Blog Post 11 - Honduras Movie

Classroom Web Page Design

https://sites.google.com/a/eagles.usm.edu/ms-herring-s-5th-grade-science-classroom/course-information

Cyberbullying

The article, "Cyber-bullying Seems to Ramp Up in Middle School" shows how bullying progresses from from verbal and physical bullying to cyber-bullying when students enter 5th and 6th grades. Researchers questioned 1,180 students about bullying and observed their behavior, and the results were shocking. They classified students into four categories: frequent victims, occasional victims of traditional bullying, occasional victims of  cyber-bullying, and infrequent victims of bullies. They found that half of the students were infrequent victims of bullying and eleven percent were frequent  victims of bullying.

The article also addressed the different ways to address cyber-bullying because it is different for boys and girls. Girls are more often the targets of cyber-bullying, while boys are more often physically bullied. Teachers need to start prevention and intervention programs in 6th-8th grade, focusing of proper social media use.

Common Sense Media Application

The Common Sense Media App could be a great addition to my classroom because it provides a comprehensive list of interesting, stimulating, fun, and educational games for students. The App has a specific section that is designated for educational games, and this section is divided up by ages for ease of use. There is a growing desire to implement more technology into schools, and if this takes off, as it seems to be doing, soon students will have access to an iPad or the like in their classroom. There are many games to choose from, and it is great that you cannot actually play the games on the app. So many choices can easily distract kids. Instead the teacher can look through review on the game and the scores it received in several different fields to find the best games for her students. It might also be a good thing for the teacher to tell parents about. Many parent want to do all they can to see their child succeed in school, and the teacher can help them by finding and informing them of games that correspond with classroom lessons. Not all schools will be able to provide students with iPads or other devices, but most parents have an iPhone, and the next time their child begs to play on it parents will have a good reason to allow them to do so.