Relationship Skills
Family Resources on
Campaign Against Bullying
Lesson Topic
Students create a campaign against bullying in their school
Essential Questions
How do we spread the word to stop bullying in our own school or community?
Anti-bullying – Brianna
If the lesson is used in the classroom: Students learned about bullying and how to support bullying prevention activities in their school. During class activities students discussed bullying situations and developed a campaign against bullying within their school.
Getting Ready for the Conversation
The video for this lesson features a student named Brianna. Brianna has frequently been the target of bullying at the school she attends and she talks about the times this has occurred, even one time when she fought back and she got in trouble in school.
It is important also when discussing bullying to use terms like “bullying behavior” rather than referring to someone as a “bully” because bullying behavior is learned and more caring and empathetic behaviors can be taught to replace bullying behaviors. Also, it is helpful to say that someone is a “target of bullying behavior” rather than using terms like “victim” which may have a more shameful connotation.
Conversation Starters and Practice at Home Activities
The first item is for follow-up after viewing the lesson video.
Describe some of the behaviors that Brianna has endured? If Brianna were your friend, what actions could you take to support her? Why would it be important to take action?
Describe the bullying prevention program at your school. While no program can prevent every instance of bullying, does the school do a good job of stopping bullying behavior? If there are concerns, how can these be addressed?
List some situations or examples of bullying behavior. Why is it important to be aware of what actions are bullying behaviors?
Are there problems with bullying behaviors in the community? If so, what actions can be taken to keep our family safe?
School to Home Resources on Campaign Against Bullying
Materials
- Paper and writing utensils
- Example of your own life size outline on a large piece of paper
- Poster sized or larger pieces of paper
- Pencils, crayons, markers or other art supplies
Introduction:
1. Introduce the vocabulary term “campaign.” Explain how a campaign is a group of activities and communications to support a specific purpose or cause.
2. Campaigns are usually created by groups or organizations that have studied a problem and want to create ways to help change things.
3. Tell students that in this lesson they are going to launch a “campaign” to stop bullying in school.
Direct Instruction:
1. Before starting a campaign, it is important to thoroughly understand how the issue or problem, in this case bullying, affects people in the community.
2. Begin a discussion about what bullying looks like and sounds like in their world. Ask students NOT to identify specific people involved, but talk about actions in a generic way. Provide an example such as, “Some people push other kids’ faces into the water at the fountain when they are getting a drink,” or “Some kids say mean things whenever this one person walks into the room.”
3. Explain the difference between intentional bullying and comments that may not be nice, but are not really bullying. Provide examples, such as “Grant accidentally bumped into Katie in the hall,” and “Josie makes fun of Shepard’s shoes at lunch every day.”
4. Continue the discussion by asking students how they usually deal with these kinds of examples of bullying. What do they say? What do they do? How do they make a difference without making things worse for the person being bullied or for themselves? Make a visible list of their responses and discuss which ones seem to work best.
Guided Exploration (We do):
1. Read the scenarios provided and ask students to determine whether bullying is happening in each story.
2. If it is an example of bullying, they should describe what they might do or say to safely help the person being bullied. If it is not bullying, ask them to explain their answers and what the person should say or do to remedy the situation.
Independent practice
1. Ask students to think about how everyone in a community needs to be responsible for stopping bullying. This will be the message of their campaign.
Scenario One
One of the girls in the class is having a party on Saturday. Not everyone in the class has been invited. Two girls that are invited keep talking about the party at the lunch table, knowing that most of the others at the table are not invited.
Scenario Two
A group of kids is walking in the hall and someone sticks out a foot and trips one of the kids who falls down. Everyone laughs.
Scenario Three
In PE, one student stumbles and falls while dribbling the soccer ball toward the goal. A student on the other team intercepts the ball and takes it the other way.
Scenario Four
In the hallway, a few of the boys smack shoulders when they are going in opposite directions.
Scenario Five
On the playground, one student will never let another (who is smaller) near the tire swing. The other kids can hear the student calling the smaller student names and can see the bigger student pushing the smaller student’s shoulders and shoving the smaller student away.
Scenario Six
A group of girls is sitting at the lunch table. Everyday, at least two of the girls comment on what one of the girls is eating. For example, when she’s eating cookies, they tell her now they know why she looks so fat.
