Bullying Awareness Week November 13th to 18th, 2006: "Stand-up! (Be a friend)"
Bullying Awareness Week Objectives:
1. Recognize that bullying is a serious issue that has damaging effects for our society
2. Recognize that bullying is NOT an acceptable part of how we should treat each other
3. Help people recognize that bullying behaviours have different forms
4. Raise awareness that bullying happens
5. Raise awareness that bullying is NOT acceptable in our society
6. Recognize that bullying is a behaviour and that behaviours can change
7. Recognize the tremendous leadership potential of our youth
8. Celebrate/recognize those who are making a difference in addressing bullying
9. Prepare for further work that needs to be done in the future
"Stand-up! (Be a friend)" Possible Bullying Awareness Week Activities
Adults (School Staff and Parents):
* Download and the music and lyrics for the song "Black and Purple" by Brea and
Braden (appropriate for grades 6-12) from the "Your Music" section of the
www.bullying.org Web site. Play this song on Monday, November 13th
, 2006 during your
schooľs opening announcements. Give copies of the song lyrics to students in their
homerooms to help encourage and facilitate discussions about bullying.
* Create a "Peer Power" group of anti-bullying youth leaders in your school or community
group
* Register your local "Peer Power" group with the "Peer Power" database on www.bullying.org
* Create posters, digitize them share them in the "I Want to Share ­Drawings section of
www.bullying.org
* Do a school survey to determine the community perception of and awareness about
bullying. Complete the online survey in the "I Want to Learn" section of www.bullying.org or
download a printable survey that you can do in-school. This survey can be found in the
"Whaťs New? ­Bullying Awareness Week" section of www.bullying.org. Use results to
establish baseline data that can give focus to future actions
* Hold a school / community bullying awareness walk or dance
* Add the www.bullying.org logo to your schools' Web site and then link them to
www.bullying.org so that students, staff and parents can find more information, help and
support.
* Sign up youth leaders (ages 13-18) in your middle or high school to become Bullying.org
"Peer Power" presenters. Bullying.org will provide the presentation free of charge in
multimedia format after participation conditions have bee met).
* Have a Bullying.org "Peer Power" youth leader make a "Cool to Care" presentation at your
school. Presentations last from 45 ­ 60 minutes and are suitable for ages 8-12
* Download, print out and share information about Bullying. The following information is
available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format in the "I Want to Learn ­Get the Facts" section of the
www.bullying.org Web site
* Have your school take the Bullying.org / Family Channel (anti-bullying) Pledge. Have
students say it during morning announcements and/or school assemblies during National
Bullying Awareness Week (and beyond). The Pledge is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF
format in the "I Want to Help ­Take the Pledge" section of the www.bullying.org Web site
* Nominate a student for the national "Canada's Caring Kids" Award on the "I Want to Help"
section of www.bullying.org
* Professional Development: Learn about the Peer Support Approach (see the "I Want to
Learn" section of www.bullying.org for the accompanying PDF file.)
Students:
* Befriend someone new to your school
* Watch out for others who are alone, invite them to play with you
* Sit with someone new or who often sits alone on the schoolbus
* Look out for those who are being ignored by others, invite them to walk or play with you
* Remember the golden rule, treat others the way you would like to be treated
* "Everyone has the right to be respected and the responsibility to respect others"
* Create anti-bullying posters, digitize them in JPG format (72 DPI) and post them to
www.bullying.org
* Create a song or rap and post them to www.bullying.org
* Create a 30 to 60 second anti-bullying video (PSAs), digitize them in QuickTime or
RealMedia formats and post them to the "Your Voices" section of the www.bullying.org Web
site.
* Students can make presentations to staff and Parent Councils about how the issue of
bullying affects their lives
Bullying Awareness Week Schedule:
Monday: The Start/Kick-off: This is the crucial part. You need to capture students' interest, touch
their hearts, and open their minds for a change in attitude. We STRONGLY SUGGEST having a
presentation done for your students by members of the Peer Power youth leadership network.
