P.S. 89 Cypress Hills Community School Teacher: Alexis Austin (PCF ‘09) Peace Corps Service: Ecuador 2006-2008 Now teaching in: Brooklyn, New York Subject: Elementary Bilingual Education 3rd graders at Cypress Hills Community School participated in an anti-bullying service-learning project throughout the 2010-2011 year. The first goal of this project was for students to better understand the causes of bullying and to better understand the role of the adult, victim, bully, and bystander. The second was to share and facilitate conversations about bullying with younger members of the school community. The third goal was for students to collaboratively create, write, direct, and act in a play that could be used as a teaching tool with others in the school community. As part of the project, students went through a series of steps to research, plan, execute, and ultimately celebrate their project. First, students researched the history and causes of bullying through interviews and internet research. Second, they used this information to write a persuasive letter about bullying to a member of our school community. Then, students were led through a series of dramatic, skit writing, rehearsing, and production workshops. Finally, students presented and discussed with the younger members of the school community.
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