Using techniques from the film A King’s Speech a teacher is able to help student Musharaf Asghar overcome his stutter and speak for the first time in front of his peers. To watch supportive staff and students reduced to tears at the overwhelming power of his courage and achievement has touched me enormously.
Please forward this clip to others to shed some light on the positive role teachers and schools can play and what a fantastic thing it is to encourage risk taking as well as fostering a kind and compassionate student community.
A. Cyberbullying is using digital communications (like the Internet and cell phones) to make another person feel angry, sad or scared, usually again and again.
Many experts agree that intent and context are important, too. If the behavior was intentional, that’s clearly cyberbullying and there should be consequences. But if a kid inadvertently hurts another kid, then he or she may just need to learn better online behavior.
Either way, if your kid feels bad as a result of someone else’s online actions, then they may have been targeted and you should take it seriously. Kids’ conversations can be rowdy and rude. But if they’re not deliberately (and repeatedly) designed to inflict cruelty, and no one feels wronged, then chalk it up to juvenile antics. But keep an eye on it. Q. How is cyberbullying different from bullying?
A. All bullying is extremely hurtful to the target and can make kids feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, helpless, sad and angry. But cyberbullying is a particular form of bullying that often spreads faster and further to more people and can occur at any time of day or night.
Online messages can be more confusing or scarier than in-person communication because there are no face-to-face cues to help you understand people’s intentions. Helping kids recognize bullying will help them learn to better deal with it.
Kids may use more hurtful and extreme language online than offline. It’s not uncommon for cyberbullies to say things like “I wish you would die,” “You’re ugly,” and “Everybody hates you.” If a kid said these things out loud in public, a teacher, a parent or even another kid would probably overhear and intervene.
Cyberbullying can happen anytime, whereas regular bullying generally stops when kids go home. Your kid could get a text, an email or see a post — or posts — on Facebook at any moment.
Cyberbullying can be very public. Posts can spread rapidly to a large, invisible audience because of the nature of how information travels online.
Cyberbullies sometimes act anonymously, whereas, with traditional bullying, it’s often clear who the bully is. Anonymity is a cloak that bullies hide behind. Not only does it encourage the bully to be more brazen, it makes him or her hard to trace.
In-person bullying can cause both physical and emotional harm. Cyberbullying causes “only” emotional harm (though it can lead to physical bullying, as well).
Q. What are some examples of cyberbullying?
A. Usually, cyberbullying is characterized by repeated cruelty. Whether this was a thoughtless, one-time prank or a more deliberate act of cruelty, it sounds as if your kid was humiliated over and over as every kid saw the picture. That’s what matters most. Hopefully, the kids’ parents were notified and your kid recovered.
Here are some other examples of behavior that could cross the line into cyberbullying:
Sending a mean email or IM to someone
Posting mean things about someone on a website
Making fun of someone in an online chat
Doing mean things to someone’s character in an online world
Creating a hostile environment in an online world or game
Impersonating someone online — including creating a fake online profile
Repeatedly texting someone to the point of harassment
Directly threatening or intimidating someone online or in a text
Starting rumors or spreading gossip online
Stealing someone’s password and logging into someone else’s account
Taking a photo or video and sharing it without the subject’s consent, knowing it might be embarrassing
Q. How do you have the conversation with another parent about their kid’s bullying?
A. If your kid is bullied by someone he or she knows, you should probably talk it over — face-to-face — with the kid’s parents. These steps can help you achieve a cooperative conflict resolution that will get everyone working together.
Schedule a meeting. While your impulse may be to confront the kid’s parents immediately, it’s better to set a time to meet and discuss the situation in a civilized manner.
Explain that you’re there for your kid. Say that your kid reported the incident and you wanted to follow up. That takes the heat off of the parents and allows you both to discuss your kids’ actions.
State your goal. Yes, you’re angry and hurt, but your goal should go beyond blaming. You want to end the bullying and have your kids stop engaging in destructive behavior.
Let the other parent talk. Hear them out; they may have information that you don’t know.
Bring the evidence. Show printouts or the devices on which the bullying occurred.
Work together. As much as possible, try to enlist the other parent so you can work as a united front.
Talk about next steps.Create a plan for how to proceed as well as a check-in schedule so you can see how things are progressing. Depending on whether things calm down or escalate, you may need to bring in a neutral party — a teacher, counselor, even a community leader — to deal with the problem and help you all move forward.
I’d love to give you the top 5 teachers who were once musicians, but this will have to do:
KISS frontman Gene Simmons (aka The Demon) was actually a 6th Grade teacher at a Manhattan public school for six months before quitting the classroom for the stage. He’s since said that he realised he went into teaching because he wanted people to notice him – but he preferred the idea of performing in front of thousands of fans rather than a few dozen kids.
