Sunday, October 30, 2016
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Catfishing - Don't Bite the Bait
Definition:
Catfishing is trying to befriend or lure someone in with a fake persona online, usually through social media. A catfish is the person behind the fake profile.
The Problem/Dangers:
Catfishing is considered an online hazard to people of all ages and those that use all types of social media, including online dating and social sites (Facebook, Instagram...). It can also be a form of cyber-bullying among kids in schools (Scheff, 2013). A young girl committed suicide because of a catfishing incident where she thought she was in an online relationship with a boy who was actually her neighbor and a her friend's mother. The woman pretended to be a boy to find out what was being said online about her own daughter. The woman, posed as the boy, then "broke up" with the young girl and spread "slut" and "whore" rumors around her webpage, and the girl was so hurt, she hung herself in her own bedroom. The story can be found at this website. This is more common that we wish it was, and many teens are lured in by fake profiles.
Famous Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o was also a catfish victim, which really brought attention to the problem. He had an online girlfriend that he later found out was non-existent in real life. It was said that his girlfriend and his grandmother had died on the same day. Though the grandmother part was true, the girlfriend did not die because she did not exist. This incident spread awareness about cyber-bullying, as Te'o speaks about himself as a victim. (Patchin, 2013)
Catfishing is a real problem that goes beyond just online dating and social media. Many sexual predators use catfishing as a way to lure in victims as well as for child pornography and sex trafficking. A 2013 Florida investigation found men posing as teenagers online trying to lure young girls in for sex. The investigation led to over 50 arrests as police used fake accounts to catch them and lead them to a decoy meeting location. Chris Duque, a former online predator detective states " It's easy to be duped online, very easy. The thing with the internet is your five senses are somewhat limited and what you see online may not be what you're really going to get.".
Catfishing and other types of cyber-bullying are not going away any time soon with the popularity of technology today. We need to be alert about the people we correspond with on the internet. Though some people think catfishing can be playful and innocent, it can lead to serious dangers.
Statistics:
59% of Internet users feel that online dating is a good way to meet people (compared with 44% in 2005) (D'Costa, 2014)
Catfishing is trying to befriend or lure someone in with a fake persona online, usually through social media. A catfish is the person behind the fake profile.
The Problem/Dangers:
Catfishing is considered an online hazard to people of all ages and those that use all types of social media, including online dating and social sites (Facebook, Instagram...). It can also be a form of cyber-bullying among kids in schools (Scheff, 2013). A young girl committed suicide because of a catfishing incident where she thought she was in an online relationship with a boy who was actually her neighbor and a her friend's mother. The woman pretended to be a boy to find out what was being said online about her own daughter. The woman, posed as the boy, then "broke up" with the young girl and spread "slut" and "whore" rumors around her webpage, and the girl was so hurt, she hung herself in her own bedroom. The story can be found at this website. This is more common that we wish it was, and many teens are lured in by fake profiles.
Famous Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o was also a catfish victim, which really brought attention to the problem. He had an online girlfriend that he later found out was non-existent in real life. It was said that his girlfriend and his grandmother had died on the same day. Though the grandmother part was true, the girlfriend did not die because she did not exist. This incident spread awareness about cyber-bullying, as Te'o speaks about himself as a victim. (Patchin, 2013)
Catfishing is a real problem that goes beyond just online dating and social media. Many sexual predators use catfishing as a way to lure in victims as well as for child pornography and sex trafficking. A 2013 Florida investigation found men posing as teenagers online trying to lure young girls in for sex. The investigation led to over 50 arrests as police used fake accounts to catch them and lead them to a decoy meeting location. Chris Duque, a former online predator detective states " It's easy to be duped online, very easy. The thing with the internet is your five senses are somewhat limited and what you see online may not be what you're really going to get.".
Catfishing and other types of cyber-bullying are not going away any time soon with the popularity of technology today. We need to be alert about the people we correspond with on the internet. Though some people think catfishing can be playful and innocent, it can lead to serious dangers.
