Anne Bubnic's List: Digital Citizenship/Books to Read

To help kids reach their potential, parents today must know about Facebook. That’s the purpose of this website and related materials.

In Just Kidding, the Beacon Street Girls learn about the implications of gossip, how to use the “no joke zone” (developed by best-selling author Rachel Simmons), and how the Internet can spread rumors and contribute to hurt feelings. In addition to the book, the Beacon Street Girls website is hosting a resource center online with articles and tips for parents, and guidelines for children.

Teens and tweens have been bullying each other for generations. The bullies of today, however, have the advantage of utilizing technology such as computers, cell phones and other electronic devices to inflict harm on others. <b>"Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying," </b>due out this month, uncovers the types of youth most susceptible, how they felt, who they told, how they coped and how it affected their lives, and illustrates the gravity of cyberbullying and its real-world repercussions. The co-authors, [Justin Patchin, Ph.D. and Sameer Hinduja] both have backgrounds in Criminal Justice and are university-based. Their web site, <b><a href = "http://www.cyberbullying.us/"> Cyberbullying.Us</a></b> is dedicated to identifying the causes and consequences of online harrassment.

In 101 Facts about Bullying, Dr. Robin D'Antona and Dr. Meline Kevorkian have crafted a down-to-earth and useful guide to a number of basic facts about bullying, its causes, and its consequences. Kevorkian systematically discusses topics ranging from relational bullying to cyber bullying to media and video violence to the legal ramifications of bullying, debunking myth and uncloaking the facts about bullying and its prevention.

For the last 11 years Marje Monroe and Doug Fodeman have worked to educate schools, parents and students about the issues that affect children in an online world. Their Web site, --http://www.childrenonline.org -- offers practical articles, resources, research, and a monthly newsletter on the topic. Recently, the team, which has a long background in education, self-published <b><a href = "http://www.lulu.com/content/2682488">Safe Practices for Life Online, </a></b> intended to show middle and high school students what scams target them and how to use the Internet more safely. A <b><a href= "http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Curriculum_Integration&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=20438">teacher's edition of the book</a></b> will be available through the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in November. <br><br>

This book was written by three school psychologists, all certified in Olweus Bullying Prevention training. They have applied their knowledge in that area to "cyberbullying." If you are an educator or a parent of an adolescent, this book is a must read. As the authors have stated, the impact of students using computers, etc. has had not only a positive but also a negative impact on the learning environment and safety issues within our schools. Cyberbullying in its infancy is creating an epidemic of problems. Awareness of the problem, what schools and parents should do to address cyberbullying, how the different states and schools systems view cyberbullying, and current resources are discussed by the authors. It is a compilation of the most current research.

This book belongs in every school district! Nancy Willard is Director of the Center for Safe & Responsible Internet Use and a noted expert and speaker on the challenges and legal issues related to technology use in the schools. Her book helps school administrators analyze and intervene in cases involving cyberbullying or cyberthreats. She includes illustrative examples, recommendations for practice, and many practical resources. Available through Amazon.com

Teeming with chatrooms, online discussion groups, and blogs, the Internet offers previously unimagined opportunities for personal expression and communication. But there’s a dark side to the story. A trail of information fragments about us is forever preserved on the Internet, instantly available in a Google search. A permanent chronicle of our private lives—often of dubious reliability and sometimes totally false—will follow us wherever we go, accessible to friends, strangers, dates, employers, neighbors, relatives, and anyone else who cares to look. You can read the full text of Daniel Solove's book online for free.

According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need "disruptive innovation."

[CoSN Conference, Mar 2008] Author Daniel Pink discusses what it will take for students to succeed in an outsourced and automated world--and how schools should change their approach to education accordingly.

This book [by Ruth S Johnston] is a step by step recipe book for using data in your schools. It answers the who, what, when, where, and how. The book is not a complicated read and it is an excellent book for a book study with the entire staff.This book will help staffs to understand how data can help to improve the climate and culture in a school, instruction and the academic outcome of all students.

Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, has long studied "the Net Generation," the first to have grown up with the Internet, not to mention cellphones. In Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation (Palgrave Macmillan), he helps parents understand social networks. His advice: Talk to your kids, learn the technology and don't panic. USA TODAY's Janet Kornblum spoke with the author. The complete interview can be found here.

You can print this list of books and free downloads for parents and distribute it at your next PTA meeting.

As teens across the country head back to school this year, far too many of them are facing the entrance doors to their schools with feelings of fear, trepidation and dread. For an increasing number of students across the nation, schooldays are filled with the never-ending cycle of taunting and abuse from their bullies. But this year, in an unprecedented display of solidarity, thousands of strangers who have been through the same harrowing experiences, are sharing their private tales of torment with these teens for the first time ever because of the story of Olivia Gardner.

Olivia Gardner, a northern California teenager, was severely taunted and cyber-bullied by her classmates for more than two years. News of her bullying spread, eventually reaching two teenage girls from a neighboring town, sisters Emily and Sarah Buder. The girls were so moved by Olivia's story that they initiated a letter-writing campaign to help lift her spirits. It was a tender gesture of solidarity that set off an overwhelming chain reaction of support, encouragement, and love. In <b>Letters to a Bullied Girl</b>, Olivia and the Buder sisters share an inspiring selection of messages that arrived from across America—the personal, often painful remembrances of former targets, remorseful bullies, and sympathetic bystanders. Letters to a Bullied Girl examines our national bullying epidemic from a variety of angles and perspectives, and includes practical guidance from bullying expert Barbara Coloroso, author of The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander. Though addressed to Olivia, the letters speak to all young people who have been bullied, offer advice and hope to those who suffer, and provide a wake-up call to all who have ever been involved in bullying. <br><br> There is also a <b>video interview with the Buder sisters</b> on this site. <br><br>

<b>Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying </b> <br /><br /> Co-authors <b>Dr. Sameer Hinduja</b> and <b> Dr. Justin W. Patchin</b> provide a comprehensive guide to identify, prevent and respond to this increasingly serious problem. The book is primarily based on Hinduja and Patchin's original research with thousands of adolescents, many of whom were victims of cyberbullying. In addition to providing numerous practical strategies for educators, parents and other youth-serving adults, the book includes personal stories and case scenarios, an extensive overview of terminology and legal issues, and a clear explanation of the scope and prevalence of online aggression among youth. <br /><br />

<b>Guarding Kids.com - A Practical Guide to Keeping Kids out of High-Tech Trouble </b>. From podcasts to porn, cyberbullying to cell phones, Dr. Russell Sabella helps readers understand the risks that emerge when high-tech tools, uninformed parents, and exuberant youth collide. Because kids are growing up with modern technologies, many are more expert than their parents. As a result, a parent's ability to make effective decisions for how technology is used may be compromised.

<b>Cyber Bullying: A Prevention Curriculum for Grades 6-12 </b> is a curriculum that deals with attitudes and behaviors associated with cyber bullying. This eight-session curriculum is designed to: <br>1. Raise student and parent awareness of what cyberbullying is and why it is so harmful <br>2. Equip students with the skills and resources to treat eachother respectfully when using cybertechnologies <br>3. Give students information about how to get help if they, or others they know, are being cyber bullied <br>4. Teach students how to use cyber technologies in positive ways.

Developed by the folks who designed the Olweus Bullying Prevention program, this curriculum offers students an opportunity to: <Br>1. interact, collaborate and publish with peers, experts or others, employing a variety of digital environments and media. <br>2.communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences, using a variety of media and formats <br>3. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

A free downloadable e-Book full of quick facts for parents and educators to reference from education.com