Write It, Fight It

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Write It, Fight It

• Bullies, Targets, and Witnesses
• Writing Workshop
• Session 1
• Lets talk about it

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What do you think?

• Have you ever bullied someone?
• Why?
• Have you ever been bullied?
• How did you deal with it?
• Have you ever been a witness to bullying? What
  did you do?

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What is bullying?

• Bullying is when a stronger, more powerful person
  hurts or frightens a smaller or weaker person
  deliberately (on purpose) and repeatedly (again
  and again).

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What is considered bullying behavior
Sometimes Bullies

• Attack people
• Boss people around
• Break peoples things
• Cheat
• Embarrass people
• Gossip
• Ignore people
• Make fun of people
• Make sexist or racist remarks
• Make people feel helpless
• Lie
• Name call
• Pick on people because they are different
• Steal
• Write nasty things about people
• Tell mean jokes

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5 Types of Bullying

• Physical bullying
• Verbal bullying
• Sexual bullying
• Relational or emotional bullying
• Cyber bullying

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Physical Bullying

• Physical bullying can accompany verbal bullying
  and involves things like kicking, hitting,
  biting, pinching, hair pulling, or threats of
  physical harm.

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Verbal Sexual Bullying

• Verbal bullying usually involves name-calling,
  incessant mocking, and laughing at someones
  expense.

• Sexual bullying involves unwanted physical
  contact or sexually abusive or inappropriate
  comments.

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Relational Aggression orEmotional Bullying

• Relational aggression (RA) is also know as
• girl bullying The use of relationships, rather
• than fists, to hurt another.
• Rumors
• Name calling
• Cliques
• shunning

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Cyber-Bullying

• The cyber bully has a huge audience, potentially
  the whole world. Web sites and emails can create
  far reaching damage.
• The victim of cyber bullying has less ability to
  escape the tormentor.
• The cyber bully can remain anonymous or
  impersonate others, thereby escaping punishment.
• The cyber bully, for the most part, remains
  alienated from the consequences of his/her
  actions.
• Any slanderous information sent out into
  cyberspace is difficult, if not impossible, to
  completely expunge from the Internet.

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What are common reactions to bullying?
Witnesses May be inactive and try not to get
involved May get angry at the target for not
fighting back May be fearful of drawing the
bullys attention May be a voyeur and enjoy
watching people being bullied May be an
accomplice and help the bully gain power May be
helpful and find ways to let someone know whats
going on

• Targets
• May cry and feed into the bullying
• May comply and let the bully be in charge
• May deny and keep quiet out of fear
• May fly of the handle and get really mad,
  possibly hurting someone badly

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Who is a target?
Some kids may find themselves a bully target for
no particular reason! Maybe the bully ran out of
people to pick on, or you were in the wrong place
at the wrong time when someone was feeling
particularly mean.
If you're a bully "target," you have something in
common with famous people like Tom Cruise, Mel
Gibson, Harrison Ford, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
These celebrities have all talked about their own
experiences with being bullied. It happens to the
best of us!
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Sometimes a target Is has

• Too Cautious
• Too Sensitive
• Too Insecure
• Too Socially isolated
• Too Lonely
• upset easily
• Physically weaker than their peers
• Difficulty making friends
• Poor social skills
• Difficulty standing up for themselves in peer
  groups

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Who are the witnesses?

• Followers or "henchmen."
• Supporters/passive bullies.
• Passive supporters/possible bullies.
• Disengaged onlookers.
• Possible defenders.
• Defenders of the victim.

• They take an active part, but do not start the
  bullying.
• They support the bullying, but do not take an
  active part.
• They like the bullying, but do not display open
  support.
• They watch what happens, but do not take a stand.
  
• They dislike the bullying and think they ought to
  help, but do not.
• They dislike the bullying and help, or try to
  help, the victim.

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What is the adults role when there is a bully
issue?

• The teacher can
• Assess the extent of the bullying problem
• Ensure that the class understands what bullying
  is and why it is wrong
• Confront any student engaged in bullying, firmly
  and fairly
• Provide appropriate and consistent consequences
  for bullying
• www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/bully/bullyBooklet
  .pdf

• The parent can
• Encourage friendships
• Teach their children to express themselves
  clearly
• Teach I statements
• Teach self-respect
• Teach your children the art of negotiation
• Sharing
• Problem solving 
• www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt200307.pdf

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Are there other adults you can think of that may
be aware of bullying happening at your
school? Who are they? What are their roles?
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Where does bullying happen?