Statistics:
- 54% of people believe someone they’ve met via online dating has used false information (Anderson, 2015)
- 1 out of every 10 online dating profiles is FAKE (Anderson, 2015)
28% have been contacted in a way that left them feeling harassed or uncomfortable
- 41% of social network site users have used a social networking site to get more information about a potential partner (D'Costa, 2014)
- 83 million Facebook accounts are faked or duplicate in nature (Lacapria, 2013)
- 97 percent of catfishing accounts claim to be female (Lacapria, 2013)
Teaching Resource:
Schools often worry about bullying within their schools, but may forget about the bullying that occurs outside of school. We can help our kids be aware of the dangers of catfishing and cyber-bullying by making them aware of what can happen as a result. Kids should not be talking to any strangers online, as they may not be who they think/say they are. Kim Lacapria put together a great infographic that is easy to follow and understand that would make a great teaching resource. It can be found here. Using an infographic makes the topic easy to understand and is a style many students may have seen before with how popular technology is now. Another great infographic can be found at this website, and can be used for teaching purposes.
Below is a list of tips to help students stay safe from catfish online:
- Limit personal information displayed online. Address, phone number, full name, and financials should never be shared (Scheff, 2013)
- Consider using video chatting so you can see real-time and real people (Patchin, 2013)
- Never go by yourself to meet someone (Patchin, 2013)
- Look out for those who claim to have glamorous professions and lifestyles (Anderson, 2015)
- Be suspicious if someone has traumatic reasons for not being able to meet in person, or they consistently put off meeting face to face (Anderson, 2015)
- Be cautious if a random and attractive person starts contacting you online (McHugh)
McHugh also gives a great list of how we can tell if someone may be a catfish:
Catfishing has become so common that it has turned into its own reality television show. I hope this does not persuade kids that it is ok to do this online. Though the show was produced by a catfishing victim, so it may show the dangers and the downside to it all. MTV has produced the show and it is on it's 5th season. Some episodes of this show could be used for educational purposes to show real life examples and to show how prevalent it has become.
References:
Anderson, Cass. "These Stats On How Common ‘Catfishing’ Is Just Might Blow Your Mind Apart." BroBible. N.p., 16 Nov. 2015. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
D'Costa, Krystal. "Catfishing: The Truth About Deception Online." Scientific American. Springer Nature, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
Lacapria, Kim. "Catfishing is bigger than you might think, study reveals trick used by fraudsters." Social News Daily. N.p., 23 Mar. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
McHugh, Molly. "It's Catfishing season! How to tell lovers from liars online, and more." Digital Trends. N.p., 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2016
Patchin, Justin. " Catfishing as a Form of Cyberbullying." Cyberbullying Research Center. N.p., 7 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
Scheff, Sue. "Catfish: Why Parents Need To Discuss It With Their Teens." Huffington Post. N.p., 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Are my students engaged?
As teachers, we often believe that if our students are scoring well on their assessments, then they are engaged in the work we are doing in class (Price, 2016). This may not always be the case. Kids are coming to school with the mindset that their days will be filled with non-engaging activities and topics. We need to change this. We often think that the majority of our students are willing to learn and have the capacity to do so. This is often not true. In an urban school setting especially. I see this with my own students currently. Many of them come to school to go through the motions, just to get a grade - not even a passing grade - because they know that is what they are supposed to be doing. many students do not find school relevant to them. I see this in both urban and rural schools, where the dynamics are very different but engagement is still low.
Students are coming to school with many creative and engaging things going on in their lives outside of school (Prenske 2005). This makes it hard for schools to compete against technology, extracurricular activities, sports, and other activities for student engagement. Many students live a life that is rich in technology. Technology gives students something to be very engaged in. We have all seen kids glued to their phones, tablets, Ipads, computers, Ipods, mp3 players and more, we can use this engagement in our classrooms in many different ways (Sadik 2008). Sadik also states that the key to using educational technology is to utilize meaningful activities that engage students in using their knowledge in different ways.
Sometimes we need to take a step back and analyze our students at a more basic level. Students can be hard to read at the surface, but if we as teachers are supposed to connect with students and teach them a year's worth of important information, we need to be able to know some factors governing the students' learning barriers and capabilities. Jensen gives a good list of engagement factors that we can use to connect to engagement. Often these factors are linked to socioeconomic status as well (Jensen 2013). The seven factors are: health and nutrition, vocabulary, effort and energy, mind-set, cognitive capacity, relationships, and stress level (Jenson 2013). These may vary from student to student and will vary from one school to another. We can use these factors to determine if our students are able to be engaged in our classroom. I have seen in my own classroom that I am placed in, some students are struggling to stay engaged at school because their lives at home are not providing them with the necessary tools or necessities. They were unable to do their homework because they did not have their own ruler at home. We must also make sure basic needs are taken care of. If students are not getting fed well enough at home, they will not be able to focus on school. This factor is often overlooked ad forgotten, even though it is very important. We cannot expect students to perform well in school, let alone be engaged in school, if their basic needs are not being met.
