Cyberbullying is a national problem, most people have been cyberbullied, been the cyberbullies or known someone who has been cyberbullied. The anonymity of the internet sometimes allows people to feel as though they can say anything they want on the internet without fearing the consequences. The thing about cyber-bullying is that those who are cyber-bullied can not escape the torment. They are taunted on Facebook, through blogs and message boards, even cell phones are no longer safe.
October is national bullying prevention month and I believe this is a perfect time to start a month long campaign against cyberbullying. During the month of October the librarian can display poems and posters around the school and in classrooms discussing the issue of bullying. In addition, during the announcments the librarian will share inspiring short videos that discuss the impacts and horrors of bullying. However, I would also take it one step further and encourage students to make come to the library to make their own short videos about why and how we should stop cyberbullying. While I would also encourage students to write poems or create posters, I think that actually seeing a video can have a very large impact. For example, during my fieldwork, I talked to a librarian who wanted to show the spoken word poem by Shane Koyczan entitled "To This Day" (check out the video below). Just watching this video had a huge impact on me and made me want to stand up and stop bullying. In addition, today the bullies are not the only problem, it is also the bystanders. The students, teachers, parents, etc who see the bulling happen, but just turn a blind eye because it is "kids being kids." As a librarian I want to not only to let my students know that cyberbullying is wrong and that it has consequences, but also empower students to stand up against bullies and to report actions of bullies to an adult. I think that this video project and help do just that. The videos will be shown to the whole school and at the end of the month, students will come to the library to sign a pledge against bullying.
Student-created videos could be a powerful addition to a month-long campaign, Jenn. Since they will also be creating poems and posters, they could videorecord these visuals to intersperse with their reading of their poems or with the messages and ideas that they deliver. Placing the videos on the library web site in addition to playing in the library, too, could increase the impact.
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