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Level: Grades 7 and 8
Duration: One hour per activity
Overview
This lesson allows students to explore the concept of civic participation in the creation of Canadian laws through a study of the consultation process found in the Canada Gazette. Students will create their own School Gazette by proposing and discussing rules against cyberbullying at school.
Learning Outcomes
Students will demonstrate the ability to:
- understand the role of rules and laws in society
- explain the role of the Canada Gazette in the creation and publication of proposed regulations in Canada
- suggest rules for preventing cyberbullying
- establish a consultative process similar to that of the Canada Gazette for the rules they have proposed
Preparation and Materials
Activity One: What Good Are Rules?
Guessing Game
Divide the class into two groups, A and B, and arrange each so that your instructions to each cannot be overheard by the other group.
- For Group A, tell them that they are playing a guessing game where Group B will choose an animal, and Group A must guess what the animal is by asking questions. Group B can answer the questions with only “yes” or “no”.
- Tell Group B that you are playing a spelling game where Group A will be asking them a number of questions. If the last word of the question ends with a vowel, Group B must answer “yes”; if it ends with a consonant, they are to answer “no”. Any answers but “yes” or “no” will disqualify Group B.
- Tell both groups that the game will end after five minutes.
(Be prepared for some noise and confusion! Obviously, Group A will not be able to guess correctly because the Group B’s answers will not follow the same rules as their questions.)
Class Discussion
Once the game is over, let the two groups compare their experiences and discover that they were not playing by the same rules. Guide the discussion by asking the following questions:
- What were the rules of the game? (Each group will provide the rules they were given.)
- What happened? (Each group thought they were playing by the same rules, but they weren’t. Therefore, the game did not go as it should have.)
- Why are rules important in a game? (Rules make sure that everyone is playing in the same way.)
- Can you think of different kinds of rules? (Answers might include school rules, household rules, rules of the road and laws.)
Write the examples given by the students on the board, and distribute photocopies of the rules relating to your school when they are mentioned. Then ask:
- What good are rules? (Rules help keep order by telling us what we can’t do (restrictive rules) or what we are required to do (prescriptive rules). Rules also tell us what we have a right to, for example, the right to education and the right to equal treatment.)
Ask students to think of various rules that may be applied at home, at school or across the country. As students make their suggestions, organize them in a table on the board, as follows:
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At Home |
At School |
Across the Country
(national laws) |
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Responsibilities |
Restrictive rules
(what we can’t do)
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Prescriptive rules
(what we are required to do)
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Rights
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What we can always do |
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(Mention that there are even international laws, which apply to more than one country.)
When the table has been completed, distribute the handout Rights and Responsibilities of ________ Student and Citizen [ask students to fill in the blank with their name].
Be sure to cover the following points:
- Some rules are both restrictive and prescriptive, like traffic rules.
- Some rules can be seen as both a right and a responsibility. For example, even if young people under the age of 16 don’t want to go to school every day, they have to. At the same time, in Canada nobody — not even parents — can prevent a student from attending school and learning the basic skills (literacy, numeracy and so on) that will allow her or him to succeed. This is a right that had to be fought for and is not held by every child in every country.
- While household rules may differ from family to family, the rules of a school and country are the same for everyone.
- Are there rules that are both household and school rules? (For example, to show respect toward others.)
Once students have filled in their tables, ask them where they can find the rules that the class wrote on the board for households and for the school? Are these rules written down somewhere?
Point out that when rules are written down, it is easier to know them and, therefore, easier to follow them.
Activity Two: Creating New Rules — The Canada Gazette
The Canada Gazette
To teach students how people can find out about Canada’s “rules” or laws, project the Canada Gazette overhead. Explain that this gazette grants all Canadians access to laws and regulations.
Point out the elements of the projected page to the students:
- Everything is written in Canada’s two official languages.
- It has the crest of the Government of Canada, which shows that it is an official document.
- It is dated.
- It has an explanation of the structure of the document, which is divided into three parts:
- Part I contains notices and proposed regulations
- Part II contains official regulations
- Part III contains official Acts of Parliament, which is where Acts become law
- It explains clearly how you can get the Canada Gazette. (It is freely available in most public libraries, you can subscribe, and you can consult it for free on the Internet.)
Changing Rules and Laws
Return to the table of rules that you generated with the class (household, school and country) and ask the following questions:
- At home and at school, is it possible to discuss rules if you don’t agree with them?
- Is it possible to modify them?
Once students have answered with regard to household and school rules, ask them:
- Can national laws be discussed and modified? How?
Give the students some time to express their opinions, and then explain in more detail the three parts of the Canada Gazette:
- Part I - notices and proposed regulations: These are the regulations on which any citizen can comment and propose changes.
- Part II - official regulations: This is where regulations from Part I appear once they have been modified as a result of the comments made when they were published in Part I and passed by Parliament.
- Part III – contains public Acts of Parliament and is published as soon as is possible after they have received Royal Assent (which is where an Act becomes law).
Project the Consultation Page from the Canada Gazette Web Site overhead and explain to students that you will be looking more closely at Part I of the Canada Gazette. Point out that Part I contains a section called “Consultation,” which asks for public participation. It says:
All Canadians have a chance to submit their comments to the government departments and agencies responsible for the proposed regulations before these are enacted and then published in Part II of the Canada Gazette. This is called the consultation process. The name and contact information of the person responsible for a text of regulations is found at the end of each regulatory impact analysis statement that accompanies the proposed regulations, under “Contact.” A list of ongoing consultation on proposed regulations is found on our Consultation page.[1]
Paraphrase this for students, explaining that this allows Canadians to comment on proposed regulations, with those comments being published in Part II of the document.
Class Discussion
Ask students the following questions:
- Do you think it is a good idea to be able to change laws? Why or why not? (The world changes and laws need to be able to adapt to change.)
- Have things changed at school between your parents’ generation and yours? (Schools now have computers, the Internet and cell phones.)
- Look again at the school rules that I gave you earlier. Which rules relate to computers and other digital tools? Underline them.
- In front of each rule you just underlined, write a “P” if it is a prescriptive rule and an “R” if it is a restrictive rule.
- In general, rules are created by imagining or seeing how things could go badly in a particular situation. Do you think that the rules you’re looking at are good at predicting all the problems that might arise out of the use of computers and cell phones? (Introduce here the idea of cyberbullying, a kind of bullying that takes place in an online environment.)
Now ask the following questions:
- What might be the roles of those involved in a cyberbullying situation? (Generally, you have the perpetrator, a target and bystanders who witness a conversation thread or receive and may resend threatening or harassing messages.)
- What are some ways that people can be cyberbullied? Why might a perpetrator do this? (See Table 1: Perpetrators)
- How might the target react? Why? (See Table 2: Targets)
- How might bystanders react to cyberbullying? Why? (See Table 3: Bystanders)
On the board, fill in the first two columns of Tables 1 to 3 as students answer the questions. The content of the first two columns will allow you to guide the class discussion. (For now, omit the last column, “Suggest a rule to deal with this problem.”)
Announce to the students, “Now that we’ve looked at the roles and some possible actions involved in cyberbullying, let’s try to come up with rules for each case, to help people react correctly in each situation.”
Divide the class into three groups, and instruct each group to concentrate on creating a different set of rules: Group E will work on online ethics, Group T on advice for the target, and Group B on suggestions for bystanders.
Once the three groups have been organized, distribute the Ways to Avoid Cyberbullying handout.
Table 1: Perpetrators
(Group E will suggest rules to address problems relating to perpetrators.)
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What does the perpetrator do? |
What types of bullying may occur? |
Suggest a rule to deal with this problem |
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He or she bullies |
Direct: Creating a web page, posting harassing messages about someone, or making photos or private messages about someone public without his or her consent. |
E1: Respect the private lives of other people online; don’t spread rumours, don’t share information about or photos of someone without getting his or her permission. |
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Indirect: Encouraging others to exclude someone from their “friend” or “buddy” list. |
E2: In the online world, just like in the offline world, never try to exclude other people. |
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Indirect – “bullying by proxy”: Making someone else post a harassing message about a third person, just to test his or her dominance. |
E3: Don’t try to turn people against one another; making someone else be a bully is no different from being a bully yourself. |
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“Blind”: In a blog, chat room or game, insulting those present - whom the bully does not even know - just to upset them, or see what happens. |
E4: Follow the same values in the virtual world as in the physical world; never write to anyone something you wouldn’t be willing to say face-to-face. If you feel an urge to write something angry, sleep on it. |
Table 2: Targets
(Group T will suggest rules relating to targets.)
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How does the target react? |
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Suggest a rule to deal with this problem |
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She or he reports it… |
…to parents, or the school. |
T1. Stop: immediately leave the online environment or activity where the bullying is happening (chatroom, newsgroup, game, IM, etc.).
Block all emails or instant messages from the perpetrator, and never reply.
Record all harassing messages and forward them to your Internet Service Provider. Most ISPs have policies against harassing messages.
