In case you missed it, October is Bullying Prevention Month. I always hate it when I find out in the middle of the month that I missed something, so I thought I would share a few days early. I typically teach kindness and conflict resolution in K-2 and then really delve into bullying in grades 3-5. I've used a bunch of different curriculums but have made it my own over the years. I teach five lessons over all, you can see how I spread out the lessons over the three grades in my 3-5 Curriculum Plan.
In our define lesson, we really talk about what bullying is. I start with this awesome Bad Panda commercial. The kids think it's hilarious and it sparks a great discussion about whether or not Bad Panda is bullying the kid. We then define bullying. There are lots of great definitions out there and I recommend you choose the best one for your school. We then loop back around to Bad Panda again. Is this one commercial bullying? What if I told you that Bad Panda pulls these kind of shenanigans over and over again? Does that change your definition?
We finish this lesson by sorting vignette cards into three categories: bullying, not bullying, and mean moment. This is one of my favorite activities in this unit because the kids get into impassioned debates about their choices.
In Lesson 2, I introduce the concepts of aggression and assertion. We use visuals to teach the difference between the two. If you google each word, you can find some great images that show body language for both. We then learn the 3 steps to act against bullying.
- Say No
- Walk Away
- Tell An Adult
We wrap this lesson by creating role plays using the three steps to act against bullying. I like to use a rubric to give feedback on the role plays. Most of the time, I display the rubric on the board and then give feedback verbally to save time. In the schools where I have worked, we used rubrics extensively so my students were used to the process and needed very little support in utilizing the rubric. If your school does not often use rubrics, you may find that this is too time consuming to fit into your lesson.
In lesson 3, we discuss the role of the bystander and how to care for someone who is being bullied. I start with an attention grabber. I might throw a pencil, knock over a chair, or talk loudly about something not school related. I then ask the kids- who saw what happened and who heard about it? Guess what? Both are bystander.
To drive home the concept of bystanders, we watch this video about how a single action (with no words!) can change the outcome of a bullying incident. Hint: you will usually have to watch 2-3 times with discussion so that everybody understands exactly what's going. To wrap, the students write a "dear abby" type letter about bystanders.
Lesson 4 is review - the students create a comic that summarizes the major concepts of our lessons: define bullying, act against bullying, and care about those being bullied. I always marvel at the amazing comics the kids create. I wish I had one to share here with you!
I think you have everything you need here to recreate this bullying prevention unit on your own. If you're interested in purchasing the 4 lessons with all my handouts and visuals, you can check out the whole unit over on Teachers Pay Teachers. I'll follow up soon with more information about cyber-bullying lessons and safety tips. What are you planning to do for October's bullying prevention month?
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