Cyberbullying

In 2017, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that approximately 20% of youth ages 12-18 were victims of bullying at school.  Bullying examples included rumors, insults, a student being pushed, a student threatened with harm, and the list continues.  As an educator, I unfortunately face instances when a child bullies another child.  I am educated and equipped to help the children in the situation if it occurs in the library.  What frightens me is that a lot of bullying incidents happen on the school bus, in the bathroom, on the playground out of ear’s reach of teachers.  As well, I’m concerned that 20% is on the low end and I think the true percentage could be higher.  I wonder if this survey was administered to all students in the United States.  Students deal with a lot in today’s society.  The aforementioned study only included “school” as in on the bus, in the classroom, etc.  It doesn’t begin to identify if students are bullied in other ways, especially cyberbullying.  With the use of cell phones and devices, students are around their peers more than while they are just at school.  This leads to many instances of cyberbullying through email, text, and social media.

According to research from 2016, nearly 1/10 students (middle through high school) have sent a sext.  This isn’t surprising and I actually thought it may be higher regarding the widespread use and ownership of cell phones by teenagers.  What surprised me is that this rate significantly increased if a young person was simply asked to send one.  It increased and nearly 6/10 young people sent a sext when propositioned or asked to send one.  This shows how young people can be easily influenced or pressured into activities they may not intend to engage in through normal circumstances.

Bullying lasts long beyond the playground.  There are workplace bullies and “queen bees” who want to see coworkers fail or removed from positions.  Of advocacy groups for bullying I saw in the resources, there was even a “Workplace Bullying Institute” and this was something I never knew existed.  While I have never felt personally threatened by a colleague, I know some of my colleagues have.  As educators, we must complete modules each year for topics like blood borne pathogens, proper use of a fire extinguisher, and bullying (in regards to the children we work with daily).  It is good to know resources are available to adults who have felt threatened or bullied in the workplace.

Interestingly, as October is Bullying Prevention month, my guidance counselor and I are co-teaching this week in the library.  With our older students (2^nd-4^th grade), we are going to cover topics related to substance abuse because it is Red Ribbon Week.  Also, we are going to cover bullying, what to do if you are being bullied, and how to avoid being a bully.  We are going to show the Brain Pop, Jr. video (which was mentioned by AASL), but we are also going to use some of the videos seen here!  We will be reading You’re Mean, Lily Jean and Llama Llama and the Bully Goat to our younger students (K4-1^st grade).  We will also use some of the videos previously mentioned.  I found it so interesting that one of the resources from AASL mentioned guidance counselors and librarians teaching together for the topic of bullying and I am engaging in this activity this week!

Resources:

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). Indicators of          School Crime and Safety: 2018 (NCES 2019-047), Indicator 10.  Retrieved from                 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=719

Patchin, J. W. (2019, July 17). Youth Sexting in the US: New Paper in Archives of Sexual              Behavior. Retrieved from https://cyberbullying.org/youth-sexting-archives-sexual-behavior

Workplace Bullying Institute: Retrieved from https://www.workplacebullying.org/

Vibby!

     Tell me, teacher.  Have you ever found the “almost” perfect video to show your class, but there is a minute or two of irrelevance that turns you away?  Vibby is your answer!  Vibby is a “lightweight video editing tool” used by thousands of teachers to make the most of their time and their students’ time.  With Vibby, anyone can edit a video as long as they have the web link from YouTube, Facebook, Google Drive, Dropbox, Vimeo, and the list goes on!  Once the link is pasted, the next part is a breeze.  The user can edit/shorten videos to clip out the most important parts they want to show a class.  For example, I recently found a clip to show my class on bats, but there is a distracting part near the beginning.  With Vibby, I can create a new vib of the same video and clip the part I don’t care to show my students.  Vibby allows the user to pause the video to add comments or guiding questions.  Once edited and saved, the user can then share the link to the new video.

Steps for Getting Started:

·        Visit Vibby to learn more about this tool and how it could work for you!

·        Sign in with your Google (or other email account) and use the tool for free!

·        Find a video that is “publicly hosted” such as a YouTube video.

·        Copy/Paste the web link of your video into Vibby and click Start.

·        Edit your video to remove distractions and add comments.

·        Save and share your new video!

·        Follow others on Vibby to find more edited videos that work for you/your class.

