Bullying in the classroom…. It’s distracting and can be psychologically disturbing for any student. Bullying is affecting our students in many ways. Most of the time it goes beyond the classroom. Kids also get bullied during lunchtime, at lunch recess, at dismissal and even on the Internet. This form of bullying is referred to as cyber bullying. Any form of bullying is bad for the student’s self-esteem and can lead to more serious consequences if not monitored.
My Story: When teaching the sixth grade, I had a student who constantly was being picked on. He didn’t dress with designer clothes, he wasn’t popular and was not accepted by most of his classmates. Not to mention, he was a transfer student adjusting to a new school. I tried several things to STOP the bullying, but to no avail! The bullying started right from the beginning of the school year. I was determined to put a stop to this. My focus was on the students that were doing the bullying. I spoke to the parents, had some come in for a conference, I gave out demerits, and assigned detention. It seemed that the bullying would not stop. So at that point, I spoke to the student that was being victimized and told him to pick his head up, take a stand and have more confidence in himself. I gave him a bigger role in the class, made him my messenger and made him a vocal part of the class and got him more involved in class activities. His confidence went up the roof; towards the middle of the year he was interacting more and was FINALLY being accepted. I even had to call on him a few times for excessive talking (believe it or not.) The student was transformed from a shy insecure boy to being confident and outgoing.
When I think back to my crazy beloved 6th grade class, I think of this situation, and how lucky I was as an educator to make a difference in this student’s life. I also know that if I wasn’t attentive and pro active of the situation, it could have easily gone the other direction.
Did you know that repeated mean and derogatory text messages could be a type of bullying?
Did you know that 150,000 students stay home each day because they are afraid of being harassed by their peers?
What do you do as a teacher to AVOID bullying in the classroom?
Share with us your stories- good or bad. Tips and advice will help other teachers.
This is a helpful on-line link for kids to understand what is bullying. What you can do to prevent bullying. There are interactive webisodes and games too!
http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/why-kids-bully.aspx
You could also schedule a CTN program ON DEMAND or preview it on eView. These are the programs we have available relating to bullying.
1-Stephen’s Test of Faith Grades 3-5 (NMA003) 30 minutes
2- Kingdom and Culture Grade 8 (VU26) 30 minutes
“Cliques and Bullying – Wanting to Belong”
