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On October 23rd, I watched the video "Rita Pierson: Every Kid Needs a Champion". This was a very uplifting and inspiring speech.
Rita Pierson talked from a student's point of view. She says why students drop out and what it takes for them to learn. She talked about more than what will engage a students in a lesson but also ethics teachers should have to keep their students to feel important. She also points out that teachers do make mistakes, but it is not always bad because students do not care, they just want to learn. My favorite part was when she told her students that they were chosen, that they were better than the other classes. I am not even her students but that made me feel amazing.
This was probably my favorite video. I loved when she put a plus two and a smiley face when a student missed eighteen questions. When the student asked why he got a smiley face, she responded "you got two right at least it wasn't zero". That completely changed how I felt about students that miss a lot of questions on tests or homework. In school, kids usually make fun of others who do not do well on assignments to make themselves feel better about their score. At least these students tried and they got something right, which means they are going in the right direction. Whatever they did get right means they learned something, which as a teacher, is what you want. Showing the students that you care makes them want to try their best.
I read the article "Implementing Safeguards Against Cyberbullying" on August 22nd. This article was assigned and talks about the serious issue of cyberbullying.
This is a step-by-step article for parents to help prevent cyberbullying. It brings to attention the major issue that cyberbullying is and how it can be prevented. Cyberbullying has been a serious problem and a huge cause of deaths among younger people. It is sad to think that people are hurt so badly that they have to go to the measures they do. The first point the article brings up is having a home computer instead of a personal computer because with personal computers kids can hide their feelings inside them. I agree with this because that stage of growing up and maturing is the group that is involved the most in cyberbullying, but also the group that most likely will keep their feelings inside of them in fear of being hurt or embarrassed.
I think this article is helpful to parents because this way they can be more involved in their children's lives. These are good things to think about, although I do not believe a parent needs to make their own account and follow their kids around by getting alerts every time their child's name is mentioned on a social networking site. At this time in the kid's life, they start wanting to feel like their parents trust them and coming down harder on them will only make them push away more. As a parent I would talk about cyberbullying with my children and help them to be self advocates for themselves to prevent cyberbullying because I do not want them to log on to an account, fearing that someone wrote something bad about them.
Cyberbullying is addressed in schools but I do not think they make a big enough deal about it. Maybe once a year they will show a couple videos but after that is it not brought up until the next year. Kids do not realize how big of an effect cyberbullying can make on another kid's life. Kids often forget that they are talking to a real human being with feelings, rather than just their computer screen. There are countless kids who committ suicide every year becuase of hurtful things said on the internet about them. As a teacher I will be sure to let every kid I teach know that I am always there for them. Sometimes just having one person to talk to can make all the difference.