During a press conference on November 3, at Lincoln Magnet School in Springfield a statewide Internet safety contest was announced by The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Attorney General’s Office, and the Governor’s Office. This contest is designed to increase awareness about Internet safety for students and will focus on cyberbullying.
The contest will be divided into two categories: 1) video/podcast/slideshow and/or 2) poster. Complete information is available on the ISBE website.
Prepare to get your students involved. Districts must submit their entries by March 31. This contest can be part of your internet safety lessons as well as part of a persuasive writing or creating a a public service announcement, PSA.
• Involve students in more information on cyberbullies. Find out what they know about this topic. You’ll probably be surprised by the conversations!
ReadWriteThink has a lesson on bullying to begin the conversation.
McGruff includes information on cyberbullies and two games to get students started on appropriate actions.
NetSmartz is a great website on internet safety and also includes several videos on cyberbullying
Media Awareness Network begins with a lesson for 5th and 6th graders on cyberbullying using avatars and identity.
That's Not Cool has a great set of resources and videos.
• Let students know what’s a PSA and share some great examples. The contest is open to any multimedia presentation, but a PSA is one possibilibty. The Ad Council has many PSAs around a variety of topics. Cyberbullying is no longer one of their campaigns. That information has been moved.
Continue by viewing some PSAs on internet safety from iKeepSafe.
•Students should create a storyboard or script before creating their movie.
What’s the core message? Help students communicate their message clearly through text, music and sound effects. Make sure it motives the audience to act. Scholastic has a ten step approach to writing a PSA for an old contest. The steps are still useful!
Ready, set, produce!
Let’s get all our students involved in creating!
