LESSON PLANS – Beth Mix
FOCUSING ON THE BULLY
Five lesson plans for 9th graders concentrating on the issue of bullying,
with a focus on the role of the bully
Day 1 - Introducing the Bully
Goal: Students will begin thinking and discussing the Bully.
Objective: Students will orally share ideas and knowledge of bullies in their lives and schools
Procedures:
Ask students to think about a bully they know or have known in their life (home, community, school) and a story about that bully – they can jot down notes if they wish. If they cannot think of a real life bully, they can use a movie or television bully. (5 minutes)
Ask students to break into pairs and share their stories. (10 minutes)
Back in full class – share several of the stories. (10 minutes)
Full class – using white board or flip chart – ask all the students to write on the board a characteristic of bullies (10 minutes)
For project/homework/information gathering this week, the students will poll their classmates and adults in their lives about bullies.
The students then will work to devise their poll, thinking of five questions that would be of interest to the class to identify how prevalent bullying is and why people think bullies bully. (Questions for the poll may include, for example: “Why do you think people bully?” “Have you ever bullied someone?” “How many times?” Etc. Age should be included as a poll question. (15 minutes)
Assessment -- Participation points to maximum of 20.
Day 2 – Bullys: Information, Sanctions, Debate
Goal: Students will learn information of sanctions tried to punish bullies; students will exchange ideas and explore opinions on the topic.
Objectives: Students will watch Power Point presentation; students will participate in debate.
Procedures:
Teacher will briefly present the Power Point on The Bully (see www.mixerson.com) (10 minutes)
Then: Students will read the news story about the bully boys in Canada who were punished by being made to wear helmets inscribed “I’m stupid because I’m a bully” and “Loser” (10 minutes).
Class will break down into two large groups (random) – each side will randomly be assigned a pro or con.
Class will then hold a debate on this issue (Was this punishment valid?). Each student on each side must speak for a minimum of one minute. (20 minutes)
Group discussion – Teacher asks, “Who was on the wrong side?” “Did anybody change their mind?” (10 minutes)
Teacher will have xeroxed the polls – distribute copies to students – each student should get five surveys (minimum). For Friday, they are to return 5 completed polls.
Assessment -- Participation points to maximum of 20.
Day 3 – Roll play
Goals: Students will discuss and share ideas regarding bullying behavior.
Objectives: Students will improvise and perform short skits regarding bullying.
Procedures:
Class divides into small groups to devise short vignettes about bullying behavior. (30 minutes)
Students present their vignettes to the rest of the class and they are discussed (30 minutes).
After each vignette, short discussion around question: What do you think the bully was thinking during that scene? Why do you think a bully would act that way?
Assessment -- Participation points to maximum of 20.
Day 4 – Girl Bullies
Goals: Students will consider differences and similarities between male and female bullies.
Objectives: Students will watch clips of the movie Mean Girls and discuss.
Procedures:
Class watches excerpts from the movie Mean Girls. (35 minutes)
Each student will write a response paper – some prompt questions for the students to consideration: Are girl bullies different from boys? How is female bullying different than male bullying? Why do girls bully? Do you think female bullying is worse or easier than male bullying? Do you know any girl bullies? Have you ever been bullied by a girl or seen a girl bully someone else? What are some strategies you can think of to defuse a girl bully situation?
Assessment -- Paper worth 20 points for thoughtful completion.
Day 5 – Poll results, graph, respond
Goals: Students will explore attitudes and prevalence of bullying in their lives; students will use computers to represent their results.
Objectives: Students will compile the results of their polls using computer software to demonstrate the results, and will discuss the results.
Procedures:
Students will count and compile the results of their polls which they have gathered throughout the week, using Excel spreadsheets. (40 minutes). Students will work in small groups working at the computers.
Discussion: Based on the results of the poll (10 minutes)
Assessment – each completed survey will be worth 2 points.
Spreadsheet will be worth 5 points; Participation will be worth 5 points.
The above lessons are planned to address and enhance the following standards from the Connecticut Framework Standards:
Social Studies Content Standard 3 Historical Themes - Apply understanding of historical periods, issues, and trend to examine historical themes as ideals, beliefs and institutions; conflict and conflict resolution; human movement and interaction.
Information and Technology Literacy Standard 1 Technology Use - Solve and use computers and other technologies as tools for productivity, problem-solving and learning
English Content Standard 3 Definition and Identification of Information Needs - Define information needs and identify effective courses of action to conduct research and solve problems
English Standard 1, Reading and Responding - Understand that a single text may elicit a wide variety of responses; Interact with others in creating, interpreting and evaluating written, oral and visual texts
On-line resources:
http://www.k12coordinator.org/onlinece/onlineevents/bullying/index.htm
National Training and Technical Assistance page – comprehensive information on bullying and bully prevention.
http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct02/bullying.html
American Psychological Association on-line – article on new ways to stop bullies
http://www.victec.org/index_geral.html
Virtual ICT with Empathic Characters – applies synthetic characters and emergent narrative to Personal and Social Education
http://www.cbc.ca/insite/AS_IT_HAPPENS_TORONTO/2005/3/16.html
Can download radio interview with Stan Vereb, father of the boys from Manitoba on the As It Happens radio program.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bullying
CBS News In-depth – report on bullying, including information on the Vereb boys and the helmet sanctions.
Information and games on bullying.
http://www.stopbullyingme.ab.ca
Includes short stories and poems on bullying.
Specialized information on hazing rituals.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/21/earlyshow/living/caught/main681867.shtml
CBS new story on cyber-bullying
Take a stand; lend a hand campaign.