Cyberbullying and our middle school girls.Recent research has targeted a new segment of our school population--not for commendation, but rather for condemnation. While many of our past columns have been written primarily to assist early childhood teachers and children, we would like to focus this column on our middle school girls. Cyberbullying has emerged as a new, insidious, and harmful way of getting back at an individual girl who may be "different" or disliked for a physical or social trait. Cyberbullying has been described as "willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text" (Burgess-Proctor et al., 2006). It is carried out through a wide variety of methods, using cell phones, E-mail, and Internet instant messaging Exchanging text messages in real time between two or more people logged into a particular instant messaging (IM) service. Instant messaging is more interactive than e-mail because messages are sent immediately, whereas e-mail messages can be queued up in a mail server for seconds or in such locations as MySpace and other Web-based sites. Parents and teachers are often unsuspecting. Online harassment Ask a Lawyer Question Country: United States of America State: Nevada I recently moved to nev.from abut have been going back to ca. every 2 to 3 weeks for med. , mean messages, derogatory name-calling, and threats have been doled out Adj. 1. doled out - given out in portions apportioned, dealt out, meted out, parceled out distributed - spread out or scattered about or divided up without fear or remorse because the victim and the perpetrator A term commonly used by law enforcement officers to designate a person who actually commits a crime. are hidden, linked in a faceless crime. For this reason, serious threats and goading a victim to inflict personal harm or even commit suicide Verb 1. commit suicide - kill oneself; "the terminally ill patient committed suicide" kill - cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly; "This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank"; "The farmer killed a pig for the holidays" have been reported as successful because of the lack of interpersonal contact. Reports of suicide have been recorded in an ABC News
ABC News is a division of American television and radio network ABC, owned by The Walt Disney Company. Its current president is David Westin. report, with a total of 38 children committing suicide because they could not take the harassment any longer (ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. 15.com, 2006). School personnel and parents have been largely uninformed about the seriousness of these threats and the damage to fragile, pre-teen egos. The popular profiles and personal Web sites, such as are available on myspace.com, studentcenter.org, livejournal.com, and bolt. corn, confirm that vicious and harmful speech was directed toward individual girls (Willard, 2005). Various Forms of Cyberbullying Cyberstalking Cyberstalking is use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk someone. This term is used interchangeably with online harassment and online abuse. Stalking generally involves harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as is a form of cyberbullying that centers on: 1) posting harmful, mean, or cruel messages on the Internet or a cell phone; 2) repeatedly sending rude E-mails; and 3) frequent promises of harm that threaten the personal safety of a girl. Impersonation Impersonation Patroclus wore the armor of Achilles against the Trojans to encourage the disheartened Greeks. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad] Prisoner of Zenda, The , an even more sinister variation, takes the form of entering another's E-mail account e-mail account n → cuenta de correo and pretending to be that person, usually sending harmful messages that could ruin relationships with others. Fortunately, the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use has compiled a comprehensive guide to help with these problems. The guide describes and discusses problem areas and addresses such topics as "Liability Issues for a School" (Willard, 2005). Roles for Parents and Teachers: At home, many parents believe that filtering software has provided security for their children. Today's students, however, may have sophisticated technology skills by middle school that surpass those of their parents and teachers. It is a simple matter to access often-prohibited material. In addition, they can still issue damaging threats through ordinary means ordinary means Medical ethics The measures that a person, as the 'steward' of his/her own life, is required to use to ensure health and self-preservation. See Reasonable person. Cf Extraordinary means. through their home and school computers. Many schools have lap-top programs, thus adding an additional concern for liability when students use school computers for vicious online threats to others. On the other hand, middle school teachers often report that pre-teens can exhibit prosocial and caring behaviors when interacting with others. Throughout America, many school systems have re-figured their concept of middle school and paired it on site with an elementary school elementary school: see school. , as was done in Jacksonville, Florida “Jacksonville” redirects here. For other uses, see Jacksonville (disambiguation). Jacksonville is the largest city in the state of Florida and the county seat of Duval County. . Middle school children act as mentors and tutors for the younger children, usually forming caring, emotional ties. This had been considered the norm in most communities until the emergence of cyberbullying. A Psychological Base The psychological theories we have been teaching in our schools of education confirm that our middle school student is usually conforming to Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Reasoning Moral reasoning is a study in psychology that overlaps with moral philosophy. It is also called Moral development. Prominent contributors to theory include Lawrence Kohlberg and Elliot Turiel. at the earliest stages, such as Stage 1: Obedience to authority and Stage 2: Nice behavior in exchange for future favors (Kail kail: see kale. & Cavanaugh, 2007). Cyberbullying forces parents and educators to contemplate this apparent disconnect between theory and behavior. Many serious questions are raised: Are our parents and schools doing enough to encourage the prosocial behaviors and overt social skills? Are our teachers using every opportunity to model empathy and caring for others, with unconditional acceptance of all? Were these life-enhancing skills shoved aside to make room for the rigid, increasingly narrow confines of testing, meeting standards, and other time-consuming tasks that leave social skills behind in the dust? Let's consider some alternatives. The Peaceable peace·a·ble adj. 1. Inclined or disposed to peace; promoting calm: They met in a peaceable spirit. 