Reaction to Special White House Screening of Bully
At a special White House screening of the movie Bully, April 20, Vice President Joe Mazzola represented Character Education Partnership. Following the screening, the director and several of the students and family members featured in the movie made comments and took questions.
“The movie was gut-wrenching,” Mazzola said. “The comments made by the parents and students afterwards triggered even more feelings of sadness, disappointment, and anger. Anyone in America who thinks bullying is not a major problem must have their heads in the sand.”
The President’s senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, and the US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, also spoke after the movie ended. All seemed to agree that as painful as the movie is, it can start an important dialogue and draw people together. To truly make a difference, people must come together and make a cultural change.
Students are willing to change; they just need advice, encouragement and support. Teachers, school administrators, and parents are searching for help and support, too.
Mazzola said there are very low incidences of bullying at schools of character. “I’m more convinced than ever that comprehensive character education is the key,” he said. “The bottom line fact is that schools of character just don’t have major bullying problems. There’s a reason for that—they create safe, caring school cultures that foster and reinforce acceptance, respect, empathy and more!”
The Six Points Below are Part of Michele Borba’s 6 Rs of Bully Prevention
Follow these guidelines for effective bully-proofing through systemic, proactive change. In addition to these bully prevention suggestions, CEP has a proven framework of guidelines for all schools to create an effective learning environment.
1. Set Clear Rules Read more
Start your bully prevention program by setting clear rules together as a group. Everyone—staff, students, parents, community—must be clear of expectations, know how to recognize bullying, understand the consequences of bullying, and know that bullying matters. Sit down together and figure out what your school stands for and establish that character matters in your school.
2. Teach How to Recognize Bullying Read more
Everybody in your school must be able to recognize bullying. “Bullying is a pattern of repeated aggressive behavior, with negative intent, directed from one child to another where there is a power imbalance.” – Dan Olweus, Norway
3. Teach How to Report Bullying Read more
Kids must be able to safely report incidents of bullying, knowing when to report, how to report, and where to report. Students must know that they will be heard and that you will back them up. Anonymous options must be provided.
4. Teach How to Respond to Bullying Read more
Everybody—both students and staff—must know how to respond when they witness bullying.
5. Teach How to Refuse Bullying Read more
Help victims of bullying learn how to refuse; otherwise victimization continues. Do this by teaching specific assertive skills.
6. Replace Current Beliefs or Behavior Read more
Teach bullies how to act differently—how to be kind. Develop empathy, conscience, and self-control (anger management) in bullies.
Read more from Michele Borba >
Creating a Culture of Respect In Order to Maintain A Bully Free Environment
From Upper Merion Area Middle School, a 2010 National School of Character
King of Prussia, PA
Upper Merion Area Middle School has come together as a community and a family to create a positive environment of caring and respect. In order to combat bullying it is imperative to develop a comprehensive, multifaceted approach which focuses on the entire school culture. It is a process that takes much planning and collaboration among stakeholders, dedicated leadership and diligence. Read more >>
Looking for some relevant practices to combat bullying at your school? Be sure to check out CEP’s Promising Practices.
Resources For Parents
Bully Proofing Our Kids
Michele Borba explains strategies to teach your children in order to prevent them from being bullied.
Raising Kind Kids
Parents, mentors and others are introduced to the “Five Strategies for Awakening the Gifts of Character” as well as “10 Questions Caring Parents Ask.” Gain insights on parenting and enriching family culture using the language of virtues. Learn how to mentor children to have a sense of meaning and purpose, help them combat the pull of violence, and encourage them to cultivate their inherent idealism.
Parent Further
A search institute resource for parents.
Dr. Michele Borba
Blogging about parenting issues and the solutions to solve them.
Parents Connect
What to do if your child Is bullied in school: how to heal.
Resources For Educators
Facing History and Facing Ourselves Resources
Here you will find a wealth of resources including lesson plans, units, publications, videos and more to combat bullying and ostracism due to racism, anti-Semitism and prejudice.