Talk: tell a trusted adult, such as a parent or teacher. |
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She or he keeps it quiet… |
… because the perpetrator is blackmailing her or him with images or photos the perpetrator is threatening to make public. |
T2. Never put anything online that you wouldn’t want the whole world to see. |
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Because she or he thinks the perpetrator cannot be identified. |
T3: If you receive an anonymous harassing message, ask your ISP to find out where the message came from by tracking the message’s IP address. |
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Because the target thinks her or his parents will cut off the Internet access. |
T4: Create an educational guide for parents on cyberbullying (see Extension Activity Two). |
Table 3: Bystanders
(Group B will suggest rules for bystanders.)
| How do bystanders react? |
What do they do? |
Suggest a rule to deal with this problem |
| They take the perpetrator’s side |
They help the perpetrator by circulating photos or messages that harm the target. |
B1: Refuse the request or instruction to pass on an insulting or other harmful message, photo or video. |
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They laugh along with the perpetrator or leave approving messages, which encourages him or her. |
B2: In all cases, take action against the perpetrator: react when your friends get involved in cyberbullying, and speak up every time you witness online harassment. Most young people are more sensitive to criticism from their peers than from their parents. |
| They take the target’s side |
They report the incident to an adult (parent, police or school staff). |
| They don’t take either side |
They assume the target provoked the perpetrator or they think the target is exaggerating. |
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NEUTRAL BYSTANDER ! IF YOU DO NOTHING, YOU ARE TAKING THE BULLY’S SIDE. |
Rules to Stop Cyberbullying
Give students the following instructions:
- Write your group’s subject at the top of the first column: perpetrator, target or bystanders.
- Fill in the first two columns from what I’ve written on the board.
- Try to come up with rules for each case in your subject category.
Circulate among the groups to make sure that students understand the instructions. Spend extra time with the group that is working on rules for the target, to introduce them to the “Stop – Block – Talk – Record” strategy:
- Stop: immediately leave the online environment or activity where the bullying is happening (chatroom, newsgroup, game, IM, etc.)
- Block all emails or instant messages from the perpetrator, and never reply
- Talk: tell a trusted adult, such as a parent or teacher
- Record all harassing messages and forward them to your Internet Service Provider. Most ISPs have policies against harassing messages.
Activity Three: The Democratic Process — School Gazette
A School Gazette
Once the groups have finished developing their rules, have them create a School Gazette. (If the class is bilingual and time permits, encourage them to create their gazette in both official languages.) Instruct students as follows:
- We’re now going to create our own School Gazette, following the same principles as the Canada Gazette.
- Make a first page that follows the formula from the Canada Gazette: include the date and replace “Canada” with the name of our school. Write down the purpose of your gazette. (Tell them that Part I is intended to gather opinions on the rules they have proposed for dealing with cyberbullying at school.) Provide photocopies of the school crest, for students to cut out and put onto the first page.
Note: Ask the group that made up the rules for bystanders (who will be the least busy) to create two first pages: one that will say “Part I,” and the other “Part II.” Have them put the second one aside for later use. For all groups provide the following instructions:
- Make a second page where you will list the rules you’ve come up with. Give each rule a number and a letter code, using your group’s letter (E1, T1 or B1.)
- Make a third page titled “Consultation” and leave it blank.
Consultation
Once groups have created their gazettes, begin the consultation process by asking them to exchange their pages with other groups. Instruct students to make a comment next to each rule to indicate whether the rule is complete,and whether it is written in a clear and factual way.
Once all the gazettes have been annotated by other groups, assemble a definitive list of rules with the class. Make sure students consider the various comments on each rule and make changes as necessary. Use your final edited versions to complete the table on the board; at the same time, a student should make a final copy of the rules on a piece of paper.
(The third column of tables 1, 2 and 3 can be used as a guide to help the class develop the final rules.)
Transcribe the final rules to the “Part II” pages that the bystander group created earlier, and post them on the classroom wall.
Extension Activity One
(You may wish to consult with your school’s administration before doing either of the following activities.)
The democratic process can be extended by including the whole school in the consultation. Collect the rules developed by all three groups in a single Student Gazette and post it in the hall for all students to consider and comment on.
Organize an open forum for all interested students (at lunch break or after class) in which they can discuss rules on cyberbullying and comment on the proposed rules.
Extension Activity Two
Create an educational guide for parents to explain what cyberbullying is and how to deal with it at home.
[1] http://gazette.gc.ca/cg-gc/lm-sp-eng.html#i9
