Bullying meetings

All month we have focused our read alouds around the theme of friendship.  We thought about the author's purpose or the lesson in the books and brainstormed what we can do with our friends to reinforce these friendship skills.  Our class is working everyday to be the best human we can be.  We have talked daily about how there will always be learning opportunities and mistakes for everyone but it is how we learn from those things that makes us better humans.  

We did an activity where we passed a heart around and shared something either we did or something we have seen that was a bulling behavior.  As we shared ideas, we folded the heart, by the time we made it through all 19 of us the heart was extremely wrinkled.  We tried to flatten it out and make it smooth but we couldn't.  We talked about how those wrinkles that the bullying behaviors leave on the heart never go away.  

Today a few staff members role played a scenario where they bullied me.  Mrs. Johnson yelled at me, told me I was not her friend, told me what to do, and said other hurtful comments.  Mrs. Bank and Ms. Wiley were by standards that did nothing. The students stopped their math practice and watched with eyes wide open.  Our conversation after this scenario was amazing.  Students talked about how their stomach felt when I was being yelled at, the tone of Mrs. Johnson's voice made them scared, the tears on Mrs. Walter's face made them sad.  Mrs. Bank talked about how she wanted to stand up but didn't know how, the class generated ideas to help her if she is ever in that position again.  Ms. Wiley told the class she didn't know what to do because she has never seen someone treat another human in such a manner.  The class suggested to her that she could get help from another adult. The power of this conversation was breath taking.  The students reflected on how they felt as by-standards, how they felt as my friends and how they felt thinking people actually treat others that way.  Mrs. Johnson did return to the classroom to let the class know that we (the teachers) planned this and it was all planned to help them see how hurtful many of the behaviors that are being reported at recess can be.  

Major take aways we are hoping for:

• be a good human and what that looks like
• stand up
• get help
• your words matter
• your tone tells your audience it's own story
• everyone has hiccups and how you learn from them is what matters
• you are in charge of you

We are focusing on  being a good human and living by the golden rule:

TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED