Our school has a Code of Conduct outlining appropriate student behaviours, but it does not mention cyberbullying directly. Students can be held accountable to the Code of Conduct for actions that occur outside the school (like online or in the community) if they have an adverse impact on members of the school community. The following sections of the Code of Conduct are relevant to bullying and cyberbullying:
References:
"Johnston Heights Student Code of Conduct," Johnston Heights Secondary School Student Agenda. Johnston Heights Secondary School, p. 16-17.
"Technology and Use Policy," Johnston Heights Secondary School Student Agenda. Johnston Heights Secondary School, p. 24.
Starting a conversation about cyberbullying- 5 Open-Ended Questions to Ask Students:
1. What do you value about your interactions online? What is positive for you?
2. How do you usually feel when interacting with others online? How do you cope with negative feelings?
3. Do you ever feel unsafe or unhappy about your interactions online? What about those interactions make you feel unsafe or unhappy?
4. If you could change one thing about how people interact online, what would it be and why?
5. How do your interactions with people online differ from your interactions with people in real life?
Kathryn: Hi Sarah, thanks for your share! I really like that your school has a separate tech use policy as mine seems to be missing that entirely. It's so important to have something that speaks directly to technology use as it's a huge part of our students lives. I think it would be good to see the tech use page referenced in the code of conduct so that it is clearly part of the expectations of all staff and students.
ReplyDeleteI also really like your questions! I think we are both secondary school teachers so we worded our questions in a similar fashion. I especially like question 5 as it requires student to really think about how they conduct themselves in real life vs. virtually.
Av3rill: Solid open-ended questions that will lead to interesting responses. A consideration when it comes to students is to break a 2-part question into two parts, (I have often noted that when responding to a 2-part question, students will answer only 1 part).
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing! You have done a thorough job of displaying your school's policies associated with bullying. Your questions are very thorough and give lots of room for students to provide thoughtful answers. I wonder if you might consider adding a question about frequency of unpleasant online experiences as well, just to get a sense of how often students are experiencing these things. Overall, great questions!