school property, there are lingering effects once they arrive at school. Administrators have the power to act on the harassment only if it is endangering the safely of students.

To be honest, I am not sure what schools can do to stop cyberbullying completely. By addressing it in the classroom, teachers have the power to deter students from the practice, but there is not a way for them to monitor them once they leave school property. One method of prevention that could be taken by schools is to have all of the students and their parents sign a pact saying that they will not harass other students, not just face to face, but through the use of technology as well. If students violate the pact, they could loose their technology privileges at school.

In my classroom, I plan on making a list of guidelines/rules for a code of conduct. All students will be able to give input on my list, and add others they feel necessary. On that list will be the fair treatment of others. My students will sign an agreement saying that they will follow the rules at all times. Harassing other students on the Internet will violate these rules. If students decide to break these rules, they will loose privileges in my classroom. It is unacceptable to harass others, especially those who you interact with on an everyday basis. People in classrooms are meant to be a team and work together. If there are issues between students, it is important to get them worked out before it rises to the level of harassment or abuse.