Bullying

 

Kathy Oberle                                                                          Rachel Karnitz

Professional School Counselor                                               MSUM Intern 2002-2003

Garfield Elementary School                                                    Garfield Elementary School

North Mankato, MN                                                              North Mankato, MN

 

Description of the Lesson

 

            This lesson on bullying is a two-week series of classroom guidance lessons developed at Garfield Elementary School by Kathy Oberle to assist 6^th grade students in learning to identify bullies, bullying behaviors and how to cope with a bully. The two presentations are adopted from different guidance curricula, including Bully-proofing Your School, Bully Free Classroom, and Gum in My Hair (see references below for more detail). Each lesson is designed to be delivered within a period of 35-45 minutes.

 

Lesson #1

           

            The first lesson should begin by the counselor introducing the topic of bullying. Write the word “bullying” on the board and ask the students if they think there are bullies at their school. Remind the students not to name names, but rather to just raise their hands if they think there are bullies in the school. Repeat, but this time ask the students if they think there are any bullies in this classroom.

            Next, ask the students for their definitions of bullying. Write the comments on the board. After several answers are given, write your own definition of bullying on the board. The one that was used for this lesson was “When a stronger person puts down a smaller or weaker person over and over.” The key ideas to stress are that bullying is intentional, repeated and hurtful acts.

            Now ask the students for examples of bullying behaviors. Name the 3 main types of bullying – physical, emotional and verbal. Some examples include intimidating people, embarrassing people, spreading rumors, leaving people out, hitting, kicking, bossing people around, name calling and making people do things they don’t want to do.   

            The next topic that is discussed is the victim. Ask the students, “What do we call the person who is bullied?” Discuss what happens to the victim when they are bullied over and over again. Give characteristics of victims – low self esteem, afraid to come to school, may start bullying others, etc. Can also discuss school shooting incidents such as Columbine High School, where these students lashed out because they were bullied. An optional part of this lesson would be to talk about the witnesses to bullying. What is it like to see someone bullied? How does it make the witness feel?

            Next, talk about the fact that most bullying happens at school. Bullying occurs where there is little supervision – where is this in our school? Possible answers, lunchtime, recess, bathrooms, in the hallways during passing time, after school, at the bus stop, and on the bus. Also talk with students about why bullies bully. Many bullies become bullies because they are being bullied at home by a parent or sibling. Talk about the reasons for bullying – most importantly, power. Most bullies pick on others for the feeling of power that they gain.

           

 

            After the bullying discussion, have students take out a piece of paper for a T/F quiz on            bullying.

1. Bullying is just teasing
2. Some people deserve to be bullied
3. Only boys are bullies
4. People who complain about bullies are babies
5. Bullies will go away if you ignore them
6. All bullies have low-self esteem and that’s why they pick on other people
7. It’s tattling to tell an adult when you’re being bullied
8. The best way to deal with a bully is by fighting or trying to get even
9. People who are bullied may hurt for awhile, but then they will get over it.

            Go over the answers to the quiz with the students. (All the answers are FALSE, except #5 can be TRUE or FALSE) Next, give a few facts about bullying.

 

80% of adolescents report being bullied sometime in their lives at school

20% of students are scared during the school day

160,000 kids miss school everyday due to fear/intimidation

1 in 5 students are either a bully or a victim

 

            Have the students turn their papers over and write about a time when they were bullied or were a bully or were a witness to a bullying incident.

 

Lesson #2

 

            The second lesson should begin with a review of last week’s lesson on bullying. After the review, the students will watch a video entitled “Gum in my hair,” which is a great video for middle school students. This video gives an overview of bullying, different bullying behaviors and then focuses specifically on what to do about bullying. The video gives five different techniques for coping with a bully.

 

            After the video, ask the students to name the different ways to deal with a bully. Write these on the board. Then, have the students get into groups of 3-5 people. Each group must come up with a short skit about bullying and then choose 1 of the 5 techniques for dealing with a bully. Give the students about 5 minutes to do this, and then give 1-2 minutes for each skit.

 

Connections to Related Standards, Competencies and Domains

           

           

References and Resources

 

Beane, A. (1999). The Bully-free Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing Inc.

 

Twisted Scholar Inc. (Producer). (2003). Gum in my hair [Motion picture]. (Available from Twisted Scholar Inc., 1952 1^st Ave. So, Studio 5, Seattle, WA 98134. http://www.twistedscholar.com)

Garrity, C., Jens, K., Porter, W., Sager, N., & Short-Camilli, C. (2000). Bully-proofing your school. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.

 

Seattle, WA 98134 

 

 

For Further Information

Kathy Oberle

Professional School Counselor

Dakota Meadows Middle School

North Mankato, MN 56003

507-387-5077

Email: koberl1@isd77.k12.mn.us