2014 TOMARA KONSTANTINA ENGLISH TEACHER OF 62nd PRIMARY SCHOOL (A΄ATHENS DISTRICT)
ΤAKE A STAND LEND A HAND AN ANTIBULLYING PROJECT CARRIED OUT BY ST CLASS (62nd PRIMARY SCHOOL OF ATHENS) WITH THE HELP OF THE ENGLISH TEACHER.
QUOTES ABOUT BULLYING One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.” Michael J. Fox
Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.” Theodore Roosevelt
“I would rather be a little nobody, than to be an evil somebody.” Abraham Lincoln
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” Desmond Tutu
“What if the kid you bullied at school, grew up, and turned out to be the only surgeon who could save your life?” ‘’ Lynette Mather
“When people see you're happy doing what you're doing, it sort of takes the power away from them to tease you about it.” Wendy Mass, Every Soul A Star 2
“With ignorance comes fear- from fear comes bigotry. Education is the key to acceptance.” Kathleen Patel, The Bullying Epidemic-the guide to arm you for the fight
“People who love themselves, don’t hurt other people. The more we hate ourselves, the more we want others to suffer.” Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
“If I could give one message to the bullied, it would be this: You are not alone. You are strong. You have a voice. You are beautiful. You are intelligent. There are many kids who want to speak up for you, but they don’t because they are afraid of becoming bullied themselves. There are many of us in the world who love you. I love you. You have the power to end this now. That power is in your voice. Find it. Once you use your voice, bullies want no part of you. If you feel that you lack the courage, fake it until you do. Finally, I know it’s hard to see a life that exists beyond high school. It is there, and it is beautiful.” Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
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SAY NO TO BULLYING TAKE A STAND LEND A HAND
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Introduction………………………………………………………………………………p. 5 CHAPTER 1: The term of Bullying-Bullying in general……………………………….p.6 CHAPTER 2: Buddies: Are they the solution to the problem? .................p. 11 CHAPTER 3: Activities in class a. Bullying through comics………………………………………………….p.16 b. Drama Lesson …………………………………………………………………p.21 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………p.24 Internet Resources…………………………………………………………………p.25
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INTRODUCTION This is an attempt to talk about the general characteristics of an issue that is not really so contemporary as most people think but which also existed in the past, but it might not have been as predominant as it is nowadays. The issue this booklet is dealing with is Bullying, which according to researches appears to be the cause of violence which is present at schools. It has been reported that one out of five students has been bullied within the school environment. The difference with the past is that, at the time being, people are more aware of these issues, the causes, the reactions and of course they have many more solutions to provide to the victims but also the bullies because they also need help and guidance in order to realize the results of their actions. The purpose of this booklet is to present the main characteristics of bullying, to make readers able to recognize a bully or a victim and to urge anyone that is witnessing such an incident to take action and not to remain passive, either teacher or student. Bullying is the issue I myself dealt with when I undertook a project at the school I teach in the Primary Education and within this booklet I have enclosed some of the projects we did in ST class concerning the issue during the school year 2013-2014. I hope you find some of the things mentioned useful and applicable to your classes too.
