My lesson plan is retrieved from MediaSmarts.ca, while the bulk of my lesson covered a range of relevant material addressing Cyberbullying, I felt that one major issue that the lesson plan covered was positionality and empathy in the online space to become good digital citizens. In the online environment I felt that many users lacked an understanding of the users offline and their own circumstances, as a result, I altered some of the learning outcomes to the curriculum.
Drawing from my Political Science background, one major aspect in my revision was privilege, an activity I’ve done in the past was a “Privilege Walk” inspired by Peggy McIntosh “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, some barriers’ with this assignment are anonymity and students, especially in younger grades, not feeling comfortable sharing their own experiences. I was able to find an online version of this game that allows for students to stay anonymous and authentic with their answers. This helps facilitate the discussion of privilege and your own privilege, especially for users online (who are anonymous) and garner empathy towards other digital citizens.
I chose to incorporate a “How can I support my child to intervene?” section under the parental section. The ultimate result of this lesson is that students are able to identify cyberbullying and intervene rather than remaining as passive bystanders online on their own. This requires strenuous work and support to feel comfortable doing so. I was able to find a “Bystander Model” online with steps that young people can take in deciding for when to intervene and questioning whether they should move toward in doing so.