If you remember 80s hit Don’t Stand So Close to Me, you might also recall seeing Sting dressed as a school teacher in the film clip (www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNIZofPB8ZM). The man who shot to fame with The Police worked as a teacher in a primary school in North East England for two years. He admits he wasn’t very good at it, because he only taught things he was interested in … poetry and soccer.
Prep teacher Art Garfunkel (of legendary duo Simon & Garfunkel) is a talented mathematician. After going to teachers’ college, he was still working in the classroom in Connecticut just after Bridge Over Troubled Water (www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-PNun-Pfb4) became a massive hit.
“If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad,” according to Sheryl Crow. Well, teaching was the career that made the Missouri singer-songwriter happy before a string of hits earned her millions. Crow started out as an elementary school music teacher – working in the classroom by day and singing in bands on evenings and weekends.
Our last musician on the list is sweatband-wearing Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler. His mother was a teacher and, before he formed the band and hit the big time, a young Knopfler taught English in a UK college and visited schools in the countryside several times a week teaching kids guitar skills.
OK, just because it’s you, here’s a bonus five celebs who have also worked in the classroom …
Mr T (best known for playing BA Baracus in The A-Team and his appearance in Rocky III) was a public school gym teacher in the US. We pity the fool who dared to mess around in his class.
John Hamm (Don Draper in drama series Mad Men) was an 8th Grade drama teacher before finding fame on the small screen.
Australia’s own Hugh Jackman is known for sticking to a tough fitness regime to prepare for roles like Wolverine. What you might not know is he also worked as a PE teacher in the UK in the late 80s.
Finally, two best-selling authors: The master of horror, Stephen King (think The Shining, Misery) used to be an English teacher, and Dan Brown (best known for the mega-hit The Da Vinci Code) was also an English and Spanish teacher.
Cyberbullying has become a normal practice and it’s all our fault. Parents, teachers and school administrators have completely dropped the ball on this one. Cyberbullying is a significant issue and it requires all its stakeholders to assume responsibility and work together. We must focus on this issue before it gets even worse:
More than half of children and young people in England accept cyber-bullying as a part of everyday life, a new survey has found.
But parents and teachers say they do not feel they are equipped to deal with the growing problem of internet abuse.
Campaigners warned that cyber bullying had become ‘an everyday problem for today’s children’ and demanded better education to tackle the phenomenon.
More than half of children polled – 55 per cent – said cyber-bullying had become a part of life for children and young people, while 60.5 per cent of parents also said it had.
Keeping their children safe online is a major worry for parents, with 49 per cent complaining that the amount of access their child has to the internet leaves them struggling to monitor their behaviour online.
And 51 per cent say this makes them scared for the safety of their child.
However, the poll suggests that many families would struggle to respond if their child did fall victim to internet abuse.
Some 40 per cent of parents said they would not know how to respond if their child fell victim to cyber-bullies or how to set up filters on computers, tablets and mobile phones that could protect their children.
There were growing calls for online safety to be taught in more schools, with 69 per cent of teachers and 40 per cent of young people calling for it to be included in the national curriculum.
Nearly half of teachers – 43 per cent – admitted their school did not currently teach anything about cyber-bullying and online safety and 44 per cent admitted they did not know how to respond to cyber-bullying.
Almost a third – 32.1 per cent – of young people said that teaching schools, parents and children about internet safety would be the biggest step that can be taken to tackle cyber-bullying, yet just a fifth of children felt they were taught enough about it at school.
The major new survey, commissioned by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, underlines the struggle many families face trying to protect their children on the internet.
On this very blog I have been castigated by readers for calling sexting a very serious and problematic pastime. Some of my readers have insisted that sexting is just an innocent activity synonymous with a teenager’s tendency to be flirtatious and experiment with new ways of expressing their sexuality.
I couldn’t disagree more.
Like many other forms of controlling behaviour, it is often designed to pressure impressionable teens (mainly girls) to conform in a way that may lead them to serious humiliation in the short and long terms. Whilst sexting can be consensual, the research shows that is often done due to great pressure and with great reluctance:
Six out of 10 teenagers say they have been asked for sexual images or videos, an NSPCC/ChildLine survey seen by the BBC’s Newsnight programme suggests.
Of those questioned, 40% said they had created a sexual image or video, and about a quarter said they had sent one to someone else by text.
The NSPCC’s head, Peter Wanless, said “sexting” was getting much more common.
“These results show that sexting is increasingly a feature of adolescent relationships,” he told Newsnight.
