What is cyberbullying? According to Hinduja and Patchin (2015), cyberbullying occurs when three components intersect: teens, technology, and trouble. As a secondary school educator, I have heard my fair share of cyberbullying stories. Students are often devastated. I even experienced my son being cyberbullied while he was in high school. The students went as far as creating a website dedicated to talking about him and others. It was painful for me; I can only imagine what my son and others go through when they are being bullied on via technology.
Since I am a fairly new teacher, I have seen and experienced bullying in various forms. The sad part is, many students believe the bullies are their friends. Teaching human-centered strategies in schools, in my opinion, can truly help build a positive environment and help curb problematic behaviors online as well as in-person.
According to According to the article, Developing a positive school climate: Top Ten Tips to Prevent Bullying and Cyberbullying, the following are ten ways to improve the school climate and help mitigate potential issues regarding cyberbullying:
Promote awareness – it is important to educate students regarding all forms of bullying to help raise awareness
Cultivate open lines of communication – create an atmosphere where students feel comfortable with speaking to staff members at their school.
Learn their names – build relationships by learning the names of the students
Develop stakeholder relationships – work closely with parents as well as others in the community and build a network of support
Set up anonymous reporting – create a system where students feel comfortable sharing their feelings as well as confidential information.
Instill hope – teachers should show compassion and empathy towards all students
Build positive social norming campaigns – remind students that bullying is not normal and work to promote positive things
Enlist the help of students – allow students to be actively involved in combatting cruelty and promoting positivity at school.
Collect data – collect and use data to use resources in the best way possible so that when requesting resources there will be credibility and legitimacy
Never stop learning – Teachers and staff should continue to learn as much as possible about resources that can lead to cyber bullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015)
There are many factors that influence cyberbullying. Education and empathy, in my opinion, are two ways that can help sway students from bullying others. If we make a concerted effort in working to mitigate the bullying, then we could potentially see a reduction in cyberbullying.
Resources
Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard: Preventing and responding to cyperbullying. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
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