Cyberbullying Unit Plan

Summary – The following unit is intended to be used with students in the Middle School Grades 6 – 8 over the course of 2 – 3 weeks given that it is worked on about twice per week. The purpose of this unit would be to make students more aware of the information and issues about Cyberbullying tied into Internet use and on-line safety with the hopes of developing skills to effect positive social change. We hope to do this by increasing student’s knowledge, understanding, thinking and communication on the subject using technology when possible and appropriate. We have designed a variety of activities that are group based and take into account a variety of learning strengths, needs and styles.

Materials

We plan to have access to the Internet for all students either individually or in groups while we complete this unit. We will do this by signing out computer labs, mini-labs or using portable laptop computers for group work. For the introduction, we will also need access to an LCD projector. Most activities will be done on computers but also some paper/pencil, hand-out activities will be provided. Our unit plan will be available technologically either on a website or on a CD for distribution and use by teachers at the middle school level.

Outcomes – this unit ties in well with the PDR (Personal Development and Relationships) curriculum at the middle level as well as the ICT outcomes for students the Grade 6 level.

In this unit, the following outcomes are being targeted within the PDR curriculum

Apply decision-making strategies to complex and /or challenging problems

Demonstrate respect and caring in relating to classmates

Identify and practice conflict-resolution skills Recognize and respect the needs of people in

other age groups Demonstrate assertiveness when refusing

potentially harmful substances and behaviors Practice citizenship at school and in the

community and region

Also these ICT outcomes are met in Basic Operations and Concepts, Social, Ethical & Human Issues and Communication

BOC 6.1 Safely use school media and computer equipment, and software to support their learning, with growing independence

BOC 6.5 Safely exchange electronic mail and attachments with students and others selected by the teacher for curriculum research and communication purposes, with teacher supervision

SEHI 6.2 Demonstrate respect for the privacy and intellectual property of others, maintain their personal privacy and safety

SEHI 6.3 Begin to identify social and ethical issues associated with the global access and distribution of information; and to develop concern for the accuracy of information, personal privacy and safety when in electronic environments such as Internet, with the assistance of the teacher.

CT 6.4 Identify and give specific examples of how form, standards, conventions, and methods of information transmission affect students their age.

Timeline - The unit is divided into 4-5 lessons. Time to finish presentations might enter into a fifth or sixth class. Each class is approximately forty minutes.

Lessons - Day 1 – Brainstorming class on Cyberbullying. What is it? Inspiration can be used to diagram the suggestions. 30 second Video Clip from www.2smart4u.com

Quiz for students, “Have you been Cyberbullied”? Online Quiz Quiz for students, “Are you a Cyberbully”? Handout Quiz (Both don’t have to be done, but there is a choice. Discussion

can be made from the first quiz with students who take part in some of the questions dealing with bullying.)

- Introduce students to Webquests in groups

Day 2 – Defining Cyberbullying. Looking at the definition presented and perhaps research others. Look at other terms relating to Cyberbullying. Are there other terms that students are familiar with with regards to Cyberbullying? Discuss social issues relating to these concepts and behaviors

-Webquest work time

Day 3 — Legal Implications. Discussion surrounding what the law states.

Debate on whether students believe the law is correct to potentially charge people for discussions on MSN or Chat rooms.

RCMP guest speaker

Day 4 – Presentations of Webquests. Encourage students to use technology when possible and appropriate.

- Use “What can we do now?” as an evaluation/wrap-up along with group evaluations and self-evaluations.

Day 5/6 – Extra time for presentations if needed

Handouts/Activities

Webquests (choice of 4)Cyberbullying quizzesPowerpoint presentationInspiration thought web activitySelf-evaluation/reflectionGroup work evaluation/reflection

Examples of Completed Work

Cyberbullying Poster Inspiration thought web on cyberbullying

Assessment/Evaluation

Evaluation Rubric Self-evaluation/ reflection

That’s All!

PaulBeckyBettyJamie