The Peer Power youth leadership network is made up of youth leaders ages 13-18 who have
volunteered to make a 60-minute presentation to younger youth (ages 8-12) during Bullying
Awareness Week. Introduce the objectives of the week. Have students appreciate how serious
bullying can be. Begin by sharing information. Define bullying.
What is bullying?
"Bullying is when a person or group tries to hurt or control another person. There are lots of
different kinds of bullying, and they all hurt.
Sometimes bullying means hitting, kicking, pushing, shoving, or making someone do something
they don't want to do. Sometimes bullying is using mean words or threats, calling someone names,
or saying bad things behind their back. Bullying can even mean making someone feel unsafe or
scared, leaving them out of games, or making them feel that they're not important. Bullying can be
verbal, physical, social (ignoring or leaving someone out on purpose), and also involve
cyberbullying (being bullied through the Internet. See www.cyberbullying.ca for more information
about this).
What can you do if someone is bullying you?
* Tell someone you trust. Iťs not easy to solve the problem on your own.
* Stay away from the bully as much as you can.
* If a bully tries to hurt you, stand up for yourself, but try not to fight. Walk away or yell to
get help.
What should you do if you are bullying others?
* Hurting other people doesn't make you important, it just makes you mean. Think about
ways you can be a leader without hurting like getting involved in sports, school groups and
community activities. If you need advice, talk to someone you trust.
ˇ People who bully often end up in gangs, or having other serious problems. There's nothing
good about being a bully.
What should you do if you see bullying happen?
* Go to the person who is being bullied and lead them away, without looking at the bully.
* Don't make the bully feel important by paying attention to them. When you ignore bullies,
you take away their power.
* Bullies like to look tough in front of others, so they almost always have an audience when
they are being mean
* Most of the time the bullying will end if someone like you steps in to stop it.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday:
This is when and where the learning should occur. Emphasize that EVERYONE has a responsibility
to address bullying. DO NOT place the emphasis on victims. It is not the victims that are doing
anything wrong. The major focus should be on the majority whose silence gives bullies their power.
See information
Wednesday November 16th
is designated as "Blue Wednesday" during Bullying Awareness
Week. Bullying.org would like to encourage all staff and students to wear blue as a statement of
peace, solidarity in support of creating schools and communities where people will "Stand up!
(and be a friend)" for others.
Possible Small-group Discussion Ideas, Activities or Actions (Tues. Wed., Thurs.):
* Computer lab, introduce www.bullying.org, show students how they can learn from, and
contribute to www.bullying.org through personal stories, poetry, oral stories, music, videos,
and multimedia and replies to current submissions
* Drama ­have students create and then practice short dramatic skits and plays (These could
be filmed and submitted as videos to www.bullying.org), these could have students acting
out various bullying scenarios that might include: teasing, exclusion/shunning (Being left
out), name calling, extortion (Taking/damaging others things), verbal
threatening/aggression, physical threatening/aggression, cyberbullying (The best and most
positive results are produced by the drama groups when they have been provided with
outline notes for scenarios
* Facilitate small group discussions: How many of them have been bullied? How many of
them have bullied others? How many of them have seen others being bullied? How did this
make them feel? Why don't victims and bystanders report bullying
* Watch the video "Broken Toy" by Tom Brown, ask students "Why is the clock important?
Why is the movie called Broken Toy? What role do the girls play? If you could have been in
the movie as a character and changed things, what would you have done?
* Dance Eg. The Jets and the Sharks music and scene from West Side Story? 7) Art
activities: Posters illustrating the theme "Everyone has the right to be respected and the
responsibility to respect others. Posters encouraging students that it is safe to tell, Collages
depicting the feelings of the people involved in bullying, Paint a large white mural paper
with a red brick background ­have students write anti-bullying graffiti slogans, etc. on the
"brick wall". Cartoons/line drawings with captions or speech bubbles
* Writing -students can write their own personal stories, poetry, news stories for local
newspapers about the schools' anti-bullying activities
* Bullying can happen to anyone
* When it happens, it is very upsetting, is very hurtful and the effects can last a lifetime or
even have tragic consequences.
