Cyberbullying

Title: Cyberbullying

Author: Lucia Raatma

Publisher: Children’s Press

Grade Level: 2^nd – 4^th

 
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Teacher Resources




Summary:
The book Cyberbullying is a resource children can use to learn about and overcome online bullying. It has four chapters. The first chapter describes cyber bullying, explains where on the internet it can happen, how it happens, and what it looks like. The second chapter explains the seriousness of cyber bullying and the negative effects it has on a persons well being. The third chapter explains what to do when being bullied online, who to go to for help, and explains ways you can support your friends who are being cyber bullied. The fourth and final chapter explains multiple ways you can prevent cyber bullying from happening. In addition, the book has real life stories of cyber bullying, statistics on cyber bullying, and gives other resources on bullying.


Element #6 - Taking Social Action:
Cyberbullying represents element 6 because it guides children to take action against an issue that is affecting them. Bullying is a major issue for children as it can happen anywhere: in school, on the playground, online, at home, etc. Bullying can also negatively impact a child's self esteem and confidence and cause them to feel depressed. In extreme cases, people who are bullied commit suicide. I feel the awareness of bullying is improving and think that books like these should be used as resources in elementary classrooms. They definitely are informative and provide children with ways to stop and prevent bullying.


Activity: 
First you can read the book to the children. Next, you can have a whole class discussion on bullying and cyber bullying. Ask the students if they ever been bullied anywhere or ever witnessed another person being bullied. Tell them to describe how they felt during these experiences. Then discuss with the children what they can do when they are bullied and refer to the book. After this, have the children write and draw about one experience they had with bullying (either personal or what they witnessed). Then have the children explain what they would do now to stop the bullying and prevent it from happening again. This activity is valuable because it gives children a framework on what to do when bullying occurs. Bullying is an extremely serious issue and its very important to empower children and let them know they have the ability to take action and stop it from happening.