When I first read this book I really didn’t clearly see the connection
between the book and this course.
I saw the story as an unfortunate sequence of events that cascaded to
create a tragedy. The book is all about how the small thoughtless actions of 13
students created an intolerable world for Hannah Baker. Her pain was so deep
that she committed suicide to escape it. In my own classroom, I work at
creating a relaxed atmosphere of safety and acceptance so that students feel
that they can be themselves and take the risk of discussing their opinions with
the rest of the class without being judged. I always make it a point to
discover the learning style of a student early in the class and in doing so,
find out something about them at a personal level. It is important to be
sensitive to the individual student’s unique personality so that I can detect
any of the warning signals that there is a problem.
While many of the small things the students did to hurt Hannah occurred
outside of school, they were compounded to make both her school and home world
impossible in live in. Outside of class, my students are constantly using their
phones and computers to communicate with each other. I’m not sure that some of
them have thought about how some of the things they do or say might impact
others. As educators we must make our students aware of the consequences of
being digitally irresponsible. Toward that goal, I am in the process of
creating a lesson where students will explore the elements of digital
citizenship.
Our increased access to technology with its ability to enable instantaneous
communication has changed the world we all live in. With greater freedom comes
greater responsibility. Just as I teach my students why giving their homework
to a friend is cheating, it is my responsibility to make students aware of the
implications, both social and legal, of their actions in a digital world.
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