“It is almost becoming the norm that a young person in a relationship should share an explicit image of themselves,” he said.
For the survey, NSPCC and ChildLine spoke to 450 teenagers from across the country.
Of those who had sent an image or video to someone else by text, 58% said the image had been sent to a boyfriend or girlfriend, but a third said they had sent it to someone they knew online but had never met.
About 15% said they had sent the material to a stranger.
Jonathan Baggaley National Crime Agency, Ceop command
Of those who said they had sent a photo to someone, 20% said it had then been shared with other people, while 28% said they did not know if their picture had been shared with anyone else.
More than half (53%) of those questioned said they had received a sexual photo or video, a third of whom had received it from a stranger.
“On many occasions I play both educator and caretaker, which I admit can make one feel stretched thin at times, but I can’t imagine shutting the door to my classroom and leaving all the troubles of my kiddos behind. How are my young scholars able to learn if they aren’t first met on an emotional level? My thoughts on the rewards of teaching are simple: the joy of watching a child dream and imagine and think significantly outweighs the exhaustion. I would not have it any other way.” – Emily E. Smith teaches English Language Arts at Cunningham Elementary School in Austin, TX
2. To positively IMPACT THE FUTURE of our world
“From the time I started teaching, I was less interested in being a certain type of teacher and more interested in showing the students that they had worth and value. I believe that the true purpose of a teacher is to prepare kids to be good citizens of the world–to be satisfied, well-rounded human beings, which is not entirely about knowledge. A great measure of success is your ability to think critically and be intentional with your life.” – Josh Anderson teaches Debate, Forensics, and English at Olathe Northwest High School in Olathe, KS
3. To live with a deep SENSE OF PURPOSE
“Teachers have many precious opportunities to build a student’s self-concept, help shape a dream, provide redirection, and impart knowledge and wisdom… Having these opportunities and acting on them is what I value most about being a teacher. I don’t think of it as a job. It’s a purpose for living.” – Alma Suney Park teaches 6th grade at Eastside College Preparatory School, East Palo Alto, CA
4. To GET A LETTER like this
When Los Angeles teacher Rafe Esquith sent a check to help out a former at-risk student who was attending NYU, here’s an excerpt of the response he received: “I appreciate your willingness to help me. It reminds me (as if I could ever forget) that you are one of the greatest people I have ever had the honor to meet. But I’d much rather the money you are offering me go to the class, so that one day maybe some other kid will be in a position like mine. And while I’m on that subject I just have to tell you, I tell our story to anyone who will listen. Rafe, I honestly believe I would be dead right now if it wasn’t for you. I was headed down a dark path, where drug dealing didn’t seem so bad and the acceptance of a gang was looking like the only way to be accepted. You saved me from that.”
5. To discover your TRUE CALLING
“Eleven years ago, I began teaching high-school mathematics in Harlem and I’ve never looked back. Every day, my life has purpose. Every day, I make a difference. I teach content, even advanced placement statistics and advanced placement microeconomics at the college level, but I teach so much more. Simply by engaging in spontaneous reasoned dialogue with students, I offer them new ways of perceiving the world around them. I teach life skills; I teach morals; I teach wise choices; I teach compassion. I spend time with youngsters who need an adult who treats them with respect and kindness.” – Jane Klir Viau, left her lucrative Wall Street career to become an AP Statistics and Microeconomics teacher at the Frederick Douglass Academy 1 in New York City, NY
6. To be the ONE CARING ADULT in a child’s life
“I teach in a neighborhood labeled by the national media as ‘the killing zone.’ Some days it feels more like a third-world country–there’s so much violence, ignorance, drugs, poverty, etc. There are classes where my students don’t ever pick up their instruments–we just talk about something that’s upsetting or worrying them. In this neighborhood, things happen all the time that deeply affect these kids. Many of them don’t have an adult to go to. I leave my door open so that the children understand I am a listener for them, and if I’m not the right person to help, I’m going to find the right person.” – Helena Moss-Jack teaches Instrumental Music at Elmhurst Community Prep and Alliance Academy Middle School in Oakland, CA
7. To experience personal GROWTH
“Teaching reflects you. If you can look at that reflection, you will really learn about yourself. That humbles me and brings me to tears when I talk about it. Because in the beginning, I was scared of what I saw. Kids find the cracks in your armor. It is not that they set out to, they just do. But if you are willing to step back and reflect, you can grow so much. It is a wonderful, unexpected caveat. You think you are going to teach, but boy, do you learn.” – Jay Hoffman teaches Multimedia, Broadcasting, and Social Media at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington, VT
8. To GIVE AND RECEIVE unconditional love
