WHICH ME FINE

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TCH Teaching Channel & Common Sense Media Present
Brian Van Dyck VO/OC
Today, we're going to talk really quick about online behavior.
Brian Van Dyck VO/OC
My name is Brian Van Dyck. And I teach at...
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Buchser Middle School, Santa Clara, CA
...Buchser Middle School in Santa Clara Unified School District.
Brian Van Dyck OC/VO
I'm going to start with a video. Today's video is about a young man that's interested in music. And he has found online chat rooms that he clearly knows are mostly adult.
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"People Treat You Differently If They Think You're 25."
Male Child with Dark Hair VO
People treat you differently if they think you're 25 than if they think you're 14. I don't want to make people think I'm an adult but I didn't want people to judge what I was saying because of my age.
Brian Van Dyck VO/OC
That's one of the things that I like that these lessons have these videos to go along with it. They're great discussion starters.
Brian Van Dyck OC
So we, we have this situation which quite frankly is fairly you know realistic. What do you think about what he's doing though? His actions online? Are they, are they okay? Are they harmless? Are they potentially harmful?

Female Child Wearing Hoodie OC
He should learn that he should be himself.
Brian Van Dyck OC
What about the other people in that chat room? Are his behaviors fair to them?
Female Child With Brown Curly Hair VO/OC
It's not. It's just wrong because he's lying the whole time.
Brian Van Dyck OC
Un-huh.
Female Child With Brown Curly Hair VO
So, it's just a big lie.
Brian Van Dyck OC/VO
Today's lesson is about how middle school aged kids behave online. What are the consequences that are, go along with being somebody else than you really are when you're online?
Male Child Wearing White Shirt VO/OC
Like one day they're like talking about something that normally his age group wouldn't be talking about. It's like he's going to feel like, "Whoa, what am I going to say now?" Because he's not, he doesn't have like the right response because he's not used to having those kind of conversations.
Brian Van Dyck OC
Okay. How many people have been in a online situation and pretended to be somebody you aren't?
Brian Van Dyck VO/OC
I was shocked when I saw the number of hands. Every kid responded, "Yes, I've done that." And so here we are in the middle of the lesson. They've just had a discussion realizing that maybe the behavior of this young man in the video wasn't, wasn't that great.
Female Child Wearing Glasses OC
Take a stand. Look at the line in the room that says harmless on one end and harmful on the other. Take turns reading the case studies below.

Brian Van Dyck VO/OC
We're going to introduce ten scenarios. And the scenarios are fairly general. They're, a lot of specifics and details are left out which is going to, again, create that problem that the kids are going to have to solve through communicating, through collaboration. And then make a decision. In this scenario, is the behavior harmless or harmful? And on a scale, where would you place that situation?
Brian Van Dyck OC
On the back of the Post-it, you're going to write your one or two justifications. Why are we choosing to put this where we did, on the harmful side or the harmless side.
Brian Van Dyck OC
We'll use a different color Post-it for each different group.
Brian Van Dyck OC
Go ahead. Get reading. Get discussing.
Female Child Wearing Red Sweater OC
All of her friends are My Face so she creates a great profile.
Female Child Wearing Hoodie OC
She'd end up either getting hurt or getting in like a relationship with someone like.
Female Child With Brown Curly Hair VO/OC
And she, they can cancel it. And then she can't have it anymore.
Male Child Wearing White Hoodie OC
I think it's harmful. What do you think?
Female Child Wearing Red Sweater
Yeah, it's harmful.
Female Child With Long Hair OC
Yeah.
Female Child Wearing Glasses OC
Yeah.
Brian Van Dyck VO
This is way harmless and that's the far way side of harmful.

Male Child Wearing Black Hoodie OC
He starts instant messages and then he starts a debate in the chat room.
Brian Van Dyck OC
Seven minute warning. All right?
Female Child Wearing Glasses OC
Yeah, . It's just suicide so it can very bad for the person that's being.
Female Child's Voice #1 VO
.
Female Child Wearing Glasses OC
Yeah.
Brian Van Dyck OC
What do you guys think?
Male Child #1 VO
Harmful.
Male Child In Green Tee Shirt OC
Harmful. Someone must have told her name from the site.
Brain Van Dyck OC
Oh. So, a redhead friend found out, huh? Ouch.
Male Child Wearing White Hoodie OC
Like around here, huh?
Brain Van Dyck VO
Good.
Female Child Wearing Green Sweater OC
He thinks it's real.
Female Child With Blond Hair VO/OC
They're probably just going to think like she's mean and they're not going to want to hang out with her.
Brian Van Dyck VO/OC
They're having a real discussion and real debate. What I liked about the fact was they're having to anchor it and tie it back with evidence. They were having to find facts within the reading. What they were writing and reading within the situation, they were having to link it to evidence. And to me that is what makes a debate really good for kids. It teaches them to backup their opinions.

Female Child With Black Hair OC
Older guy and a younger girl who's only like 12, it's just wrong.
Brian Van Dyck VO
Did you decide to move that because of some of the other situations?
Female Child With Black Curly Hair VO
Yeah.
Brian Van Dyck OC/VO
So the real bad one made you think that one wasn't really so bad at all, so you're moving it? Good All right. I know you guys have talked at length and I've heard some really good discussions. And then after reading all ten, I know some of you made some moves. But when I look at the board, there were a few that kind of stuck out. All right? I've got this one, two, three's that are on this side. Why did you keep it on the harmless side?
Female Child With Pony Tail OC
The only bad thing is that she's hiding herself, who she is.
Brian Van Dyck OC
Okay. So.
Female Child With Pony Tail OC
The worst that could happen is she says she's going to get caught.
Brian Van Dyck OC
We have a group over there that's on the harmful side. And I think they want to, I think they want to try to change her mind.
Female Child Wearing Glasses OC/VO
The girl that they're making fun of, she can find out. And she can get really sad and it can cause a suicide because of nobody likes being bullied. Plus, it's against the law for bullying. If you learn from now that if you do something, it's going to have a consequence and the consequences may be little, may be big, but they're still consequences, you try not to be in those situations.

Female Child Wearing Blue Top VO/OC
You could, you should only chat online to the people that you know. If you know that person's like always joking around, then obviously you already know that they're just joking around.
Female Child With Black Hair VO
Just be yourself online and like only chat with people you know. And choose what you say and say appropriate things.
Brian Van Dyck OC
You got to be sensitive when you're just on the keyboard or on the phone, right? This curriculum lets kids explore the content without sprinkling it with fear. And the kids come to that conclusion on their own. They figure out what things they need to be fearful of and they figure out what things they can do to protect themselves so they don't need to be afraid.
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TCH Classroom Takeaways:
#1 Lead The Discussion With An Unbiased Position #2 Use Post It Notes To Record Evidence #3 Support Differing Opinions #4 Compare Answers Among Groups
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