Our school has been suffering from a bit of bad press lately. I will not rehash it all here, but suffice it to say that an administrator has been put on temporary leave and everything bad that can be said about a person who has been working as a disciplinarian in a public school setting has been said. Not just said, but printed in the local paper.
Now, some students have posted a video titled "Willard Sucks" to a site holding a contest for students encouraging change in their school. Other schools were installing wind turbines, managing food waste, etc. Our kids were griping about cafeteria food and how the teachers don't listen.
I have removed the link to the video because I have decided that I was just adding to the negative publicity.
I hate to think that linking to their video is validating them. But I also think it is important for us as educators to consider the variety of ways our students will use these new tools. Have any of us crafted lessons about the impact of public posting on our communities? In a sense, this is a bit of cyber-bullying, at least because it made all the teachers feel picked-on and victimized. Also, the teacher whose name was used to post the video without his permission is extremely upset.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Well, at least they are using the tools...
Since they don't mention names of specific teachers, not sure it qualifies as cyber-bullying. They are expressing an opinion, vehemently, in tasteless language, but they make a point. Sometimes the beginning of change is recognition of the complaint. I hope this video serves to open a dialogue between students and your administration, and that it is used as a springboard for positive change.
I liked the commentary on the original quantumshift.tv site.
Good to post it here. It is important to see how web 2.0 tools are used by individuals wanting to make a difference. Just curious.... How was the film and its creators taken by school authorities? Do school policies cover freedom of expression? I agree that this is not exactly cyber-bullying. It is a good discussion-starter on the topic of Communication and Information Literacy.
Ouch.
"Develop and execute an environmental, human rights or social justice project" say the contest guidelines. This one is just a gripe, not a project. Though not exactly cyberbullying it does raise the issue of cyber ethics, a topic inadequately addressed by all of us in our classrooms, I think. Of course it raises issues about how things are really going at school, too (though I find the food complaint hard to stomach [ha ha], knowing the breadth of the food program of the district). Waiting for the bus in the rain is a drag no matter where you are.
One thing to consider when evaluating the issue of validating a questionable piece of work by featuring it, is that you could just put the link to the quantumshift site, and say the title, so that it wasn't so easy for the whole public who are avidly following your blog to just click and watch it. It makes you take one more step to go see it. It also makes you watch it in the context of what all the other videos are about.
Post a Comment