Documentary: Submit the Documentary: The Virtual Reality of Cyberbullying

https://vimeo.com/groups/websapiens/videos/68698184

If the Video above does not work use this link: https://vimeo.com/groups/websapiens/videos/68698184

Producer: Les Ottolenghi and Ashley Reid

Year: 2013

Length: 70 minutes

Rating: PG

Summary:  This documentary presents several different perspectives of students who have experienced cyberbullying from a variety of viewpoints such as victims, parents, educators, researchers, legislators, and policymakers. While the documentary discusses the effects of cyberbullying, it also provides some solutions. The main solution being to help cultivate empathy among students. They believe is that if students are more empathetic they will refrain from bullying students both in person and online. Not only that, but it creates a more inclusive and caring school culture. One impactful line states that, “bystanders can be heroes.” All it takes is one person to show friendship and try to develop a healthy relationship for there to be a change. As a result, I believe that this documentary works perfectly for healthy relationships. It tells students that they can help stop bullying by building and creating healthier relationships, by showing empathy.

Review: This documentary discusses the impacts of cyberbullying not only in schools but on the community as a whole. While many documentaries tend to leave it at that, this one provides a solution, empathy. The documentary states that empathy plays a key role in ending bullying both in person and online, and as we know empathy plays a key role in creating a healthy relationship. When teachers and students can display empathy, try to understand and share the feeling of others, we can create a healthier community that is based on healthy relationships, instead of one that is not.

Integration: I would integrate this documentary into a literature/writing assignment that would occur after watching the documentary. Students would write about empathy and the different ways that they can create healthier relationships with their peers. By having students write about this, it allows them to reflect on their own relationships with their peers, and how they can work to make it better. I would then have the students create a piece of artwork to go with their writing. This picture could be anything that helps them understand empathy and creating healthier relationships. Their writing and artwork would then be posted around the classroom, showing students that you care about healthy relationships and that it is important to you, and to your classroom to foster healthy relationships and empathy.

National Health Education Standards (NHES): 

• 1.8.1: Describe characteristics of healthy relationships.
  • HBO 1: Establish and maintain healthy relationships.
• 1.8.3: Differentiate healthy and unhealthy relationships.
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• 1.8.5: Explain the importance of talking with parents and other trusted adults about issues related to relationships, growth and development, and sexual health.
  • HBO 1
• 8.1: Explain how perceptions of norms influence healthy and unhealthy behaviors and relationships
• 8.8.3: Persuade others to avoid teasing, bullying, or stigmatizing others based on their personal characteristics and perceived sexual statues.

Common Core Standards – Language Arts/Writing: 

• W.6.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• W.6.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.