Why Educators Should Blog

Edubabbling for the Masses! features K-12 Teaching Resources for teachers, students, and parents. In the blog, created by an educator from Canada, you’ll find ideas to motivate yourself and your students, current events, opinions, and resources. Some of the latest blog entries include reasons why you should get involved in blogging, ELL instructional strategies, information on whether bullying prevention programs are working, and four of the top trends in Education for 2013-2014. 

So, what does Edubabbling consider the emerging trends? Answer: virtual learning, personalized learning, early childhood education, and environmental/outdoor education. How about you? What do you think are the top trends for this school year?

The Importance of Empathy in our Lives

Think of how empathy can thrive in your classroom and take action to grow. According to author Homa Tavengar, in the Edutopia piece Empathy: The Most Important Back-to-School Supply, “Empathy isn’t just a nice thing to do; it’s an essential, active skill.” It helps us understand what it’s like to step into someone else’s life and problems. Tavangar likens empathy to a muscle, which develops with exercise—with practice.  Children in our classrooms need to grow well-developed empathy muscles so that the compassion, altruism, and empathy that lie within them can mature.  The author recommends following the program “Start Empathy”, by Ashoka, that features a “three-step fitness plan to build the empathy muscle.”

So—instead of talking about bullies and cyberbullies, why not focus on those atrophied empathy muscles that need to be exercised?  It may be the best cure to growing school and online problems.

The Ophelia Project—All About Cyberbullying

As of July 2013, all curriculum downloads of The Ophelia Project resources are free. These include information about relational aggression and five critical steps teachers can take to help students, the Cyberbullying OneSheet, and resources for teachers, parents, administrators, mentors, and middle school and high school students. On the site, you can browse by curriculum such as K-8 Classroom Meetings, High School Self-Empowerment, Grades 4-5 Friendship Unit, and Youth Leadership.

Bullying Prevention Month

The United States Department of Education offers a free training toolkit that targets bullying in classrooms. The materials in the kit give teachers the knowledge and skills needed “to intervene in bullying behavior and to de-escalate threatening behaviors at school. The two-part resource includes “Understanding and Intervening in Bullying Behavior” and “Creating a Supportive Classroom Climate”.

Cyberbullying Whitepaper

Preventing Cyberbullying: A Guide to Safe and Responsible Internet Use in the Digital Age is a white paper sponsored by EdgeWave that includes information about cyberbullying as it relates to the law and legal problems, why blocking doesn’t seem to be the answer to cyberbullying, and four steps to take to combat bullying in your school. To download the paper, you need to sign in to the free T.H.E. Journal website, and while in the White Paper section of the magazine, you may want to browse some of the other papers offered.

Power of Three

The Power of Three ($1.99) is an app created by a super teacher and librarian, who has received many state and national awards for her work with children and technology. The app is an example of what dedicated teachers can create to provide the learning materials they need for their students. An interactive eBook, it’s perfect for children and a nice resource for teachers, parents, grandparents, and librarians to use with children. The Power of Three is an excellent vehicle for promoting discussion in the classroom and discussion between children and adults. Not only does it tackle number fun and meanings, it also takes on problems that children, who seem a bit different, face in the classroom.  To combat bullying of any kind, respect and empathy for others needs to be developed in children. Using the Power of Three will give adults a way to work on these qualities with their children/students.

Anti-Bullying Brochure

Think Twice Play Nice is a downloadable guide that uses children’s literature to help combat bullying. Targeted for use by teachers, students, librarians, and other school personnel, the publication urges students to stand up against those who aren’t being kind and respectful. Ideas are given for all age students and are tied to Common Core standards. Literature included in the guide ranges from Bootie Barker Bites, for ages 4 to 8, to The Orange Houses, for ages 14 and up. This excellent resource features information about books to use for different age students and reluctant readers, bookxs such as Bullyproof Your Child for Life for parents, and thought-provoking books for young adult students. It’s a must for teachers of language arts and teachers who are looking for ways to help students better understand the consequences of bullying, whether online or offline.

Can Reading Fiction Students Understand Each Other?

Psychologist Raymond Mar of York University in Canada completed a study that concluded that reading about social interaction and engaging in social interaction helped individuals better understand the feelings of others (Annie Murphy Paul, New York Times Sunday Review, 3/17/12).  In additional studies, Dr. Mar, together with Dr. Keith Oakley, professor emeritus, University of Toronto, and others, found that those who “frequently read fiction seem to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them, and see the world from their perspective.”

It’s known that many students prefer to use their digital devices for reading.  With this in mind, promoting the use of devices such as iPads and Kindles for reading fiction may encourage those who won’t pick up a traditional book to get back on the path to reading. Not only will this practice in reading help them in their school work and standardized test-taking skills, it will, as the Canadian studies conclude, help them gain a better understanding of others and their feelings. Perhaps, a step forward in our drive to stop student bullying might be to require additional required reading of fiction and to spend more time turning students on to the joys of reading novels during their leisure time.

Digital-Age Students—Must Reads

If you are looking for resources about cyberbullying, don’t just look to the Web or to outside speakers. With Middle School and Upper Elementary students, you may want to consider the book, The Revealers, by Doug Wilhelm. It features three bullied seventh graders who take action against the bullying in their school. In Operation Redwood, by S. Terrill French (Grades 3 up), a group of students use their digital skills to oppose those who are about to commit an environmental crime. On Nim’s Island (Grades 3 up), by Wendy Orr and Kerry Millard, a young girl is stranded on an island with her pets, a sea lion and an iguana. Through the use of email, she gets the help she needs and in the process saves the island from being transformed into a tourist attraction.

Kids Who Bully; Kids Who Abuse Substances

An Ohio State study asked over 74,000 students in middle and high schools in Franklin County, Ohio about bullying and substance abuse.  Researchers found that students who bully and those who are both bullies and victims are more likely to get involved with substance abuse such as drinking, smoking, and/or using marijuana.  According to lead author Kisha Radiff, “Our findings suggest that one deviant behavior may be related to another.” Although classroom teachers and principals have surely guessed that this true, they also realize that not all those who bully become substance abusers and not all substance abusers are bullies. It was estimated by the Ohio researchers that about 30 percent of Middle School students bully, while 23 percent bully in high school.  Substance abuse percentages were significantly higher among high school students.  Do the acts of bullying and substance abuse spring from the same needs within some students, and if so, why?