Cyber Safety School Presentations
I’ve been a long supporter of instructional technology, and have been awed by all that it brings not only to the classroom, but to our personal lives as well. However, all good things come with a price, and in this case, the price is the risks that children, teens, and adults take when using technology. It’s a given that many fourth graders and up have their own Smartphones. Taking this technology away is not an answer. A better strategy is educating children, teens, teachers and parents of the risks, and providing them with concrete steps that should be taken to minimize these risks.
Many of our kids are part of a generation with unlimited access to the Internet, social media, violent and/or addictive video games and age-inappropriate movies, all easily available at the touch of a finger. Although our schools have strong online safety curricula that emphasizes responsible use of all forms of technology, we need to improve our education of not only students, but teachers and parents as well.
Effective safeguards are in place for what happens with our kids using technology in school, as required by state and federal law. Of a more urgent concern is what happens outside of school, that is ultimately brought to school in many cases for handling (from a discipline standpoint, a counseling standpoint, parent standpoint and more). Text messaging, Snapchat, Instagram, What's App, Houseparty, and other apps are routinely used by children and teens. Access can be gained from many devices other than a smartphone, including gaming systems, tablets, iPads and smart TVs. Our children are exposed to bullying, violence and hate at a very young age. The social-emotional issues that ensue from use of social media have resulted in the highest rate of child depression, anxiety and suicide than ever before seen.
I would enjoy the opportunity to prepare a customized presentation to be held at your school. Please email or call to book a date!
Schools can choose from the following sub-topics:
* Effect of technology on the brain
* Antisocial social media
* Texting: The #1 Social Media App
* Instagram/Finstagram
* Snapchat
* Houseparty
* What’s App
* Other social media apps TBD
* Predators and Prey
* Haters and Their Victims
* Cyberbullying
* Gaming
* Privacy
* Plagiarism
Please contact Pat Reed at patreed@teachersteacher.net or 773/233-5306 to reserve a date.