• Welcome!
  • Welcome!
• Background
  • My Philosophy of Education
  • Introduction to Educational Background
  • Bag Speech
  • Transcript and Related Coursework
  • Resume
• Experiences in Education
  • Experiences Introduction
  • Camp Jacobson at Robin Hood
  • The Arc
  • Kepler Gymnasium
  • South Bronx United
  • Sauquoit Valley Elementary School
• Issues in Education
  • Introduction
  • Special Education Debate
  • Technology in the Classroom
  • Motivation in the Classroom
  • Bullying
• Content Major
  • Introduction to Content Major
  • Philosophy Thesis
  • Intuitions and Decision-Making
• Resources
  • Resources Introduction
  • Thesis Bibliography
  • Ethnography Education Journal
  • Multimedia Resources

Beyond Bullying

“Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

For my Education Practicum lead assignment I decided to present on bullying because bullying is an ongoing struggle for many schools and educators.  As future educators, we will all have to address bullying at one time or another no matter what grade level we are working with.  It is important for elementary educators to introduce to children why bullying is wrong and the traumatic affects it can have.  By the middle school age, it's important ton continue showing why bulling is so bad as well as introducing students to coping mechanisms to deal with bullying and how to properly intervene.  Students should know the resources that the school has mad available for them.  By high school, students should be aware of all the resources, understand the extreme negative impact bullying can have, and should know the best way to deal with a bully.  A week before my lead, I handed out a very sad article about a young boy who committed suicide due to extreme bullying and asked the class to answer the following questions:

Problem Statement: “the kids at school are calling me gay, ugly, and ‘the Virgin.’”- Jaheem, age 11
Please read “My Bullied Son’s Last Day on Earth” and answer the following questions:
1) What advice can you give to a child who suffers from bullying?

2) How can you explain to children why bulling is wrong?

3) Have you ever witnessed a child stand up for another child who was being bullied? Were they successful?

4) What resources should schools have to help bullied children like Jaheem?

5) How can teachers and educators integrate anti-bulling lessons into their curriculum?

Then, the next week in class, we started with a discussion of bullying statistics and how the number of children who suffer from bullying is much higher than we had expected.  I broke the class up into three groups and handed out the following prompts:

Group 1:

You are an elementary school teacher- how do you teach your students what bullying is?

Consider thinking about:
Define bullying
Why must bullying be stopped? (The harm that it does)
Your school’s anti-bullying policy

Group 2:

You are a middle school teacher- how do you teach your students not to be bullies?

Consider thinking about:
How to be unprejudiced
How to be cooperative and empathetic
How to resist negative peer pressure
How to be accepting of others

Group 3:

You are a high school teacher- how do you help victims of bullying? Also, how do you deal with aggressive bullies?

Consider thinking about:
How to react appropriately if bullied (being appropriately assertive)
How to resolve difference constructively (conflict resolution techniques)
How to help others who are being bullied (how to be a good bystander)

After some great brainstorming and discussion, each group acted out the creative ideas they came up with and explained their reasoning behind their methods.  In order to end the lesson on a positive note, I told a story about a boy who was on his way to commit suicide when another child befriended him and, ultimately, saved his life.  All it takes is one person to make a difference; anyone can be that person.