As teachers, we are responsible for a large amount of kids in a short about of time. We must be able to adapt to new generations of children who enter our classrooms. Today, technology is surrounding us and taking over the majority of kids' time. We need to be able to use this in our favor to keep kids engaged in our classrooms. Kids are more likely to engage themselves into something they are already interested in. Teachers must also be able to decide if students are engaged or not. Many times we may think they are, but instead they are just going through the motions to get through school and onto the next step in life (Prenske 2005). When students fail to be engaged in school, we often blame it on the student or blame the student for not trying. There may be a large underlying factor as to why this is so. If the student being fed enough at home? Are they getting enough sleep? Are they interested in what we are doing? Is the student bored? Is the student willing? There are many factors to engagement that teachers must not forget about. We are surrounded by students with all different backgrounds and all different things that they enjoy. This is what makes teaching special and exciting, the variety and diversity of the students we encounter. Though, to be successful in the classroom, we must find a way to keep our students engaged and willing to engage themselves.
Students are coming to school with many creative and engaging things going on in their lives outside of school (Prenske 2005). This makes it hard for schools to compete against technology, extracurricular activities, sports, and other activities for student engagement. Many students live a life that is rich in technology. Technology gives students something to be very engaged in. We have all seen kids glued to their phones, tablets, Ipads, computers, Ipods, mp3 players and more, we can use this engagement in our classrooms in many different ways (Sadik 2008). Sadik also states that the key to using educational technology is to utilize meaningful activities that engage students in using their knowledge in different ways.
Sometimes we need to take a step back and analyze our students at a more basic level. Students can be hard to read at the surface, but if we as teachers are supposed to connect with students and teach them a year's worth of important information, we need to be able to know some factors governing the students' learning barriers and capabilities. Jensen gives a good list of engagement factors that we can use to connect to engagement. Often these factors are linked to socioeconomic status as well (Jensen 2013). The seven factors are: health and nutrition, vocabulary, effort and energy, mind-set, cognitive capacity, relationships, and stress level (Jenson 2013). These may vary from student to student and will vary from one school to another. We can use these factors to determine if our students are able to be engaged in our classroom. I have seen in my own classroom that I am placed in, some students are struggling to stay engaged at school because their lives at home are not providing them with the necessary tools or necessities. They were unable to do their homework because they did not have their own ruler at home. We must also make sure basic needs are taken care of. If students are not getting fed well enough at home, they will not be able to focus on school. This factor is often overlooked ad forgotten, even though it is very important. We cannot expect students to perform well in school, let alone be engaged in school, if their basic needs are not being met.
As teachers, we are responsible for a large amount of kids in a short about of time. We must be able to adapt to new generations of children who enter our classrooms. Today, technology is surrounding us and taking over the majority of kids' time. We need to be able to use this in our favor to keep kids engaged in our classrooms. Kids are more likely to engage themselves into something they are already interested in. Teachers must also be able to decide if students are engaged or not. Many times we may think they are, but instead they are just going through the motions to get through school and onto the next step in life (Prenske 2005). When students fail to be engaged in school, we often blame it on the student or blame the student for not trying. There may be a large underlying factor as to why this is so. If the student being fed enough at home? Are they getting enough sleep? Are they interested in what we are doing? Is the student bored? Is the student willing? There are many factors to engagement that teachers must not forget about. We are surrounded by students with all different backgrounds and all different things that they enjoy. This is what makes teaching special and exciting, the variety and diversity of the students we encounter. Though, to be successful in the classroom, we must find a way to keep our students engaged and willing to engage themselves.
References
Jensen, E. (2013). Engaging students with poverty in mind: Practical strategies for raising achievement. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.
Prensky, Marc. "Engage me or enrage me." Educase Review 40.5 (2005): 61-64.
Price, David. "Are Your Students Engaged? Don’t Be So Sure." MindShift. PBS, NPR, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.
Sadik, Alaa. "Digital storytelling: A meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning." Educational technology research and development 56.4 (2008): 487-506.
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