Bullying/Cyber-bullying

In my 611 Information and Technology in Educational Organizations class, we are discussing cyber-bullying.  It is a very serious topic that I don't think a lot of people understand.  Parents, teachers, and other adults can easily write it off as "messing around"? and think that it wont effect the kids being victimized.  But it does, it really does.  They're just kids, their emotions are still growing and things adults could easily write off aren't that easy to forget for a kid.  I think people forget that, or they think, that's not how bullying was when I was a kid so it can't be it.  We need to promote understanding in order to prevent kids like Jamey Rodemeyer from killing themselves for something that could have been prevented if only people listened or understood.

I think most kids don't understand what bullying is either, so I would have kids define bullying using any artistic mean necessary.  They can draw, paint, write, even take photographs to indicate what they feel bullying is.  Then I would set kids into groups, share their version of bullying, and discuss it.  Discuss how they feel about it, what they think it is, and the various forms it takes.  I believe this could help kids realize if they themselves are being bullies, and help those being bullied to gain more confidence about talking about it.  Then I would have a speaker come in to talk about bullying and its effects on people to really open their eyes.

There is not much we can do about parents, but at least with the kids we know we can make a difference.