ˇ Victims feel very alone, miserable and sometimes desperate
* Lots of nice young people join in and behave in bad ways because they think it is fun,
because they think it is one way to be part of the group, because they are scared that the
bully may make them a target
* Everyone should feel that they can be themselves
* Everyone can do something positive about bullying ­What can you do?
* Refuse to join in, tell the bullies to stop, be friendly to the victim, report bullying to
someone you know and trust (a teacher, parent)
* How many of them have been bullied? How many of them have bullied others? How many of
them have seen others being bullied? How did this make them feel? Why don't victims and
bystanders report bullying?
* Ask students, "Why do people bully?" Iťs not usually anything that YOU have done wrong,
iťs because they think that iťs one way that they can get what they want from others?
Power, control, things etc. This is something that they have learned from others. They CAN
learn that there are many positive ways to get what they want without hurting others. We
have to show them what these things are and give them the chance to change their
behaviours.
* Victims almost always ask. "What did I do to deserve this? Or why me?"
* Ask students to "Put up your hand if you are NOT different". We are ALL special and unique.
* Celebrating difference: ask students to stand up and say why it is they are special.
* Lead to building empathy/understanding about bullying. Define bullying behaviours. Remind
participants that anyone can be a victim of bullying and that lots of nice people can
sometimes bully others. Remind others that the silent majority, 85% can not be silent any
longer, they must Stand up! (and be a friend)"
* Take the temperature of the school (establish baseline data with a survey)
* Identify bullying "hotspots" in and around the school/community as well as times when
bullying is most likely to occur (Eg. School bus, bathrooms, hallways, near lock
* Do you feel confident reporting bullying? If not, why not?
* If you know that bullying is happening and you do nothing, then you are involved
* Have students work with staff to create a school anti-bullying policy for the school. Post the
agreed-upon policy throughout the school along with actions that the school (students, staff
and parents) will promise to take to support this policy. Post this policy on the schooľs Web
page. List this policy in the "Helpful Resources) Laws and Policies" section of
www.bullying.org.
* Provide students with creative opportunities to express how they feel about bullying
* Identify students who would like to become members of a school "Peace Maker" group (ask
students to nominate fellow students who would be good in this role
* Circle time, chairs in a circle, Rules: Listen to others, No put-downs, the right to pass
* Create a school-based "Peer Power" peer mentoring youth group
* Register this group with the "Peer Power" network in the "I Want to Help" section of
www.bulllying.org
* Create a safe, anonymous way for members of the school community to report bullying,
then develop an action plan re. How such reports will be handled (No blame approach See
the "I Want to Learn ­Get the Facts" section of www.bullying.org)
Friday: This day should be a celebration of what has happened during the week. This should be a
day where students leave the week feeling positive about what has happened throughout the week
and about the future. It should be a time where the school draws together and shares their
learning. This might be done through the presentation of dramatic skits and plays, raps, speeches,
music, films, multimedia presentations. End with the (anti-bullying pledge, "Take the Pledge, then
BE the change" (a call to action, then identify the actions with input from the students. "What can
we do? What WILL we do as a school-community?"
This can also be a day where students, staff and parents meet to plan how the school will move
forward with what has been learned, and how to ensure that the schools' policies will be supported
on a daily basis.
This is when you tie things together. Have a celebration of learning. Perhaps you might end with a
dance or other appropriate whole-school celebrations.
Remember, make it special!
o Have refreshments/drinks, local businesses, service clubs etc. could possible
sponsors/partners.
o Give it high profile, invite the local media, TV radio, press. Stress that your
school/community does NOT have an exceptional problem with bullying, but your
school/community is going to tackle it.
o Invite as many people as possible to not only attend, but to participate.
o Activities can be run by many others, not just by teaching staff, but by: Parents,
Social Workers, Community police, mayors and town/city councilors, non-teaching
assistants, senior students, peer mentors, school secretaries, janitorial staff
Please share your ideas and activities with us! Send us an e-mail to help@bullying.org.
We will do our best to include your ideas and activities in the next Bullying Awareness
Week toolkit!