• Most bullying happens at school where there is
  little or no supervision.
• On the playground
• In the hallways
• In the cafeteria
• In the bathroom
• On the bus
• On-Line

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Statistics

• About one in every seven schoolchildren is either
  a bully or a victim.
• Almost 30 percent of teens in the United States
  (or over 5.7 million) are estimated to be
  involved in bullying as either a bully, a target
  of bullying, or both.
• In a recent national survey of students in grades
  6 to 10, 13 percent reported bullying others, 11
  percent reported being the target of bullies, and
  another 6 percent said they bullied others and
  were bullied themselves. www.safeyouth.org/scripts
  /teens/bullying.asp

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Statistics

• Teens (particularly boys)
• who bully are more likely to
• engage in other
• antisocial/delinquent
• behavior into adulthood
• vandalism, shoplifting,
• truancy, and drug use
• They are four times more likely
• than nonbullies to be convicted
• of crimes by age 24, with 60
• percent of bullies having at
• least one criminal conviction.

• In one study of junior
• high and high school
• students, over 88
• percent said they
• had witnessed
• bullying in their
• schools.

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Statistics

• Studies indicate that roughly 30
• percent of students are either bullies
• or victims or both (within a school
• term). That makes 70 percent of the
• student population potential
• witnesses.

• Tattling is when you are
• trying to get someone
• in trouble.  Reporting is
• when you are trying to
• get someone out of
• trouble.

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What facts have you heard about bullying?Can
you think of stories you have heard about in the
news? What happened to the kids? Was anyone
hurt?
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Materials for this session

• A notebook for each student to write their
• thoughts about the presentation and
• begin thinking about how bullying has
• affected them in school, at home, or in the
• community.

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Write It, Fight It

• Bullies, Targets, and Witnesses
• Writing Workshop
• Session 2
• Picture who you are

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Exercise in Difference

• 1. Hand out several strips of paper to each
  student (equal to number of kids in the class).
• 2. Ask each student to write one answer on each
  piece of paper to questions such as
• What color is your hair
• What color are your eyes
• What is your favorite TV show, etc.
• 3. As each question is answered, a helper in the
  class will collect the pieces of paper and place
  them in separate baggies.

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• After all the questions have been answered and
  mixed up in the baggies, the pieces of paper will
  be redistributed.
• All of the elements you have drawn from the
  baggies make up a unique person. Theres a little
  bit of everyone in this class in your newly
  developed character. Plus, I have included a few
  extra characteristics to make things interesting.
• Using a large piece of paper, draw the new
  character that you have put together. Use as much
  detail as you can to incorporate life into your
  character. You can draw clothing, accessories,
  scenery, action scenes, other people, etc.

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Think about how we did this exercise. (Break the
class up into groups of 4 or more) In your
groups, discuss the characters that were
developed from this exercise. How do people
become who they are? Why are people
different? Is being different bad? Is being
different good?
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Can you think of a reasons someone would bully a
person who is different? What could you do to
help someone who is different? For example a
person who has a disability, speaks a different
language, or looks different?
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Materials for this session

• For this session I will provide
• Slips of paper
• Baggies
• Characteristic questions
• Large pieces of drawing paper
• Colored pencils, crayons and markers

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Write It, Fight It

• Bullies, Targets, and Witnesses
• Writing Workshop
• Write about it
• Session 3

The pain chain
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Write about your experiences
Have you ever bullied someone? Why? Have you
ever been bullied? Have you ever been a witness
to bullying? Has an adult ever helped you to
work through a bullying issue, either as the
bully, the target or the witness?
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Write a skit, a poem, or a short story

• Write a skit, a poem, or a short story using the
  answers to the previous questions.
• Get back into the groups we formed during our
  last session. Listen to each other read and
  decide as a group who has written the best
  scenario and give parts to everyone
• bully
• Witnesses
• Target
• A teacher or other adult

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What's Next?

