Conyers Middle School Advisement Lesson October 20, 2014 Cyber bullying Conyers Middle School Advisement Lesson October 20, 2014

Opening activity 10 Minutes

WHAT IS CYBER BULLYING? Allow students to provide definitions and examples of cyberbullying.

Let’s discuss these two examples of cyber bullying. 1 Let’s discuss these two examples of cyber bullying. 1. You emailed a friend with details about something that happened to you and asked this person not to share it with anyone else. The next day, you receive a forwarded email from someone else that contains the private information you sent to your friend. You find out the email has been forwarded to almost everyone in your school. How would you feel? How would you handle this? Choose a volunteer to read the first situation. In whole group discussion, allow students to respond to the questions.

2. Someone took an embarrassing picture of you with a cell phone and sent it to almost everyone in your class. How would you feel? How would you handle this? Choose a volunteer to read the first situation. In whole group discussion, allow students to respond to the questions.

FACTS ON CYBER BULLYING 5 Minutes

Did you know that one in three teens who are online have experienced some sort of online harassment or cyberbullying? Did you know that one-third (32%) of all teenagers who use the Internet say they have been targets of a range of annoying and potentially menacing online activities—such as receiving threatening messages; having their private emails or text messages forwarded without consent; having an embarrassing picture posted without permission; or having rumors about them spread online? Did you know over half (52 percent) off young people report being cyber bullied? Did you know over half (55 percent) of all teens who use social media have witnessed outright bullying via that medium? Did you know an astounding 95 percent of teens who witnessed bullying on social media report that others, like them, have ignored the behavior? Ask students to take out a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil for the next slide.

Written activity 10 Minutes

1. List ways people communicate in cyberspace 2 1. List ways people communicate in cyberspace 2. Next to each type of cyber communication write a way it could become a tool for bullying Students might list email, blogs, websites, instant messaging, cell phones, text messaging, chat rooms, and social media sites.

Student Responses blog Ways People Communicate in Cyberspace Ways it Could become a Tool for Bullying blog Someone could choose to make embarrassing comments about someone Type student responses on this slide.

Discussion questions 10 Minutes

Question 1 How might it feel physically and emotionally to see a text or email message from someone who’s bullying you? How might it feel to see that person in school? Document student responses. We can use this information to revamp or make additions to the CMS anti-bullying program.

Question 2 Is there any difference in how you’d feel or react if a student makes fun of you in the hallway versus if the same student makes fun of you in an email? Why or why not? Students might note that the person could send the email to everyone in his or her contacts. In turn, the email could get forwarded to everyone in the recipients’ contacts.

Question 3 If you are cyber bullied at home by an anonymous person, how might that affect how you behave at school? Answers might include avoiding people at school, having physical symptoms of nervousness and fear, staying home sick more often, or feeling isolated.

Question 4 How can you defend someone else who is being cyber bullied? Answers might include posting positive messages on social networking sites, sending a “reply all” email with a “knock it off” message to the sender, or emailing or texting a friendly word of encouragement to someone being cyber bullied.

Question 5 Compared with traditional forms of bullying, it often is easier for a student to document cyber bullying. Look at the ways to communicate in cyberspace that we listed. How could a person document cyber bullying? Answers include saving and printing emails, text messages, and IMs or copying and printing the screen shot of a derogatory website.

Question 6 Do you think kids are reluctant to report cyber bullying that they’ve experienced or witnessed to adults like parents or teachers? Why or why not? What would make it more comfortable for kids to report cyber bullying? Document student responses. We can use this information to revamp or make additions to the CMS anti-bullying program.

Wrap-up

Cyber bullying is a form of intimidation just as serious as traditional forms of bullying. At least the threats in cyber bullying are more easily documents, so if you or someone you know is targeted, save the evidence and get help. Remember to defend someone else who is being cyber bullied. Try to help in one of the ways we discussed. Encourage additional questions or comments.