2. FACT Bullying interferes with learning In recent studies, It has been reported that 88% of junior high and high school students have experienced being victimized by bullying in school. Source: U.S. Department of Education
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4. Bullies are cowards They tend to bully others when teachers and adults are not watching. They tend to bully and intimidate others when they have an audience of “friends”. They tend to look for weakness in their victims.
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8. WHY SOME KIDS BULLY Hi Ronald! You are a 12 year-old sixth grade male currently attending Cedar Hill Middle School. The school is located about three blocks from your apartment building in which you live on the third floor with your Grandmother, Aunt and two younger siblings. You like to “fool around” with kids in your class and often like to show off in front of them. For that reason you have developed a reputation among the adults in your school. They think that you have problems. You generally do not like the adults in Cedar Hill. They are always calling your Grandmother and trying to get you into trouble. You have had these problems since the first grade. You have always found it very difficult to learn and, especially, take tests. The school suggested to your Grandmother that you should be tested for special ed. placement, but she told the school that you are smart and refused placement. Last Thursday, during lunch, you got into a fight with Billy (he’s in the homeroom next to yours). It always appears that Billy is trying to please the teachers at school. Even when you call him names and push him, he doesn’t do anything about it. During the fight, the other kids were yelling and cheering. You felt good about that and when Billy ran to the teacher’s on duty, he was crying hysterically. You felt important in front of the other kids. You like the feeling of being a “tough guy”. You were suspended for fighting (2 days). When you came back to class, you failed the social studies and math test, but you just don’t care. You hate school; the kids and especially the adults. They're always lecturing you and telling you that you better shape up and that they never saw a kid like you. You shrug your shoulders, and tell them that you just don’t care.
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Editor's Notes
NOTES The following notes are suggested scripts and notes to “Creating a Healthy Classroom Environment Free of Violence and Bullying”.
SCRIPT Be provocative with audience. Explain that this is an unequal equation you devised, and even though it seemingly makes no sense, when they begin to figure out what MTV and SD means, the puzzle will begin to fit . ( MTV stands for Music Television Network while SD designates school day.) Explain that an MTV video is usually about 2 minutes and 30 seconds while a school day is 400 minutes. Explain that research has shown that the attention span of America’s youth is rapidly diminishing with the progressive rise in technology such as Play Stations; computer gaming, videos, etc. Elicit responses from participants. Time: 10 minutes
Script “How can we be expected to compete with performers that appear on expensive music videos, or levels of challenging video games that are devised by talented video producers and game producers?” “We must begin to rethink our classroom management skills to take into account that today’s youth need to be challenged with more interesting lessons and cognitive tasks”. Time: 5 minutes
Explain each of the bulleted items and at the conclusion elicit responses. Time: 5 minutes
Script “Look it’s you”. “You’re the super teacher. If you don’t believe it, next time you go to a super market or see one of your kids in the street, what is their reaction?....That’s right! They hide behind mom, or try to tell their friends…… There’s my teacher” “You have to understand that you are EMPOWERED and you have the ability to change your children in a positive manner.” “When we are in front of our classes, they perceive us as larger then life”. Ask the audience how they feel when they are in front of their students. Pick up on the feelings and emotions of the one’s who feel empowered. Time: 10 minutes
SCRIPT. “Let’s take a look at this exercise in introspection…try to be honest in your answers.” After about two or three minutes of studying this slide, elicit answers from group. Get the group to relate how good they feel when they treat kids with respect and kids respond in kind. Time: 10 minutes
Tell the group that these are the typical responses elicited from their peers. Elicit what ultimately happens when you get into confrontations with students. Explain that when you lose your temper or confront a student publicly, you cannot win. You are now involved in a Me…They confrontation and the children will always side with each other and you become the antagonist. You can never win! Time: 5 minutes
SCRIPT Read this out loud. Read with emphasis and emotion. Ask group if they ever encountered children like Ronald. Time: 5 minutes
SCRIPT Spend some time on these questions. The group will begin relating some interesting stories about their own students. At this time you will begin to see some interesting revelations from the participants. Time 5 to 10 minutes
SCRIPT This is a role play You will demonstrate the three different teaching styles and exaggerating each one. By using good teaching techniques, the group will see that the best and appropriate style is that of the assertive teacher. Time: 15-20 minutes BREAK
SCRIPT “Everything you do in a class…every word you say…. Every gesture and obviously every lesson that you teach must be strategically planned. There is a strategy that you will use for everything that you do in a classroom. When you strategically prepare your day, you are on the road to success as a well respected teacher who gets his point across so the students will know a little more at the end of the lesson then they did at the beginning. Strategic teaching and responding to students means SUCCESS in the classroom”. Ask questions….. “How does it feel when you taught a really great lesson?” “Did you feel less stress when the lesson was a success?” “Were there disruptions during the lesson?” “If there were disruptions…How did you handle them?” Time: 5 minutes
SCRIPT Explain to the group that when disruptions and fighting occur, in order to effectively manage the crisis at hand, they must learn to immediately disassociate themselves from the crisis and be able to address the problem. In a split second they must decide that there is a problem and be able to address it. In this short time they can begin investigating the situation—the causes, problems, etc. They should now be able to effectively respond by using various strategies: phone call to office or security; distracting the disruptive students by simple hand gestures or clapping; calling out practiced cues such as “freeze” or “hands on desks”, etc. Communicating with the student is important. It is important for the students to talk about what created the classroom disruptions or crises and how to best avoid them in the future. Time: 10 minutes
SCRIPT Each of these strategies must be demonstrated. If there is time, this is the perfect opportunity for a parent-teacher role play. Choose a participant and instruct her that she will play the role of a hostile parent who blames the school for all of her child’s problems. Use your communication and PR skills to help turn this parent around and get her on your side. Make sure that when the parent becomes hostile and angry, you maintain a cool head and praise her child. Remember, the child is the singularly most important asset a parent has. Treat this relationship with that in mind. Begin this sample conference: “Good morning Mrs. I must tell you, I have been looking forward to you’re being here today. I have some important issues to discuss with you, many of them are very good……”Keep talking and temper the conversation with attributes about the student. Many times this will diffuse the angry parent and they will begin talking about their child’s strong points also. Time: 15 minutes
Script These strategies must be demonstrated and practiced by the group. Depending on the time of the workshop, you may break the participants into small groups while they practice these strategies. Time: 10 minutes to 30 minutes (depending on workshop length)
