After a really interesting twitter discussion on Twitter tonight that started after sharing a story about a principal that was asked to resign after comments made on Facebook, I had a fantastic conversation regarding free speech for teachers as well as students. It lead me to this article regarding a principal that suspended students for a facebook group that was started at school (by the way, I do not agree with what the principal did that elicited the ire from the students). As we move more into using social media at our K-6 school in the next year, I am certain to be asked by our school community on how I will deal with cases of cyberbullying. What if a student writes something derogatory about myself or another student (it is far worse about about another student). My hope is that we will not deal with this at all, but I would never expect our students to be infallible (or anyone for that matter). If we are proactive in our plan, the mistakes will lessen.
1. Ensure students have a strong understanding of social media and that behind all of the avatars are real people. From some reading tonight, I came across the “Education Law Blog” which stated the following:
…our research on child development makes it clear that there is only one way to truly combat bullying. As an essential part of the school curriculum, we have to teach children how to be good to one another, how to cooperate, how to defend someone who is being picked on and how to stand up for what is right. (From “A non-legislative response to bullying”)
It is so essential that we focus first on students treating one another with respect and kindness in all environments, digital or not. (This is an interesting post on having empathy to those behind the blogs)
2. We need to work with parents as we move our schools forward. It is interesting that I started using Twitter as a way of to learn more about cyberbullying and it has now come full circle to this post. The presentation was to work with parents to talk about Social Media and Cyberbullying to ensure that they are a part of the conversation. If we can teach them to be proactive and aware of what their children are doing, it will help to teach them to have the same qualities in person that they do online. Parents should also be in on conversations when students do make mistakes. My rule of thumb as a principal is that I call EVERY household when dealing with student incidents. Working together we can do so much more than we can do apart.
Some may be looking for specific rules and procedures on this. I believe that as administrators we need to work with every child and family to figure out the best solution for each situation. I do not believe in “scripted” ways of dealing with anyone. Each person and situation is unique. It is important that we describe expectations and follow up with students.
So in summary, I believe that we need to be proactive with kids, deal with each situation to our best abilities since they are all unique, and work with families to figure out the best solutions for each child. Even when students make mistake, we always need to treat them with dignity and respect. As administrators, we need to ensure that we DO deal with situations as they arise; that is essential.
Kind of seems like my thoughts on cyberbullying are the same as for dealing with other mistakes. Do we really need to deal with it any different?