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CHAPTER ONE The term of Bullying-Bullying in general Bullying is an action whose intention is to hurt either physically or emotionally and it is always planned and calculated. When someone decides to bully it is his/her intention to hurt on purpose either by words or actions. Bullying is about spreading rumors, leaving people out on purpose and thus breaking up friendships. The actions that lead to bullying have the form of constant repetition until they reach the desired goal: to hurt the victim and make it unable to react. Bullies can be individuals or in the form of groups which they sometimes, in extreme cases, end up to gangs or other menacing groups. It is remarkable to mention that because of the alarming increase in the number of cases concerning bullying, it is now penalized by the force of law in the USA. It is indisputable that bullying is a form of violence which causes fear and intimidation to the victim. There are a few theories why bullies behave this way. One theory supports that this is because they themselves experience violence and fear in another relationship and this is the way they have learnt to react. They end up in bullying to deal with their anger. Bullies sometimes experience unhappiness, frustration and shame and they choose this way to hide their feelings and create the image of the strong and the unbeatable. Bullies are sometimes people who are being bullied at home or being abused. According to another theory bullying is the only way they have learnt to claim for what they want. Most of the times they seek attention from their peers by being aggressive and loud and they try to gain a place in
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the list with the most popular kids in school. They feel that they will be likable and acceptable to the school environment if the attention of their peers is attracted to them even in the wrong way. On the other hand, their victims are targeted because of racism and either social or political discrimination. They are students with low self esteem and with poor social skills and as a result this situation strengthens their feeling of rejection and the poor self image. Bullies choose their victims so as to be people that are unable to seek for help because they lack confidence and therefore are easy to control and to be in hand. Some other times pick up on a small thing that makes someone stand out and they use it to hurt him/her. That might involve the looks of someone, the things they like doing or even the clothes they wear. A bully might target on anything about the victim that is different. Nevertheless we can never be sure on what has intrigued the bully and we cannot, in any way, form stereotypic and narrow views of what bullies and victims look and act like.
Signs that a child is being bullied:
Disconnects from people and isolates himself
Denial to go to school, always finding excuses in order to avoid this environment
Experiencing physical pains such as stomach aches, headaches or even bruises
Difficulty in sleeping followed by nightmares
Unenthusiastic and lack of interest
Nervous, depressed or emotionally explosive
The victim needs to develop confidence to ask for help. 7
5 Forms of Bullying Bullying is a complicated action that can be revealed in different forms. These are:
Physical (using force through different actions like pushing, tripping, grabbing or holding and harassment in general)
Psychological (using dangerous mind games, making the victim feel useless and unable to fit in the group, leaving people out on purpose, ostracism, rumours and mean tricks)
Verbal (the use of violent language, sarcasm, swearing, teasing and name calling)
Cyber bullying ( e-mails, twitter, facebook). It is the most contemporary form of bullying because of the extensive use of technology by teenagers
Mob bullying (bullying is expressed in the form of gangs and other menacing groups)
There are times that the bullies can use a combination of the above so as to achieve their goal-hurt the victim either physically or psychologically. Bullying must be taken seriously and not to be ignored because it can result in a very stressful experience as far as the victims are concerned. Many people who are being bullied do not realize it at first and they feel miserable without really knowing the reason. Some common feelings associated with the victim are shame, humiliation, social and emotional aggression, stress, anger and insecurity. The questionnaire that follows can tell someone whether he/she is being bullied according to the answers given. This questionnaire is very interesting because we have all experienced the situations described but it all depends on how frequent 8
these actions take place (daily or weekly/ a few times a year/ once/ never).This questionnaire is available in: http://www.quaker.org/peacenetwork/QPC-Anti-Bullying-Booklet.pdf 1 Does anyone ever stop you from speaking up? 2 Are you ever interrupted when you try to say something? 3 Are you ever criticized because of your family, your spare time activities or hobbies? 4 Does anybody ever threaten you over the telephone or cellphone? 5 Does anyone ever pull faces at you or make threatening or rude signs at you? 6 Does anybody ever say things to you that suggest something negative about you without ever saying specifically what they mean? 7 Does anyone ever refuse to speak to you? 8 Does anybody ever refuse to let other people speak to you? 9 Does anybody ever stop other people from playing with you? 10 Does anybody ever pretend that you are not there and just ignore you? 11 Does anybody ever threaten to harm you? 12 Does anybody ever constantly criticize the way you do things? 13 Does anybody ever force you to do tasks for them? 14 Does anyone ever force you to show them your homework? 15 Does anyone ever force you to do their homework for them? 16 Does anyone ever force you to give something of yours to them?
