A Cyberbullying Lesson for Elementary Students
Early I posted about the digital privacy lesson I used with my fourth grade classes. After that lesson I went on to use the cyberbullying lesson I have detailed in this post.
Before we meet on the carpet students open their blog post titled My Online Life. At the start of the year, they created that post. In it they listed our school’s core values as headings. Beneath those headings they listed what they already knew about being safe and respectful online. After that lesson, students have added their new learning into the blog post using a different font color.
To start our cyberbullying lesson we view a PSA video titled The Talent Show. Like the Bulletin Board video from the earlier lesson, the PSA channel no longer has these videos. All the copies I’ve found in You Tube are a bit blurry but still worth using.
I use this Google Presentation as my visual as we discuss the important terms of cyberbully, target, bystander and upstander.
Next they play the Evolve game in www.digitalpassport.org. Refer to the Digital Privacy lesson for more information on Digital Passport. In this game, they make choices that allow their character to evolve into a bystander and to know how to get help if they are being bullied.
As they finish playing the game and writing on their blogs, we check what they have written on their blog post, stretching students whose answers don’t show a rich understanding of the information.
At the end of class, I show them this video. If time permits I play it once through, then play it again stopping throughout to think aloud or have students turn and talk to identify the bully, the target, the bystanders and the upstander. With each class I have found it to send a powerful message.
If time permits, I follow it with this video since it sends such a positive message of empowerment.