Article 3: "Keeping Students Safe"

     This article, "Keeping Students Safe: What Works" is about the way that schools need to come up with more effective ways to teach students about safety when it comes to technology, the internet, and cell phones. It starts by discussing how the approach of teaching safety from a fear perspective is no longer working and schools need to move towards a more research-based method to help kids understand how dangerous the internet can be.
     I think that it is so terrifying how much power a person can have by being tech-savy and literate on the internet. We want all of our students to be up to date with technology, but it's also scary to see how some people can use that ability for such horrible things. The thing about the internet that's always scared and amazed me the most is that once you post something on the internet, it's there forever. Even if you think you've deleted it, it will live there forever, and all it takes is someone who knows how to dig deep enough to uncover your past--even if it is just that--your past. I think it's interesting that the article says that teaching from a fear perspective doesn't work, because all it takes for me to watch the things I say and post a little more closely, are horrors stories about other teachers and students like me getting in trouble because of the internet.
     Another thing the article mentions that I find to be really incredible but also very frightening is that fact that you can make something so widespread on the internet in literally no time at all. It's even possible with cell phones. All you have to do is send a mass text or message with any information, pictures, or anything you want, and it can be in the hands of hundreds of people instantly. I have even seen teachers become the victim of this kind of harrassment. In junior high students made a Facebook page for a teacher that wasn't well-liked and they posted cruel and malicious jokes about her and she wasn't even aware for the longest time.
     I really liked that the article talks about how the most effective way to keep kids from falling into these behaviors is to simply teach them how to treat people. If we start from the youngest kids and instill in them the value of doing good and the value of being kind and caring for people, it can make a huge difference.