17 Does anybody ever speak badly about you behind your back? 18 Does anybody tease or embarrass you in front of others? 19 Does anyone ever call you stupid? 20 Does anyone ever tell lies about you? 21 Does anyone ever poke fun at your family or mock your background? 22 Does anyone make fun of your religion? 23 Does anyone make fun of your looks or your clothes? 24 Does anyone shout at you or abuse you verbally? 25 Does anyone ever call you by an insulting nickname? 26 Does anyone ever threaten to beat you? 27 Does anyone ever threaten you with a knife or another weapon? What weapon? 28 Does anyone ever smack you? 29 Does anybody ever deliberately hide your things so that you can’t find them? 30 Does anyone ever deliberately damage your property (like clothing, bicycle)? 31 Does anybody ever sexually harass you? 32 Who sexually harasses you and what do they do? 33 Has anyone ever spread nasty rumors about you or told any lies about you on facebook, twitter or text message on a cellphone?
Kasper, Horst. (2004) Arbeitsmappe Konfliktmanagement in der Schule: AOL Taglieber, Walter. (2005) Berliner Anti-Mobbing-Fibel .33
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Are you being bullied? If so ask for help to learn how to tell the bully stop or leave you alone in a strong loud and confident voice but whatever the case never use physical force because violence never solves the problem and then the only thing you achieve is to create a cycle of revenge. One thing that we should all take seriously is the reaction of the victims in case they are being bullied because their reaction will determine whether the problem will be solved or become more complicated if the victim decides to react. The following scheme clearly shows the steps that can lead to explosion and create a cycle of violence in schools. STEP ONE: Bullies focus on a person or group so as to be hurtful STEP TWO: Bullies start teasing the victim in public in a mean way STEP THREE: Isolation of the target (victim)/shame, humiliation STEP FOUR: Victim group plans to react and get even STEP FIVE: Victim’s plan is taken seriously into account
EXPLOSION
The first step in making the school free from bullying and prevent social aggression is to start thinking and talking about it. 10
CHAPTER TWO Buddies: Are they the solution to the problem? The dynamics of the bully-victim relationship need to be understood in a larger context (Pepler, Graig and O’ Connell, 1999).The action of bullying does not only involve the bully and the victim. There is also another important character in the system of interaction witnessing the action and that is the bystander. Bystanders are those who witness the bullying taking place. They are equally important to the bully, as the victim is, because the bully’s strategy is not only to hurt the victim but also to create the impression that bystanders support his actions and create a group of people who silently approve of the bully’s behavior and actions. Any bystander who does not take a stand in the conflict and ignores the incident automatically becomes a supporter of the bully. The role of the bystander is crucial because his /her reaction will determine the bully’s further behavior towards his victim. Bystanders play a role in maintaining the pattern of bullying. Imagine all three roles in the form of a triangle.
BULLY
BYSTANDER (ACTIVE OR PASSIVE)
VICTIM
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The relationships among all three participants affect one another. No matter how you move in the triangle the three points remain fixed. The only thing that can be changed is relationship among the three role players and therefore their attitude towards the situation. The dynamics of this triangle conflict alter if the bystander intervenes. Passive bystanders don’t want to be part of the conflict and therefore do nothing to stop it even if they become eye witnesses of such a case. They refuse to take the responsibility of interfering because they are either afraid or indifferent. They are scared of the bully and they think that if they oppose to the bully they will probably be his/her next target. Others believe that since it is not happening to them it won’t ever affect them and it’s not a problem they have to deal with. There is one last category; those who don’t really believe in themselves .They think that even if they take a stand in the conflict they don’t have the power to change the situation. Unfortunately they do not understand that they allow bullying to continue. What is important is that the bully seeks their silent approval and the more the bystanders remain inactive, the stronger he/she becomes. On the other hand, active bystanders believe they can make the difference and influence the situation especially if they are more than one and they form a group which constitutes the majority of the school community. If bystanders co-operate and speak out they will reduce the bully’s power over his victims and the bully incidents are likely to decrease. It takes a lot of courage and strength to resist to the bully’s will because at first it is not certain that the bully will take the message.