2. Peaceful; undisturbed. School and Classroom Models For several decades now, appropriate models of the Peaceable School have been recommended and tried, and they have succeeded in changing the whole culture of an entire school. Several models have a successful track record, such as The Children's Creative Response to Conflict, Institute for Peace and Justice, the Responsive Classroom, Resolving Conflict Creatively, Second Step, and Teaching Students To Be Peacemakers This article is about the pacifist organization. For other meanings, see Peacemaker (disambiguation). Peacemakers was an American pacifist organization. (see Resources). Within the school, conflict resolution techniques should be taught through a school counselor A school counselor is a counselor and educator who works in schools, and have historically been referred to as "guidance counselors" or "educational counselors," although "Professional School Counselor" is now the preferred term. to the entire school community: administrators, teachers, students, office personnel, maintenance, and support staff. An online mini-course, "Conflict Resolution Techniques for School Counselors," is available (see Resources). Teachers wisely could integrate principles of conflict resolution within their own classrooms, model techniques for their students, and provide a small segment of the school day to practice the skills to resolve conflict. A Pledge of Nonviolence is also available online (Institute for Peace and Justice, 2007). Models of teachers who exemplify these essential qualities have been the focus for several articles in Childhood Education in recent years. Katherine T. Bucher and M. Lee Manning outlined appropriate student behavior to be expected of middle school students and the choice of theories that should be the foundation for middle school education (Bucher & Manning, 2001/02). Jan Richards identified "enchanting teachers," especially a middle school English teacher who "cares and loves us and everyone of her students and doesn't want anyone to ever get hurt" (Richards, 2004). An ongoing discussion should take place about how cyberbullying violates all the principles of the Peaceable School and Classroom, causing great emotional damage. Consequences for incidents of cyberbullying should be set and acted on by the school administrators. At an appropriate time, a Peer Mediation model should be initiated to settle the more difficult student conflicts. Hopefully, teachers, parents, and students will be able to initiate changes in the school culture--moving from meanness and harming others to caring and concern, especially for our middle school girls. Resources for the Peaceable School Model Children's Creative Response to Conflict, P.O. Box 271, 521 North Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960; 914-353-1796 Institute for Peace and Justice, 475 East Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, MO 63119; 314-915-2630, www.ipj.org Resolving Conflict Creatively Program National Center, Educators for Social Responsibility, 163 Third Ave., #103, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY 10003; 212-387-0225, www.esrnational.org Responsive Classroom, Northeast Foundation for Children, 85 Avenue A, Suite 204, P.O. Box 718, Turners Falls, MA 01376-0718; 800-360-6322, www.responsiveclassroom.org Second Step, Committee for Children, 2203 Airport Way South, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98134-2027; 206-343-1223, www.cfc.children.org Teaching Students to be Peacemakers. (David & Roger Johnson Roger Johnson can refer to:
Online Resources Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, www. csriu.org/contactus.htl Community School Becomes a Peaceable School, www. communityschool.net/peaceableschool.htm Conflict Resolution Techniques for School Counselors, http:/counselingceusonline.com/conflict_resolution. htm ED 398086 Creating the Peaceable School. A Comprehensive Program for Teaching Conflict Resolution. Program Guide--ERIC Digest, http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_page Girls Bullying Girls (National Association of School Psychologists The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is the first and largest national professional organization created for the purpose of serving school psychologists. ), www.teachersand families.com/open/ parent/ra6.cfm Ten Tips for Creating a Caring School, www.edutopia. org/php/id=Art.1025&key=020 References ABC15.com Phoenix and Arizona News. Available online at www.abc15.com/news/investigators/index_ story.asp?did=31334. Bucher, K. T., & Manning, M. L. (2001/02). Exploring the foundations of middle school classroom management. Childhood Education, 78, 83-90. Burgess-Proctor, A., Patcin, J. W., & Hindja, S. (October, 2006). Cyberbullying: The victimization victimization Social medicine The abuse of the disenfranchised–eg, those underage, elderly, ♀, mentally retarded, illegal aliens, or other, by coercing them into illegal activities–eg, drug trade, pornography, prostitution. of adolescent girls. Available online at www.cyberbullying.us. Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2007). Human development: A life-span view (4th ed.). Behnont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Richards, J. (2004). Enchanting teachers among us. Childhood Education, 80, 128-133. Willard, N. (2005). Cyberbullying and cyberthreats, part I: A guide for counselors, teachers and parent educators. Eugene, OR: Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. |
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