Blog Post #14: Bullying

Blog Post 14 Instructions:

1. Watch three of the five Bully Movie Clips from the documentary Bully on YouTube.
    a. Bully #1 Movie CLIP - Tyler's Dad
    b. Bully #2 Movie CLIP - Kelby
    c. Bully #3 Movie CLIP - Handshake
    d. Bully #4 Movie CLIP - Bus Ride
    e. Bully #5 Movie CLIP - Alex and his Mom

2. Talk about what you think bullying is and why bullying happens.

3. What can you do to change things?

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            This week Dr. Strange wanted us to create a lesson plan in our area of specialty, that I think he should have created and assigned for in EDM 310. My area of specialty happens to be elementary education  I chose the topic of bullying. Why? Because this is something I am very passionate about changing. It doesn't matter what age you are, bullying exposes itself throughout many ages of life and in many forms, . There's the physical type of bully; who likes to physically inflect pain on someone. There's the the verbal bully who uses their words to strike out. There's the passive aggressive bully; the emotional bully, the list could go on and on.

            Throughout the years, I have formed my own golden rule through my experiences...don't be hurtful. That's it, just don't do or say hurtful things to other people period. So why is bullying an infection in our schools? What causes a bully? In fact....what is a bully? I looked around and developed a conglomerate definition of what a bully is; A bully is one that uses force, threats, and actions that are meant to abuse, intimidate, and to aggressively impose domination over the victim.

             However, the problem with how bullying in schools is approached could be the problem. Most of the time, when a bullying situation is confronted (and this is coming from personal experience), the bullied are those that receive the majority of the attention; however, not the right type of attention. The bullied gets told to "get over it", that "kids will be kids", while the bullies see, to just be dismissed and permissible.

            What teachers do not see, hardly see, or even choose not to see, is the perspective of the bully. Why do bullies bully? Think about it for a second...really think. The way you treat others is a DIRECT reflection of how you treat yourself. When you make other suffer it is because YOU YOURSELF is suffering. If teachers took more time to focus on why the bully is bullying and what is making him suffer, you can gain insight and a better understand of how to handle the situation and nip it in the bud. Children deeply want someone to understand them, it is crucial to take the time to understand them and develop a plan of action.


           The next thing you need do as an educator and as a defender of these children's futures, you  need to talk to someone, just as the students needs to talk to someone about their bullying problem. There is power in numbers. You need to talk to the principle, the vice principle, parents/guardians and other teachers, so that all of you are in collaboration and can be aware and to take charge of the bullying or stop it in its tracks. TAKE A STAND. These are human lives I'm talking about.

            However, The absolute first thing you can do to prevent or stop bullying is to create a positive learning environment. If you want your school and your classroom to be a safe and effective learning environment, you must stay strict and firm when dealing with bullies. When it comes to your classroom, you need to set ruled and guild lines and make sure they are fully understood, you may not be able to stop bullying completely, but at least you can take charge of your classroom. and see to it that something is done, before bullies diminish the learning equilibrium.