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This kind of reaction might make him/her even more violent and persistent because he/she might think they are not pushing hard enough and so they increase the pressure. Active bystanders must remain stable until the point the bully understands that no longer has any kind of power over the victims and they are no longer able to instill fear and don’t have the support of bystanders. Those closest to the bully and the victim have the greatest potential to change the situation. Active bystanders have the strength to discourage him/her from bullying. Peer counseling is an effective strategy for many children (Cowie and Sharp, 1996). Active bystanders do not judge or blame someone in particular for the situation but they offer the same support to the bully and the victim by counselling and listening to both parties and encouraging them at the same time to seek professional help. Although it looks weird bullies are people who really need help since most of the times they react this way because of traumatic experiences. Active bystanders are also known, among peers, as Buddies. Buddies are more than a simple bystander and they are the ones who are determined to spoil the action and draw everyone’s attention away from the fight. Peace Buddies are members of Peace Clubs at school and those who believe they can stop violence that is an obstacle to education. Peace Clubs are formal structures among peers which support those who want to become involved in antibullying action and aim at reducing levels of violence at school. Peace Clubs provide a structure where:
Buddies can learn how to take the role of active bystanders and deal with situations of violence in the right way and without using violence in return.
ensure a safe environment for discussion they offer alternatives to violence and provide their members with confidence so as to promote tolerance and understanding 13
They have the power to handle antibullying campaigns so as to work together and remain united.
There is an interesting story concerning buddies and how they managed to stand up to bullies and become the defenders of peace at school. The story takes place in a high school in the poor suburbs of Cape Town. Every day there were several incidents of bullying taking place during the break in the schoolyard when one day a group of bystanders decided to intervene. They made a circle there where the fight took place and stood silently raising their hands and making the peace sign. This action managed to draw the attention away from the fight. This continued and every day more and more bystanders joined the group and sought for peace at school. After a while they managed to stop fights during the break without using any kind of violence just by using a peaceful way to protest for the situation. Even if someone started a fight there was always the group of Peace Buddies there to make the difference. http://www.quaker.org/peace-network/QPC-Anti-Bullying-Booklet.pdf It is important to understand that the more active bystanders, the more the chances for a non violent school. Clubs take the role of educators concerning a non violent environment at schools. They teach respect for dignity and the value of individuality and as they support “Peace is a group effort”. It is obvious from what is mentioned above that the dynamics of the Peace clubs structures are enormous and they probably give us the most obvious solution to the problem of handling similar situations at school. There is no doubt that this phenomenon is nowadays prevalent in the school community and so we, as educators, must find ways of reducing the incidents. For example, set up Peace Clubs at schools and make them visible and popular. Buddies function as custodians of a non-violent environment. They act as peer counsellors by listening to reports of bullying from the victims and then reporting the actual incidents to a grown up person who is trustworthy like a teacher or parent. In the Clubs, Buddies are taught the values of non violence, they are engaged in conversations that 14
encourage communication and they become actually involved in the actions. Buddies share their experiences concerning the situation and help children prevent becoming the target. Victims are embraced by the Clubs and therefore are not afraid to speak up and adopt the buddy system. Nobody deserves to be bullied. Everybody should be able to come to school and not have to worry about being teased, picked on, left out, tricked or threatened. When you see a peer being bullied somehow get involved. The next victim may be YOU or someone you care.
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CHAPTER THREE ACTIVITIES IN CLASS a. Bullying through comics Visual Art and especially comics is a cheerful way of expressing feelings and ideas especially for primary school students. It helps develop their imagination. All young students like to draw. It is creative and therapeutic and should be encouraged in all students because in this way you can involve students in action. Some students are visual learners and drawing helps them to grasp contents better. It encourages group work and eliminates competitiveness which is a source of bullying. Moreover visual art
helps
children
build
up
an
understanding
of
emotions
and
communication and it stimulates thinking. In this chapter I am going to present you the tools we used to create our comics and of course our work. 