Quick Education on Vibby (as seen on the website):

Applications for Education:

     As I opened this tool during my module review, I knew I had to try the tool.  I used a quick video on bats that I showed to one of my classes recently.  This video is publicly hosted on YouTube.  The video is fun, it shares some basic facts about bats, and it shows great video of bats eating.  However, there is about five seconds at the beginning that could cause some students to go crazy because there is a horse with large teeth laughing.  While it may not seem like a big deal, if one or two students think it’s hilarious, it could set the tone for the complete video and the time would be wasted trying to settle the class.  So, I pasted the link, deleted the distracting part, and voila, was ready to go.  I didn’t have to “play” with the video in front of the kids and have them ask why I was fast forwarding, etc.  Also, goodbye YouTube ads and other distractions!

     So, a basic application of this tool is to remove unwanted or unnecessary content from a video to deliver a cleaner version to students.

     Another perk of this tool is that you can add comments or guiding questions at various points in your video.  As a teacher or librarian, this would help add purpose to using a video during instructional time.  You could use it as a review to ask a question, or you could use it as a chance to make students stop and discuss something in the video with their neighbor, etc.

     Students can use Vibby themselves!  As most schools are one-to-one with technology, if a student has a device, they can use this tool.  The tricky part would be if students don't have access to YouTube or other sites.  If they do, I had this thought.  If a teacher is teaching the students about the phases of the moon, he/she can direct students to a specific video about the content.  The teacher can then tell students they must create a vib to show their understanding of the phases.  A student can copy/paste the moon phase video into Vibby and then edit it however they creatively see fit.  During editing, students can add comments.  I can see a student adding comments like “I see the moon in the such-and-such phase because this is happening” and so on. 

Final Thoughts:

     Vibby allows you to save your vibs (edited videos)—how nice to have things streamlined in one place versus having to search year after year.  Also, Vibby works like Twitter, etc. where you can follow others who create vibs.  You can then use/watch their vibs and get more ideas from awesome people!

     Why waste five minutes of instructional time when you can change a video and show your students what matters most in three minutes?  This tool could be a game changer for your classroom or library!

Assisting Students (and Teachers) with Snap and Read Technology

     Students who are differently abled need inclusion and statistics prove that this type of academic setting is beneficial for both mainstream students and students who receive special services.  As I read information for this week’s module, I reflected greatly on my work experience.  I have been an educator for 14 years and I have worked with students from special services each year.  As a 5^th grade Science and Social studies teacher, I taught general education classes.  However, daily students from a special education classroom would join us for these subjects.  These students each had an IEP (individualized education plan) with accommodations.  Close proximity of seating in relation to the teacher inside the classroom, oral administration of quizzes and tests, abbreviated tests, use of overlays during reading, and verbal prompting were often included on each IEP.  These accommodations were vital to the overall success of each student.  However, when a teacher is tasked with differentiating instruction for 25 students and then additional accommodations are added, it is sometimes difficult to pull a small group or individual for testing while administering a test to a full class of students.  My district recognized the needs of the students and the teacher in this type of situation and purchased Kurzweil.  Teachers were able to monitor students and ensure that students who needed oral administration were able to receive this service during testing.  Many other resources have become available in recent years to aid students who are differently abled and this has been such a positive change for students and teachers.

     After searching for a web tool which could be used as adaptive technology, I came across a tool called Snap and Read (Click here to go to the site!) which encompasses many of the technologies needed to assist students with the aforementioned needs/accommodations. The tool, Snap and Read, includes the following:

·        Read Aloud (It will read aloud websites, PDFs, etc. and in different languages.)
·        Text Leveling (It can adjust the level of text within minutes without changing meaning.)
·        Translation (translates into 100+ languages)
·        Study Tools (can put text into outline to allow for note-taking)
·        Remove Distractions (will remove unnecessary content from a webpage)
·        Color Overlay (allows a user to change colors to highlight text)
·        Picture Supported Dictionary
·        Bibliographer (allows citing on the spot)
·        Screenshot Reader (users can select a box of text and it will be read aloud)
·        Readability Analyzer (gives text level of a web page)
·        Data Collector (allows the teacher to see how much students read and grade-level of text)
·        Annotation (allows note-taking and saving of text from PDF or web pages)

     It is employed in over 3,000 school districts, benefiting students greatly.  It can be used in many formats (Google Chrome extension, iPad app, online, PDFs, and the list goes on).  The pricing is also very reasonable ($4.99/month per subscription or $0.50-2.00 per student annually if purchased for multiple students within a school district).  I signed up for a free trial and tested the product out!  I really enjoyed the “Remove Distractions” feature and think this would be beneficial for students, especially the young students I teach.  I also changed the text on one website to simplify vocabulary.  It changed the word astronaut to “space travelers” in one part of the text.  I am not sure if this is totally helpful as most students would know what an astronaut is, but they may be more likely to know the word space before astronaut.  I used the overlay feature and screenshot reader features and both worked well.  I think this tool would be helpful overall but students (and teachers) would need a tutorial to know how to use it.  As well, it would be important to train students to actually use the tools in their toolkit.

