After reviewing the resources provided for grades 9-12 on the Netsmartz site, I was particularly drawn to the project example on cyberbullying. This activity is targeting a problem so relevant to students at the HS level in which I teach I could not help but look at this one closer. The project suggests reading an article on scenario involving cyberbullying. It then has students break intro groups where they write a letter together. Some groups write a letter to the bully, others to the victim. Each group has criteria where their letter is to be helpful, attempt ways to offer support, and to provide suggestions for moving forward. I liked this activity for its applicability to the students daily lives, for the opportunity to look at and empathize with individuals on both sides, and to have an opportunity to serve as the facilitator or problem solver in the letter writing portion. After viewing this I chose to create my own activity modeled on this to teach digital literacy issues (dangers of cyberbullying) while connecting it to content as well. I completed this activity with my ALT class. It is small group and lends itself well to discussion. I chose an article from the point of view of a current US politician who is consistently trolled by Americans on the opposite political spectrum. This article contained examples of numerous comments by the same troll who even at times made death threats. I also had a second article from the point of view of a high school girl who made a post condemning the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision and the backlash she received. We completed the project idea twice. We read each article aloud as a whole class. Then students worked in pairs to write their opposing letters in both instances. One to the bully/troll, and another to the victim. After the letters were written, pairs swapped them and discussed their approaches. This really led to meaningful discussion and in my opinion, a huge take away for the kids on how much cyberbullying can effect someone mentally or even their career. It was powerful. In the future I would simply make sure my students had more background if the article I choose is specific. For this activity I had to spend additional time I did not initially intend to explain the politician in article #1’s platform and views. This was necessary for them to better understand where the troll was coming from. I had to spend some time explaining the Roe v Wade decision and the implications of its reversal (what this could lead to) in order for them to fully grasp the weight of this reversal and the girl in article #2’s passion about it. Other than more background prior to the activity, I felt it was very beneficial for the kids to participate in and I will definitely be repeating this again.
