For this assignment, I took an existing lesson plan from mediasmarts.ca, Introduction to cyberbullying: Avatars and identity, and adapted it to challenge students to create a project that showed how a powerful digital bystander could help when they witness cyberbullying.
I kept the first exercise in because I like how it set the scene for what the lesson would be about without directly saying the lesson was about cyberbullying from the start. I believe that this introduction will be a more engaging introduction for the students because they get to be active and a little silly.
Next, I added an activity where the class discusses what a digital bystander is and have students talk about different types of digital bystanders. After the discussion, check-in with the class and have them offer ideas of what a powerful/positive bystander can do when they are confronted with cyberbullying. After this check for understanding, there is a handout with tips for being a positive bystander for the students to use while doing the assessment activity.
The original assessment activity didn’t seem to match the more active roleplaying start to this lesson. Hence, I decided to change it so students would be in groups of four creating Flipgrid videos. Students are responsible for writing a script and filming a shot 3-6 minute video where a digital bystander takes on a powerful/positive position when faced with cyberbullying. I wanted this to be an open project so students can frame it any way they like. Maybe it’s a news report, or a TikTok “storytime,” a dramatic play, or any other framing device they want to use to make it relevant to their own experiences.
As groups finish their videos, they can watch videos from other groups. Once all the groups have added their Flipgrid videos to Google Classroom, and time permitting, I think bringing the class back together to reflect on the experience would be a great way to end this lesson.
Please check out the adapted cyberbullying lesson below
Additional materials/resources
MediaSmarts – Introduction to Cyberbullying
Stop bullying – Bystanders are Essential to Bullying Prevention and Intervention article.