     In conclusion, I am thankful that there are tools like this one available.  Students have such an opportunity today that wasn’t around even 10 years ago to aid their educational careers.  Also, teachers are the beneficiary in this situation as well and are now more equipped to help students with various needs.

“Makey-Makey” Technology Part of your Classroom as you Replace, Amplify, and Transform Learning

Educators want and need technology integration in classrooms today.  Our world is in constant collision with technology and to prepare 21st Century learners, teachers must develop lessons with technology integration.  As many schools push to become 1 : 1 with devices, technology integration is easier than ever before because students have access.

Originally, the RAT (Replacement, Amplification, Transformation) Model, was created for PK-12 education.  It has been implemented in higher education as well to help preservice teachers and teachers increase technological decision-making (Hughes).  The RAT acronym is a manageable way to remember your expectations for student learning.  The graphic below is great at explaining the process of the RAT model.

Using a technology tool and the RAT Model can lift your lessons to new heights!  Using Makey-Makey kits can allow students to take ownership in their learning as you help them move through the RAT model.  If the students can have a learning experience that is comparable to a flying car (as seen above in the model), the retention of the lesson will be a wonderful bonus.

What are Makey-Makey kits?

I found a great explanation of what these kits entail in a free resource from the Makey-Makey site in the section of FREE lesson plan ideas (Did someone mention FREE lesson plans?).  Here is a snippet of what a Makey-Makey kit is and how it can be used in the classroom.

Here is what a Makey-Makey kit looks like!

You may be thinking that a Makey-Makey kit looks complicated, but I assure you that once you use it and experiment a few times, you’ll have no problem using all those wires (all wires are not necessary by the way)!  Also, trust me when I say your students will catch on with no problem—they’ll most likely figure out things you haven’t and teach you!  Of course, to use the Makey-Makey kit, you will want to use a computer and most likely the platform of Scratch to help with coding your student projects. (Click here for the Scratch coding site!)

How can I use a Makey-Makey kit with the RAT model?

Original Lesson Plan: After extensive teaching of story elements within picture books, students create books of their own with paper, pencil, crayons, and markers.  Students include character(s), setting, events, problem, and solution in their creation.  Students read their stories aloud to the class or peers..

 

Replacement: The teacher still teaches story elements and book-making, but uses the tools of Makey-Makey, Scratch, and a chrome book to show students how to code characters (sprites in Scratch) talking and how to create characters in a story.  This is more of a modeling stage to helping students understand how the Makey-Makey kit can work with the coding program of Scratch.  In Scratch, there are functions for voice recording, backgrounds, dialogue bubbles, etc.

Amplification:  Students work together using the aforementioned tools to experiment and create a story with a scene (setting) and it can change during the story which is nice.  They will create characters and dialogue for the story as well.  As they work, they will have to test codes to see what works best to bring their stories to life.  Students can work individually or in pairs (really dependent on how many Makey-Makey kits the teacher has available).

Transformation: Students will set up the Scratch stories to fit with codings of the Makey-Makey kits.  This will allow students to have an interactive station for other students to visit and listen to their stories.  Students can attach cards (with conductive materials like a banana, play-doh, or copper tape) that say Character(s), Setting, Problem, Solution to the Makey-Makey kit.  These cards can also be picture representations.  As visitors come to listen, they can enjoy a student-created story and then tap the various cards to learn more about the story elements present in their classmates’ stories.

Ultimately, students will need a good bit of time to experiment with the chrome book, Scratch, and Makey-Makey kits, but once students complete a project, future projects go very quickly!  .

Helpful Links to Get Started with Makey-Makey and Scratch!

For more information, ideas, and resources for Makey-Makey kits, click here!

For more information, ideas, tutorials for Scratch, click here!

Scratch Interactive Stories

Resources:

Hughes, J. (2010-2019). Replacement, Amplification, and Transformation: The R.A.T. Model.                   Retrieved from https://techedges.org/r-a-t-model/

Kelly. (2016, March 1). The RAT Model. [Blog post]. Retrieved from                                  https://instructionaldesignbykelly.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/the-rat-model/