Facing History and Facing Ourselves Weekly Online Workshop
These work at your own pace workshops incorporate online discussion (the discussion is asynchronous, i.e., not at the same time, so you can participate at your convenience). It is designed to not only share strategies for facilitating difficult conversations about bullying, but also to provide a forum for you to share your ideas and experiences with colleagues across the country.
Kinder Kids, Safer Schools
Written especially for educators, this booklet presents “Five Strategies for Awakening the Gifts of Character” along with “10 Questions Caring Educators Ask” which speaks to the important challenges schools face in changing the culture from one of violence to one of virtues. It encourages educators and school administrators to re-awaken idealism in themselves and their students.
The List: Are You and Educator or a Bully?
This is a thoughtful video created by Fox High School Teachers in Arnold MO. It is a powerful demonstration about how teachers can sometimes act like bullies without even realizing it. Take a look and see if you are a teacher or a bully.
NEA’s Campaign Against Bullying
A variety of online resources and recommended readings. Take the caring adult pledge.
Tips for Administrators
Effectively addressing a bullying problem requires a culture change. A true culture change takes time, but a few key steps to help principals get started
What an Anti-bullying Policy Should look Like
The policy was created by a team of twenty-five educators, child and youth professionals, social workers, law enforcement officers in Europe and was led by Judi Patrick, Imcom-Europe School Liaison Officer. It took over a year to create. It is one of the most thorough anti-bullying policies Michele Borba has seen because it not only defines bullying, but also stipulates the kind of behavior that is expected (respect) as well as consequences. That thoroughness helps to ensure implementation compliance. And they have created one that applies to their unique culture-which is critical. It also describes the kind of discipline that should be used – one based on respect, restitution and restorative justice.
Montgomery County Government Office of Human Rights Bullying Resources
Compilation of online resources created by Montgomery County Government Office of Human Rights
CASEL’s SEL and Bullying Prevention
A report on research, practices, guidelines, and resources with regards to social and emotional learning and bullying prevention.
Resources For Students
How to Teach Kids to Be Active Bystanders
Michele Borba teaches middle school students how to be active bystanders and what it is like as a parent to deal with bullying
Taking Action, Keeping Safe
A resource for student leaders to counter bullying (PDF)
A Student’s View on the Silence Over Bullying
Teaching Tolerance
A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying Research Center
Identifying the causes and consequences of cyberbullying. Downloadable and distributable materials.
CyberCitizen.org
Students safely and confidentially report cyberbullying incidents to CyberCitizen with the full assurance that their information will only be reported to one school designee, usually the school counselor or social worker. This service meets the need–and legal requirement in many states–for safe, anonymous cyberbullying incident reporting.
Free Cyberbullying Toolkit for Educators from Common Sense Media
The toolkit contains a comprehensive suite of lesson plans, activities, and videos for K-12 classrooms as well as parent education materials to ensure your whole community knows how to stand up to cyberbullying
NetSmartz
Real life stories – ages 11-17.
Wired Safety
Internet safety, help and education resource.
Reports
Youth Voice Project
More than 13,000 teens in 31 schools have now completed the Youth Voice project survey, focusing on what works and what doesn’t work.
U.S. ED Releases an Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies
The U.S. ED recently released an Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies, a new report summarizing current approaches in the 46 states with anti-bullying laws and the 41 states that have created anti-bullying policies as models for schools.
Other Links
Stop Bullying Now!
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Bullying Prevention and Response
Created by the Inter-agency Working Group on Youth Programs (IWGYP), which is composed of representatives from 12 Federal agencies that support programs and services focusing on youth.
Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History
Teaching Tolerance – A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Bullied is a documentary film that chronicles one student’s ordeal at the hands of bullies.
Peace Education Foundation
The Foundation is a leader in the field of conflict resolution curricula and training.
Blogs
From CNN
Kids and Aggression: Popularity Matters
CEP Board member, Michele, is quoted in CNN’s Health blog The Chart
From Edutopia
Addressing Bullying of Students With Disabilities
Student Pledges: Preventing Harassment and Bullying at Your School
Bullying Prevention: Tips for Teachers, Principals, and Parents
