The Fight
against Bullying and Peer Pressure
Mrs. Bombard – English 10R
The influence of peer pressure can
be the cause of destruction among teenagers and their lives every day. Bullying and pressure from peers often causes
young people to retreat from the social world and make poor decisions. For some, their lives are ended due to the
pressure they can’t take everyday.
Whether it is smoking, drugs, alcohol, sex, or gangs, the pressure from
groups, from society, and from your peers often forces you to make difficult
and questionable decisions. As we saw in
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, our protagonist’s life and
self-esteem drastically changed due to the pressures he faced from the group
who “ran” his school.
It has become apparent that bullying is taking
over at Seton Catholic Central. Several
students have come to me, to other teachers, and to the guidance counselors in
regards to being harassed. This cannot
happen! We cannot make our peers feel
uncomfortable in the environment in which they spend the majority of their time
– which is in school! Therefore, we are
asking for your help. As educated and
confident young adults, in groups, you are going to create a campaign aimed
towards students and young adults your age at
In groups of five, your task is to create an
advertising campaign geared towards young adults increasing their awareness of
peer pressure and bullying. In your campaigns, you will use various forms of
media to show examples of peer pressure/bullying, the effects peer
pressure/bullying has on young adults, and solutions to avoid or prevent peer
pressure/bullying. In order to complete
this task, you must use the Public Policy Analyst (PPA-as seen below in The
Process) to investigate and solve the problems of peer pressure/bullying. In using the PPA, you will define the
problem at hand, gather evidence, identify causes, evaluate an existing policy,
create new solutions, and choose the best policy. Once your campaign has been shown, you will
need to write a formal evaluation as to how peer pressure and bullying should
be handled within the school. The final
addition to your campaign will be a poem (of any style) written by your group
from a victim’s point of view.
The Process will include five steps: The PPA research
and worksheets, two media creations and/or selections, power point presentation
showing the effects of bullying/peer pressure, formal proposal of punishment
and consequences, and a poem.
Step One: As you begin to brainstorm for your campaign, you need to work on the six steps of the Public Policy Analyst (PPA). This includes reading about each step as well as completing each worksheet. The worksheet(s) for each step will be collected every Friday. Click on the links below to read about the step and to collect the worksheet:
Identify the Problem
Gather evidence that this is indeed a problem
Step Two: In addition to accomplishing all six steps, as said above, your campaign must begin with two forms of media. You will choose two forms of the following media to use within your campaign:
- Print media (magazines, newspapers) – this should be an advertisement of your own!
- 60-second television commercial – this may be a commercial created by your group or a commercial that has already been aired that you have researched to find.
- 60-second radio spot – again, written by your own group.
The purpose of your pieces of media that you
choose to use/create is to show how peer pressure/bullying occurs, what effects
it has on its victims, and possible solutions or advice to help prevent it.
You are the author of your own
life…You are the author of your own campaign!
Step Three: Along with using two forms of media to portray how bullying and peer pressure can be prevented, you will also offer students examples as to how these types of pressures affect young adults. This will be a two to three minute power point presentation after you show your campaigns (minimum of 8 slides). Along with your own methods of research, use the following sites as research tools:
http://www.health-nexus.com/peer_pressure.htm
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,33506,00.asp
Do the crime…Do the time!
Step Four: Now that you have researched the effects of peer pressure and bullying, you must decide the punishment to best fit the “crime.” Using the information you gathered and created for steps five and six of the PPA, write up a formal proposal, which will be turned in to Miss Dwyer, which states what your group believes the disciplinary action should be. Your proposal should include:
- What should the punishment/consequences of bullying be? (Call home? Detention? Etc.)
- Who should be in charge of this specific discipline?
Step Five: Finally, the last part of your campaign should be a poem created by your group. Your poem should represent the feelings and emotions of a victim of peer pressure/bullying. Your poem will be read aloud to the rest of the class. It must be a minimum of ten lines. This should be an emotional poem!
The following websites will provide you with
additional information you may need for your project:
http://www.pta.org/bullying/survivor.asp
http://www.webguru.com/write-radio-script.htm
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4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
PPA Policy Followed |
All questions were
answered completely and rationales for the answers were clearly
stated. |
All questions were
answered completely, but rationales for the all the answers were not clearly
stated. |
Not all questions were
answered completely, or greater than 2 rationales for the all answers were
not clearly stated. |
All questions were not
answered completely. |
____ |
|
Power Point Presentation |
- Clear and full
presentation of material (8 slides) - Shows sophisticated
control of elements of power point program -Demonstrates full control
of language conventions |
- Clear presentation of
material (7 slides) - Shows control of
elements of power point program - Demonstrates control of
language conventions with very few mistakes |
- Basic presentation of
material (less than 4,5 slides) - Basic control of
elements of power point program - Some errors in language
conventions get in way of presentation |
- Insufficient and/or
unclear presentation of material -
Little control of power point program - Significant errors in
language conventions which get in way of presentation |
____ |
|
Process: Teamwork |
It is evident that a
mutual effort and cohesive unit created the final product. |
The team worked well
together, but could have utilized each other's skills to a better degree. |
The team had problems
working together. Little collaboration occurred. |
The final product is not
the result of a collaborative effort. The group showed no evidence of
collaboration. |
____ |
|
Forms of Media |
You chose two forms of media which clearly showed how
peer pressure and bullying occurs, what
effects it has on its victims, and possible solutions or advice to help
prevent it. |
You chose two forms of media that somewhat showed
how peer pressure and bullying occurs, what
effects it has on its victims, and possible solutions or advice to help
prevent it. |
You chose only one form of
media and did not clearly present any of the topics at hand |
You did not create any
advertisements in regards to bullying and peer pressure. |
______ |
|
Formal Proposal |
Your
formal proposal clearly states what your group believes the disciplinary
action should be and who should be in charge of the action at hand. |
Your formal proposal somewhat states what the disciplinary action
should be and who is in charge. |
Your formal proposal does
not indicate the disciplinary action nor does it state who is in charge. |
You did not submit a formal
proposal. |
____ |
|
Poem |
Your
poem consists of ten lines and clearly represents the feelings and emotions
of a victim of bullying and peer pressure. |
Your poem consists of 6-8 lines and somewhat reflects the feelings and
emotions of a victim. |
Your poem consists of 4-6
lines and does not reflect the emotions and feelings of a victim. |
Your poem consists of 2-4
lines and shows no emotion or feeling whatsoever of a victim of bullying/peer
pressure. |
_____ |
English Language Arts
Listening and
ELA 1:1
Speaking and Writing
ELA 2:1
Listening and
ELA 3:1
Listening and Speaking
ELA 4:1
ELA 4:1
http://stateaid.nysed.gov/scripts/sa/pi_find.idc
Career Development and Occupational
Studies
CDOS 3:1
http://stateaid.nysed.gov/scripts/sa/pi_find.idc
Art
Visual Arts 1:1, 2:1
http://stateaid.nysed.gov/scripts/sa/pi_find.idc
After the completion of this project, you will earn a
deeper understanding of what the victims of bullying and peer pressure are
forced to go through day after day. With
your added knowledge, you should be provided with the confidence and the
information to stand up to bullies, to protect victims, and to use your voice,
your words, wisely!
“Sticks and stones may break your bones
and words will always hurt you!”
Stand up for yourself and others!