Helping Students Get Proactive About Bullying
Most of the time, 6th graders arrive in middle school feeling lost and scared, and it takes some time before the bullies and troublemakers have the nerve to separate themselves out from the pack. But last fall at our Los Angeles middle school, trouble was brewing almost from the start.
Students might have been conducting themselves properly in classrooms, but on the yard there was a movement afoot. A group of about 30 boys and girls, organized by a ringleader, initiated a “gang” of their own, with recruited members being “jumped in” during nutrition and lunch breaks. I found out about this around the third week of school when eight or nine students in a class I co-teach gathered around my desk to inform me that they’d had to meet with the deans to discuss the consequences that would follow any continued action. That was our first discussion about bullying.
As the year progressed, many of these initial troublemakers decided it was in their best interests to settle down on the yard. However, a significant number of students, mine included, continued to bully or were victims of bullies. Aware that bullying peaks during middle school, I chose bullying as our theme when it came time to develop a persuasive unit for my students. First, students completed a quick survey or “anticipation guide” so I could tap into their opinions. Then we talked...
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