Question:
"What article in the course readings was most meaningful for you and why?" (to be posted at approximately the thirteenth week of the course).
Response:
What an amazing selection of readings the course provided. The one that stands out in my mind is the article Strategies to prevent and heal the mental anguish caused by cyberbullying by Froeschle, J.G.; Mayorga, M.; Castillo, Y.; & Hargrove, T. (2008).
As I read the article I had many reactions. I realised that a shift in teaching must occur as our students use more and more electronic forms of social media such as texting, emails, blogs, glogs etc . Educators need to be equipped with the knowledge to support and prevent on line social bullying as learners adopt more forms of technology. The quote “cyber bullying has moved bullying from the schoolyard to a worldwide audience” (Frieschele et al., 2008, p. 30) really stood out for me because it is true. We are an electronic generation.
In this article I learned that children are primarily bullied via phones through texting and email and when communication is online students experience instant harassment and it is a viscous circle in which there is little accountability. Frieschele et al., (2008) writes that perpetrators are either “social climbers” and/or “aggressive harassers” which I don't think is much different from the school yard however it is "invisible" online.
Until this course I have never given Cyberbullying much thought and after reading that article I can see how directly connected my role as teacher librarian is to promote online social responsibility and accountability through creating visible policies and dialogue to protect the invisible. I intend to look into books to support this topic and reach my students through literature and role play as suggested in the article.
