Materials and Preparation

• Preview the videos “Ricardo’s Story – Making Fun of Others Online” and “Stacey’s Story – When Rumors Escalate,” and prepare to show them to students.

• Copy the Dial It Down Student Handout, one for each student.

• Review the Dial It Down Student Handout–Teacher Version.

Essential Question

What factors intensify cyberbullying and online cruelty, and what can you do to lessen them?

Lesson Overview

Students learn that cruelty can escalate quickly online because people are often anonymous and posts spread quickly. They view the video “Ricardo’s Story – Making Fun of Others Online,” and identify the factors that contribute to online cruelty. Students then watch the video “Stacey’s Story – When Rumors Escalate,” identify the roles of various players in the video, and describe what Upstanders can do to lessen the effects of this online cruelty. Students then create diagrams on their Dial It Down Student Handout to show how online cruelty can either escalate or de-escalate.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to ...

• reflect on the factors that intensify online cruelty and cyberbullying.

• identify what targets and Upstanders can do when online cruelty occurs. • recognize their own role in escalating or de-escalating online cruelty.

Key Vocabulary

target: a person who is the object of an intentional action

offender: a person who has malicious intent to hurt or damage someone

bystander: a person who does nothing when they witness something happening

Upstander: a person who supports and stands up for someone else

escalate: to increase or make more intense de-escalate: to decrease or make less intense

Warm-up (5 minutes)

EXPLAIN to students that online cruelty, also referred to as cyberbullying, takes place whenever someone uses digital media tools such as the Internet and cell phones to deliberately upset or harass someone else, often repeatedly.

SHOW students the video “Ricardo’s Story – Making Fun of Others Online.”

ASK: Do you think Ricardo is a cyberbully? Why or why not?

What does Ricardo mean when he says that information “gets around really quick”?

Ricardo thinks that harassing others on Internet, rather than in person, appeals to some teenagers because they can’t be attacked back physically. What do you think?

Have you ever encountered online cruelty? How do you think someone might feel after being the target of it?

DEFINE the Key Vocabulary words target and offender.

DISCUSS with students how the targets of online cruelty may feel they can be bombarded with negative comments at any time, anywhere. And when more offenders join in the online cruelty, the situation gets even worse.

Watch “Stacey’s Story” (15 minutes)

DEFINE the Key Vocabulary terms escalate, de-escalate, bystander, and Upstander.

SHOW the video “Stacey’s Story – When Rumors Escalate” and answer the following questions about online cruelty as a class

ASK: Who was involved in the story and what roles did they play? Who was the target? Who were the offenders? Were there bystanders and/or Upstanders?

How do you think the online cruelty might be different from offline behavior?

What do you think you might have done if you were Stacey? What could you have done if you wanted to be an Upstander in this situation?

DISCUSS the following ways that targets and Upstanders can help de-escalate online cruelty

How Targets and Upstanders Can De-escalate Online Cruelty

Targets

• Ignore and block the bully. Offenders often want attention. Take it away and they may give up.

• Save the evidence. You may need it later for documentation.

• Change your privacy settings. Allow only people you trust to see or comment on your pages.

• Tell trusted friends and adults. Create a support network.

Upstanders

• Stand up to the offender when appropriate. If you see something negative, say something. Make it clear that you think online cruelty is wrong, and tell the offender to back off. (It may be easier to do this if you have good standing with the offender.)

• Point out the bully’s motivation to the target. Comfort the target by explaining that many offenders act cruelly just to gain control, power, or status.

• Help the target advocate. Help the target find friends and school leaders who can help de-escalate the situation. It’s easier to stand up to cruelty when you are not alone.

ASK: Have you or a friend ever experienced a situation similar to Stacey’s? How might the strategies in the chart have helped you in that situation?

What might prevents a bystander from taking action? What advice would you give someone to convince them to be upstanding?

Create “Dial It Down” Maps (20 minutes)

EXPLAIN to students that they are going to map out two stories. One will show how online cruelty escalated in “Stacey’s Story.” The other will show how it might have de-escalated if Stacey had some Upstanders on her side.

Note: You may choose to have students create their maps based on other stories about cyberbullying and online cruelty, rather than on Stacey’s Story. You can have students research news stories on their own, or you can assign stories from this set of scenarios, created by the Cyberbullying Resource Center www.cyberbullying. us/Cyberbullying_Scenarios.pdf

DISTRIBUTE the Dial It Down Student Handout, one for each student. ARRANGE students in pairs. Have one student complete the left-hand column of the handout for Stacey’s Story to show how the situation escalated. Have the other one fill in the Turn Down the Dial on Cyberbullying version of her story to show how the situation could have been de-escalated.

INSTRUCT students to turn their handouts into maps, using elements such as size and color to indicate escalation and de-escalation, and arrows to show the flow of events.

INVITE students to compare their results with their partners. Then have volunteers share their maps with the class.

Wrap-up (5 minutes)

You can use these questions to assess your students’ understanding of the lesson objectives. You may want to ask students to reflect in writing on one of the questions, using a journal or an online blog/wiki.

ASK: What are some roles that different people play in cyberbullying situations, and how would you describe each one?

What are some ways that online cruelty and cyberbullying can escalate, or intensify?

Why is it important to be an Upstander rather than a bystander?