• When we come together for our next and final
  session, we will get into our groups and act out
  the skits, and read the poems and short stories.

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Strategies and tools for
Bullies Targets Witnesses Adult intervention
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My Character is the bully What do I write
about? Think about your story and apply the
SOCCS plan.
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SOCCSS Situation What is the problem? Options
What can I do? Consequences What will happen
if? Choices What are my choices? Strategies
How will I solve this problem? Simulation Role
play.
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Why do kids bully other kids?

• They have problems in their family.
• Theyre being abused at home.
• They want revenge.
• They want to be noticed.
• They want to be popular.
• Theyre bored.
• Theyre mean.
• Theyve been bullied by someone else and now
  theyre going to be the bully.

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• Theyve seen something on TV or the movies and
  theyre copying it.
• They can get away with it.
• Theyre really scared inside and they dont want
  anyone to know that, so they act real tough.
• They dont know how to handle their anger.
• Maybe theyre lonely.
• They think its cool.
• They think its fun.
• Theyre involved with drugs or alcohol.
• They want power.

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Strategies for Students Who are Targets
Ignore. Walk away. Run away. Get an older brother
or sister to help you. Stay near an adult. Follow
the Golden Rule Treat others like you want to be
treated. Be smarter. Tell the Bullys
parents. Laugh it off. Talk to a friend.
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Avoid the bully. Offer to help the bully with a
subject they find difficult for example,
spelling, math. Ask the bully to help you with a
subject. Tell an adult, parent, teacher,
counselor, principal. Get a group of friends to
give you support. Stand up for yourself. Firmly
say, Stop that. Be polite when you stand up for
yourself. Threaten a bully who might back off
from strength. Agree with the bully. Compliment
the bully. Use humor. Have a comeback So?
Thank you. How nice of you to notice.
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Take karate lessons or study another martial
art. Hide from the bully. Involve a peer
mediator. Go to another school. Be
homeschooled Act crazy. Bore them for example,
a girl in Iowa said that when boys bully her, she
starts talking about makeup, shampoo, jewelry,
nail polish, and they leave her alone. Be firm,
but not mean. Ask a question Why do you want to
hurt my feelings? Are you have a bad hair
day? Surprise the bully when you do the
unexpected, you are in control. Do something
dramatic. Confuse the bully. Calm your anger
then act. Ask a witness to report the bullying to
an adult. Tall a police officer. Fight back as
a last resort, and only when you feel at risk for
physical harm.
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The power of the WitnessStrategies for students
who are witnesses (Fried 142-43).
A brave bystander willing to report what he or
she saw can make an incredible difference in the
life of a bullied child (www.4troubledteens.com/te
achersandbullies.html).
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What Witnesses Can do to Help

• Challenge the bully.
• Get a group of students to challenge the bully.
• Befriend a troubled bully.
• Tell an adult.
• Include a target in your activities.
• Dont laugh at the bullys put-down.
• Dont join forces with a bully and give him/her
  power.
• Dont repeat gossip.
• Support a target in private.

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Adult Intervention
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Adults Need to

• Establish Clear rules and consequences regarding
  unacceptable behavior, and enforce them.
• Deal with verbal abuse before it escalates.
• Mobilize witnesses.
• Take bullying reports seriously.
• Realize the challenges of making change.
• Guarantee confidentiality.
• Avoid embarrassing the student, whenever
  possible.
• Utilize classroom leaders.
• Speak to bullies and targets separately.
• Reinforce the classroom code of conduct.

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Tools and supplies
For this session I will use most of the slides
from this session as handouts to help the
students with their writing.
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Write it, Fight itBullies, Targets, and
WitnessesWriting Workshop

• Session 3

Lets play the parts
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Expectationsfor Writers and Audience

• We need to respect the work of our classmates by
  not laughing or criticizing ideas.
• Keep the content of your writing G-Rated.
• Make constructive comments when responding to
  other students work.
• I liked the way you.
• I liked your explanation of
• I liked the part of your story where
• Have fun.

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Feedback

• A feed back form will be given to each student so
  they can write their thoughts about the sessions.
• Develop the form to reflect understanding of
  concepts that have been presented during the
  workshop
• Bullying behaviors
• Target strategies
• Witness responsibility
• Adult intervention