Internet Bullying at its Worst

Remember the Star Wars Kid, a kid ruined by his peers via the internet. A kid that had to move into a mental treatment facility in order to complete his education without ridicule. A kid permenantly changed by internet bullying. Now, think of Britney Spears, a woman having a breakdown in the media spotlight. Thanks to new found technologies the internet bullying occuring to poor Ms. Spears makes the Star Wars Kid look like fluffly puppies. Britney has been attacked by all media sources in America, and her breakdown has most likely been featured on gossip sights around the world. One website in particular is Perez Hilton, the gossip gangster, who has been regularily posting horrible photoshoped imagery of the fallen starlet on his blog site.
Now, I am a fan of Britney, and of Perez, but I must point out the horrendous bullying going on by the world. Technology has allowed anyone with internet access to be apart of Britney's demise, to essentially push her a little further for a laugh. I understand Perez's position is to provide gossip for the public, this making him gross amounts of money of course, but I think it is sick that the world, including myself, feeds off of this gossip and demoting people's self-esteem. Some might say that Britney is a personality and knew what she was getting into when she became famous. I agree that there is a different line to cross when dealing with Hollywood personalities, but I think society has crossed this line in the case of Britney, I know we are all curious, but maybe it is time to let the poor woman get her life back and enjoy motherhood.
For educators with older students, make sure you point out what is and is not internet bullying, help them understand this fine line and make them critically think about what they are doing or participating in. If we want our students to contribute effectively to society then we are going to have to tell them the nitty gritty about the society that they live in.

View Perez Hilton for more examples on internet bullying!

Blogged out!

I really enjoy blogging, I think it is a great way to share your voice with a greater community, I have even taught all of my grade two students how to blog, it is a fantastic invention. This being said, did everyone have to join the blog wagon at the same time. Out of the five classes that I am currently enrolled in this semester three of them are using technology to aid in reflection of course content and experiences. I am trying to read blogs, publish blogs, and moderate my own students blogs everyday and I am just feeling a little overwhelmed. There is currently too much of a good thing going on for me. This overwhelming blog experience has caused me to think about the effect of students though. If I, in university, am feeling overwhelmed keeping up with three blogs, think of how our younger students feel about being pressured to blog. They may sit down at a computer with literacy or comprehension issues, possibly not even being able to type fast enough to get their thoughts down on the page. What should our expectations be for students to make sure that they feel successful on their blog?

Library What?

A long long time ago, I can still remember,
When the smell of books would make me cry
And I said bye bye big library
Some day later I'll be braver and I'll go through your door,
but for now I'll have to say bye bye,
For now I'll have to say bye bye!

This rendition of American Pie, was created by myself in response to myself and my group during the research of a reading project. The first place that we looked for information for our project was on the internet, and this seems pretty normal for us. What was unusual is that the internet did not have the information that we needed. We were amazed, and astounded that we actually found the information in a book.

I was very surprised at how fast things have changed. It was only a few years ago that books and the dewy decimal system were a reality in my life and now I am not even sure what to do with information that I find in a book.

I am sure this is happening a lot with older students as well in elementary and secondary schools. Students, including myself, prefer the convenience of instant knowledge rather than dredging through a library to find their information. Not to mention that books and photocopies take up actual physical space, where as information found on a computer can be moved and stored easily.

Things to think about!

On the Map for the Wrong Reasons!

Our city has had its 15 minutes of fame during the month of January and what a roller coaster month it has been. Named as having "Canada's Worst Neighborhood" by Macleans Magazine, Regina has gone under the microscope by any Canadian who has read the article. The four page spread in the magazine stated that residents of Regina's North Central Neibourhood were living in conditions comparable to third world countries. It also argued what is and is not being done for the community.
Since the article was publish Mayor Pat Fiacco has show much resentment and backlash towards the magazine; I have heard rumors of him throwing copies into a wood chipper. But amidst the controversy things have actually been looking up for the inner city community. Two more articles have been published in Macleans since the original article, one stating Fiacco's feelings on the subject and the other stating the changes and public feelings within the neighbourhood.
I feel that having Regina flagged as a problem city for poverty has forced our municipal and provincial governments to really look closely at what is being done for this neighbourhood. Because of the article Regina will now have its first Urban Reserve with in the North Central Area. This is an exciting time for our city, I hope that Macleans continues to nag this city into improvement. I can't wait to see what type of positive things emerge from this odd publicity.

Mums the Word!

I read a recent article on a drastic safety measure taken by a Rhode Island school. The school decided on having a "silent lunch" after three students choked during the noon hour. Now, thinking back to my internship and being a lunchroom supervisor I can see the reasoning behind this and understand that it probably cut down on the schools choking problem. This being said, I do feel that the noon hour should provide students with unstructured social time, which is a much needed part of any students academic life and that having a "silent lunch" may not be the wisest strategy to dealing with the problem. My questions to the strategy were 1. how will this be enforced? and 2. how will this affect classroom management after the noon hour? The article said that the school did not expect total silence, just enough to be safe, and that they would issue lunch detentions as a consequence. Unfortunately, I have no answers to my questions, but rest assured I will put this safety strategy right up there with "remove the slide but let them tobbaggan towards the street" strategy.

Here is a link to the article

In Need of Creative Input!

As I have probably mentioned before I created a blog for my grade 2 students during internship. This blog was a great success; parents, fellow educators, and the students fell in love with the idea of being connected to the global community. During internship I would post photos for parents and discuss the happenings each day. I would also post art, movies, websites and other student work. The students would also take time during the week to add their own content on their own page.
Now, I am no longer in internship, I no longer take pictures of the students to post or no what they are doing day to day. I do post a picture for the Star of the Week every week but I feel that it lacks variety. I know the kids are learning about animals within the province and adding strategies. What could I be doing on the blog to engage students to use it for more than it is currently being used for?

Room 210

Mail Merge Murder!

It is getting down to crunch time for applying for teaching jobs so I thought I would get on the band wagon and get all of my application packages done early. Ahhh. After learning about mail merge in class a couple of my friends decided that they would use it for saving time on their coverletters. This successfully worked for them, so they sent me their data base, seeing as we are applying for the same jobs. Well, could I open the darn thing, no. So here is what I did:
1. Check to see why I couldn't open it. It was an mbd file and I don't have a program for that.
2. Tried to download Open Office. It was too complicated for my Mac.
3. Go to my mom's house because she had Open Office.
4. Realize that the database will never open and create a new one.
5. Finish typing in all of the fields and then realizing that the program doesn't actually work.
6. Copy and past my coverletter 8 times.
7. Erase all the field and type in the information, again.


Now, I know that this thing should have worked, but it seems like Murphy's Law occured when something so simple became so painstakingly difficult. Maybe I just didn't understand one simple thing that I was doing wrong, or maybe the program had a but, or maybe I just have bad luck. Either way, here are some questions for you.

How do we get our students to continue with technology when the easy things fail for them? Or, how do we convince our older colleagues to use technology when they could have rotten experiences such as this?

I would love to hear what you think!