Comics Workbook http://intaaps.org/uploads/comic.pdf
The story is presented in the form of comics and then students are asked to comment on what they have read. Next they are motivated to create a new story with the same characters. This is a very good way to express their feelings, anger or frustration through the speech bubbles and this comic workbook stimulates their thinking and talking about social bullying. Students sometimes find similarities with their own school life in this comic workbook and they might come up with situations they have already faced and through discussion there are solutions provided to those who really need it.
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Poster Creator http://www.bullying.co.uk/poster/
We moved on to the Poster creator where students are able to create their own posters about bullying and then either print them or submit them to the existing gallery. There is a variety of backgrounds, characters and antibullying slogans for students to choose from. I personally tried this in class and the children loved the procedure because they work in teams to create their own poster and they can choose everything on their own, from the colour of the hair of their character to his /her clothes, accessories and the message he/she wants to convey to the readers. Here are some of the posters we created in class.
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
Comic creator http://www.toondoo.com/createToon.do
Students created their own comic strips from scratch. They first decided on the story, set the background, formed the characters and wrote the captions on the comic strip. We created three comic strips and through these comics we tried to picture different situations of bullying from everyday life in school or in the neighbourhood. The students again worked in teams of five and each team decided on the topic and the characters of their story. The toondoo comic creator offers children a wide variety of characters and backgrounds to decide on and students were very imaginative and enthusiastic during the procedure. The first comic strip shows a bully that harasses others and ends up alone, the second is about a group of girls that comment on the appearance of a less pretty girl and make her feel guilty about that and the last one deals with a newcomer in town who tries to find friends but nobody wants to hang out with him.
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
Storybird http://storybird.com/
Last but not least we decided to create a fairytale related to bullying and for this reason we used the storybird platform. This platform provides you with ready artwork and after your selection of pictures you can write your own story and publish it. The art gallery in storybird is enormous and there was the possibility that the children would be confused and there would be different opinions and tastes in the selection of pictures. In order to save time I decided to give them a number of pictures selected 19
by me and make the story more guided. After discussing on the pictures we started writing our fairytale. The title of our fairytale is “Ly-Bu changes…and makes friends”. The story is about a wild puma “Ly-Bu” which, at the beginning of the story, was very aggressive and violent to all the other animals in the forest. However, after a discussion with the king of the forest, who plays the role of an active bystander in the story, he reconsiders his behavior and transforms into a nice, peaceful animal. Ly Bu ends up becoming friends with all the other animals.
Paratiritirio contest
The students were invited to make drawings in groups so as to enter the Paratiritirio competition organized by the Greek Ministry of Education for the best poster on bullying.
