President and First Lady Hosting Whitehouse Conference on Bullying Prevention

Tomorrow, March 10, the White House will be hosting parents, students, teachers, and community leaders for a conference on bullying prevention. You can watch the conference live and join in the discussion with bullying experts through an online chat. Please follow this link to see the President's video invitation to the event. You can also go to the website stopbullying.gov for more information and resources about bullying.

$10,000 Internet Safety Video Contest

Trend Micro and the International Internet Safety Coalition have announced their second annual "What's Your Story" video contest. The contest is open to students ages 13 and up. The contest also accepts submissions from teachers and their classrooms. Each video entry is expected to address one or more of the following internet safety topics:

1. Being a Good Online Citizen
2. Using a Mobile Phone Wisely
3. Maintaining Your Privacy Online

One grand prize of $10,000 will be awarded and six $500 prizes will also be given out for different categories. You can also check out last year's winners on the contest site.

This contest is a great vehicle to teach your students about issues of internet safety, as well as digital video storytelling, writing a story board, acting and teamwork.

i-SAFE Internet Safety Curriculum Now Available via MyLearningPlan

We are pleased to make available i-SAFE's K-12 Internet Safety curriculum to all BPS educators. The interactive lesson plans, webcasts, and supplemental videos are being offered so all BPS educators can confidently teach their students appropriate online behavior, awareness and response regarding subjects such as cyber bullying, social networking, sexting, online predators, intellectual property and much more. In order to access the materials, you will need to sign-in to MyLearning Plan and search the district catalog for keyword: i-safe. Once you sign-up, please follow the instructions to access the i-SAFE site, which will allow you online access to grade-specific internet safety lesson plans.

Note: This is for Boston Public School use only, please do not share the district's subscription code with non-BPS personnel.

Resources for CyberSafety

The educational technology blog, Free Technology For Teachers, posted about Eleven Resources for Teaching & Learning Web Safety. Check out some of these sites for your classroom cyber safety lessons and pass them along to your student's parents!

Massachusetts Districts Considering Teacher Facebook Policies

Two very interesting, thought provoking articles this weekend in the Boston Globe and Herald about what some school districts are considering as social networking policy for their teachers. Recently, some teachers in New York have been terminated or face disciplinary measures for inappropriate relationships with students that included contact on social networking websites.

This is a great opportunity to ask your students what they think about this. Do they think that it is appropriate to be friends on Facebook with their teachers? Why or why not? Please comment!

Bullying Story on 20/20 and other Resources

This past Friday, ABC news magazine program 20/20 aired a story about bullying. While the title of the story was "Bullied to Death", they did mention that bullying (and cyberbullying) effect victims in non-lethal ways. One of the most staggering statistics that the segment mentions is that 160,000 children stay home from school each day out of fear from being bullied. Needless to say students who fear being bullied in school can easily fall behind in their studies. Another interesting part of the story was the interview they had with two students who identified themselves as former bullies. They talk to the students about the different reasons they bullied others. You can view the video online here.

Tech & Learning has released a free e-book entitled "Keeping Students Safe Online: What Works". The book covers some research on internet safety as well as tips for when students go online. Microsoft has also released a free internet safety e-book online. It is called "Own Your Space, Keep Your Stuff and Yourself Safe Online". It is actually a print book that was published a few years ago. This is a great resource to give to students and parents or to have as a part of your internet safety curriculum.

Safe Driving Law Takes Effect in Massachusetts

The new Safe Driving Law has taken effect and it is now illegal for anyone to read, write or send text messages while driving. State and local police are already handing out citations to drivers who are caught violating the new ban. Drivers can be expected to pay a $100 fine for their first offense. Fines can reach up to $500 for repeat offenders. 16 and 17 year-old drivers may also face a 60-day loss of license and mandatory driver training. All cellphone use while driving is illegal for 16 and 17 year-old drivers (except for emergency 911 calls). While older drivers are permitted to make calls on their cellphones while driving, police can give out $35 fines for improperly using a cellphone. These offenses include anything that might interfere with driving, such as not having at least one hand on the wheel. For more information on the Safe Driving legislation, please click on the link below.

Massachusetts Safe Driving Legislation