Bullying on the Playground
How
Can We Take Matters into our Own Hands?
By Beth Polsky
The P.E.A.R.L.S.
Hawthorne School
1.
Introduction
After reading, The Ant Bully
we became familiar with a story about several children who are the victims of a
bully. Many of our classmates related to this story because they had
experienced similar uncomfortable feelings, firsthand,
when they had been the subject of teasing and physical tormenting on our school
playground.
In
the story, the children are intimidated by a child that is bigger and not
afraid to use both verbal and physical threats to intimidate others. The
children succumb to him out of fear. Our goal throughout this Webquest Activity
is to empower ourselves to confront these types of people and respond to their
threats using proactive methods that enable us to deal with bullies, and therefore,
put an end to their negative behavior toward us.
2.
Task
3. Process
A. Reading Response Activity
Our
first step is to re-read the story, The
Ant Bully. In response to this literature piece, you will write a diary
entry. You will pretend that you are one of the children who is
being harassed by the Ant Bully. You will include, at least, two examples of
situations from the book that made you uncomfortable. In addition, your writing
should be in the first person in order to reflect your emotional state. You
will try to elicit empathy and actively engage your reader.
B. Role-Play
Activity
You
will pretend that you are partaking in a real life situation that involves
bullying. In groups of three, you will work collaboratively with your partners
to write a script. Your teammates will decide upon a troublesome situation that
could occur on the school playground involving a bully. Then, you will assign
roles having two children play the victims and one child pretend to be the
actual bully. Each group will identify a difficult situation that they would
like to grapple with. For example, a time when a bully insisted on taking your
lunch money. As you perform the skit, the audience members will take notes with
the purpose of being able to describe the situation to the rest of the class
after you have finished the performance. In this way, we will be able to
identify your problem and reflect.
As
active participants we will have a four-point rubric and utilize it to critique
your work. (See attached rubric) Problem solving will continue, as children
offer suggestions and rubric scores are tallied after each performance. Then, audience
members will volunteer ideas and step in as actors who put an end to negative,
bullying behavior in any given situation. As a final project, your groups will
film the work during class time. Teams will be expected to hand-in a written
copy of their plays, as well.
Use the
steps of the PPA to figure out the causes as well as develop solutions for the
problem of bullying.
Steps
of the PPA
Define the Problem Worksheet 1
Gather the Evidence Worksheet 2
Identify the
Causes
Worksheet 3
Evaluate an
Existing Policy
Worksheet 4
Select the Best
Solution Worksheet 6
4.
Resources
5. Evaluation
Rubric for
Bullying on the Playground
Learning
Objectives:
You will learn to
solve problems that you have during lunchtime.
You will tap into your verbal abilities in order to prevent other
children from bullying you. You will
work collaboratively to simulate real life situations that involve these
sensitive issues.
Evaluation
Process
You will watch one
another perform their skits and evaluate their work on a scale from 1-4.
1 2 3 4
Scoring
Circle the score you deem
appropriate and anonymously place it in the box. We will tally the votes for
each group at the end of the activity. The team with the most fours was obviously
the most effective in conveying their message about bullying. In this way, we
analyzed and reflected as a whole class upon the work done throughout this
Webquest process.
4
The
team members always worked
effectively by conveying a powerful message about the negative affects of
bullying. They always solved their
problem by implementing strategies that involved collaborative team work, role
playing, problem solving, and verbal expression.
3
The
team members often worked
effectively by conveying a powerful message about the negative affects of
bullying. They often solved their
problem by implementing strategies that involved collaborative team work, role
playing, problem solving, and verbal expression.
2
The
team members showed some evidence of
working effectively, however, the message about the
negative effects of bullying was not always clear. They showed some evidence of solving their problem
by implementing the strategies that involved collaborative team work, role
playing, problem solving, and verbal expression.
1 The team members did not
work effectively or convey a clear message about the negative effects of
bullying. They did not solve their
problem by implementing strategies that involved collaborative team work, role
playing, problem solving, or verbal expression.
6.
Conclusion
Congratulations!!!!!
Now,
you can walk onto your school playground with your head held high!! You are not
afraid of that bully who once tormented you.
As
a matter of fact, He is the one that
is shaking in his boots.
But remember Mr. Big Guy or Gal,
You
get a lot further with a little bit of honey than a lot of vinegar.
Have fun at lunch tomorrow!
7.
Language Arts
Performance Standard #5 (fourth grade)- The student uses the writing
process to produce six types of writing products: (1) a report, (2) a
procedure, (3) a response to literature, (4) a narrative account, (5) a
persuasive argument, (6)invitations, letters, and notes.
(New
York State Standards continued)
Language Arts
Performance Standard #7 (fourth grade)- The student analyzes and subsequently revises
work to clarify it or make it more effective in communicating the intended
message or thought. The student’s revisions should be made in light of purposes,
audiences, and contexts that apply to the work.
Social Studies
Standard # (fourth
grade)-
The
student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of… the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship,
including avenues of participation.