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b. Drama Lesson The last activity we organized in class was the Drama Lesson. Drama allows the participants to act out their fears, feelings and frustrations in a safe, controlled environment because it’s not real but it’s acting and in this way they are involved in real life situations and change roles. The procedure is simple. First you set the scene, and then you decide on the situation, characters and their relationship. In our case we used the dialogues already made from our comics’ projects. Next the children practice the scene with a passive bystander and an active bystander alternatively. What is important here is to note the difference between these two situations and the six relationships which are formed. In each case the conclusions drawn are quite different and depend on the side the children take each time. The first relationship that we must focus on is that of the Bully and the Victim where the bully practices power over the victim and feels strong and unbeatable in contrast to the Victim and the Bully relationship where the victim is afraid of the bully and feels lonely and helpless. The next relationship in row is that of the Bully-Bystander where the bully feels unsure and eager to gain the bystander’s support, which is his ultimate purpose. In the bystander-bully relationship the bystander can be either afraid (passive) and thus supportive or he/she might be active and willing to intervene, so their behavior towards the bullies is disapproving. On the other hand, in the Victim-Bystander relationship the victim depends on the bystander for help since he/she feels powerless and in many cases blame themselves and believe that it is something they do or do not do 21
that creates the situation. Whether the bystander will recognize the situation and take action in the Bystander-Victim relationship depends on the side the bystander has chosen to take. He/ She might be either indifferent or caring. Through dramatization students are challenged to recognize these feelings and the relationships formed in the bullying incident that takes place and to try to make them visible to their spectators. In this way the pupils, who might have experienced one of the above roles in real life this time, become more conscious of the situation and they are driven indirectly to the solution. Drama groups would be a nice suggestion towards reducing the bully incidents at school since students are given the opportunity to control their frustration that leads to antisocial expressions of anger and conflict. There were also some other activities throughout the project related to Art and creative thinking meant to make children understand bullying better and help them express their feelings and thoughts and make them more active and persistent towards dealing with the phenomenon. The posters and the acrostics that follow are the result of this awareness.
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Acrostics on Bullying Always think how a person feels
Be
Never be mean
Unbeatable
Think before you act
Don’t be scared
If you were in the victim’s place?
Do the right thing
Bullying must stop
Yes, we will win
Unkind people bully
Bad
Laugh with someone not at someone
Unbearable
Look out for your friends
Lonely
You’re a bully if you leave someone out
Life with no meaning
If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it at all Never bully
You can help Insecure
Good friends don’t bully
No to bullies Going to stop it
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CONCLUSION The outcome of our project was an alternative way of teaching which encouraged collaboration and volunteer work. Students were imaginative and enthusiastic during the whole procedure because the combination of art and word inspires even the most reluctant writers and readers. They were informed and were given tips on how to behave and react to incidents of bullying and we provided answers to troubled students. Another goal was to make bystanders active and supportive and discourage bullies from exercising violence (physical or verbal) towards other students. As far as I am concerned, as educator, I gained valuable knowledge concerning the subject through my research and now I feel more confident to deal with such situations within the school environment. The ultimate purpose of this project that took the form of a booklet after all was to share our experiences in class with other students and teachers and try to eliminate the bullying incidents that nowadays tend to rise at an alarming rate and move on to a bully free school.
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INTERNET RESOURCES: http://www.gobookee.org/bullying-stories-and-comics/: Free downloadable books and manuals http://mashable.com/2010/10/24/create-your-own-comics/ Suggestion of six websites to create your own comics for free http://www.google.com/search?q=posters+about+bullying&nord=1&rlz= 1W1ACAW_elGR442GR442&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7uq MUtuDE-eg7Aa9wIHADQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=527 A number of different posters related to bullying http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/02/6-great-posters-onbullying.html : Six great posters and a video on bullying http://www.bullying.co.uk/poster/: Poster creator to create your own posters and print them or submit them to the existing gallery http://www.toondoo.com/createToon.do: A website to create your own comic strips from scratch http://storybird.com/: Artful storytelling with ready artwork giving you the option to publish your own stories. http://www.quaker.org/peace-network/QPC-Anti-Bullying-Booklet.pdf An antibullying booklet with useful information on bullying and how to handle with the phenomenon providing applicable suggestions http://intaaps.org/uploads/comic.pdf: A comic workbook for the prevention of social aggression at school http://www.childline.org.uk/explore/bullying/pages/bullying.aspx: A line designed for children who face problems and want to talk to counselor confidentially answering common questions related to bullying and giving general information on the phenomenon
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http://www.kzoo.edu/psych/stop_bullying/for_parents/general_inform ation.html: Stop school bullying, general information for parents, teachers and kids http://www.mightyfighter.com/bullying-quotes/ : Quotes on bullying http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/bullying: Quotes of famous people related to bullying http://www.stopbullying.gov/: A federal government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services concerning bullying
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