“I was brought up with unconditional love and that inspires me to this day to not be afraid to love with all I have. Anything I can share with my students to help them be more successful–anything–I don’t care what it is, I will do it. Whether it’s morals or math or motion–I just want to give them every tool I possess. I want my students to see the beauty and the value in themselves, and find the strength and confidence to journey down the path they were created to walk and give it all they have.” – Sharon Patelsky teaches Physical Education at Everglades Elementary School in West Palm Beach, FL
9. To be a STUDENT for life
“My job is simply to be the lead learner, to be real for my students, to be authentic–to make mistakes, to be passionate, to geek out, and to get very serious when I need to be. I often use the metaphor of my desk being in the far back corner of the classroom to illustrate this learner-centered philosophy. As much as anything, it’s an outward sign of what is valued in our class: we are all students.” – Sarah Brown Wessling teaches English Language Arts at Johnston High School in Johnston, IA, and was the 2010 National Teacher of the Year
10. To PAY IT FORWARD
“Throughout my childhood, I thrived at school. I was third in my class and was selected to the Hall of Fame by my teachers. Despite that, I really did not believe I had any important talents to offer this world. That is, until one day in 1974, in my public speaking classroom. It was my first speech and I stood in front of the class filled with anxiety, but when I started talking, it felt pretty good. Afterwards, my teacher, Ms. Derbonne, left me a note saying that I had just unwrapped a very special gift. Here was the defining moment in my young life: I was innately designed to speak. She invited me to be on her elite competitive speech team. The countless hours of guidance she provided resulted in my placing as a finalist at the state championship in dramatic interpretation. I knew then that I wanted to become a speech teacher, just like her. I had to keep the ripple effect going.” – Donna Porter teaches Oral Communications at Picayune Memorial High School in Picayune, MS
Step 1Brainstorm topic ideas. Your child will feel more confident making a speech if he is passionate about, or at least familiar with, the subject matter. Topics might include a favorite hobby, memories of a family vacation or a persuasive speech on why your child thinks he needs a bigger allowance.
Step 2Create a preliminary outline. Instruct your child to write down everything he knows about his chosen topic. For instance, your child might write down instructional details or tips and personal feelings about his favorite hobby.
Step 3Research online or at the local library. Fill in what your child knows with facts. For instance, if he is giving a speech about soccer, he might research the history of the sport. If he is describing a family vacation, he might look for information about the geography and culture of the vacation site.
Step 4Help your child organize the material into an introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction should be short, but catchy. Include a joke or anecdote to catch the audience’s attention. The body of the speech should include two to five main points accompanied by supporting facts. Your child may wish to include short stories in the body to weave a narrative. The conclusion is a brief summary of the speech. Help your child find an applicable quote or anecdote to wrap up the subject matter.
Step 5Encourage your child to write short notes on cards to help him if he gets lost during his speech. Don’t allow him to write the entire speech on cards, though, or he’ll be tempted to read and avoid eye contact.
Step 6Assemble an audience of friends and family so that your child can practice his speech in a non-threatening environment. Encourage your child to speak slowly and engage his audience with eye contact. If he is fidgety, it may help him to hold onto a podium or table.
Step 7Address your child’s concerns before he gives his speech to a formal audience. Remind him that it is okay to feel nervous or scared. He doesn’t have to give the speech perfectly. Encourage him to relax and simply tell his story.
For all the persecution, bullying and inappropriate workplace demeanor handed out to women for no other reason than their gender. For all the glass ceilings and boys clubs, it figures that there would be one sanctuary, one workplace, where women were treated with more respect than men. It just so happens that the place where the sexism tables are turned is in my very line of work.
A crossing guard is forced to walk away from his profession for no other reason than he high-fived children. Of course the council saw that as inappropriate but didn’t want to say what they really felt, and instead used the “safety concern” excuse. We all know that the council was less worried about safety and more worried about a grown man high-fiving children.
Which leads me to the following question: What if it had been a woman crossing guard who high-fived kids? Still a safety concern? I think not.
I feel sorry for the crossing guard and completely understand why he walked away from his job. To stop high-fiving would be giving tacit approval to the subtext of his allegations. And whilst I don’t think male teachers or crossing guards should be high-fiving students, I sympathise with the clear double standards that are in play. The same double standards that sees female teachers often hug students and have them on their lap. The same double standards that gives female teachers lesser sentences for the same heinous crimes as their male counterparts.
But at the end of the day, whether you’re a crossing guard or a teacher, what’s more important than equality is the rights of children. I may be in the only field of work where men get treated worse than women, but that’s OK with me, because those kids deserve the very best of care regardless of who is put out or discriminated against.
Topical Teaching 