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Quit hits that could be appetizers or desserts :)

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October is Bullying Prevention Month, which means many counselors will be searching for resources to help bring awareness to bullying. It can be a challenge to find bullying resources that are not only helpful but also FREE! Listed below are 10 free bullying prevention resources that can be used for classroom lessons and school-wide programming in elementary and middle schools.

1) You Can Be an Upstander: Video and Lesson Plans (1st-2nd)

The Ned Show is a wonderful resource for school counselors. Not only do they offer engaging school assemblies, but they also have a wealth of free resources available on their website. The " How to Be an Upstander" video does a great job showing kids how they can step up to help their peers during a conflict. On The Ned Show website, you can also access lesson plans to use with the video, activity pages, and even an upstander bulletin board!

2) Storyline Online: Digital Stories (K-3rd)

Storyline Online is a fantastic place to find digital stories for your classroom lessons. The stories are read aloud by actors and actresses in an engaging way, and since the videos are digital, you can pause them at any time for discussion. There are 3 stories on Storyline that are great for classroom lessons on bullying awareness! Check out Chester's Way, Carla's Sandwich, and Enemy Pie, which focus on topics such as conflicts, accepting differences, and friendship. Many of the books featured on Storyline also offer resource guides for educators and parents!

3) BrainPOP Jr: Bullying Video (2nd-3rd)

Although BrainPOP Jr. is a paid subscription site for educators, the website offers its bullying resources for free. Check out the Bullying video, which provides a definition of bullying along with prevention strategies. Below the video, you can also access a quiz, writing prompt, and other activities to use in a lesson. Similarly, the BrainPOP Jr. website also offers a free Internet Safety video, which can be a great intro to the topic of cyber bullying.

4) Howard B. Wigglebottom: Digital Stories (K-2nd)

The We Do Listen Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides fantastic resources for young students. If you are a school counselor, you may own several Howard B. Wigglebottom books, but did you know that you can also find them on the We Do Listen website for free? What's great about the digital stories is that they are animated and engaging. In addition to digital stories, you can also find games and activities that go along with a variety of topics. There are several Howard B. Wigglebottom stories that are great for bullying awareness lessons. Check out Howard B. Learns about Bullies, Listens to His Heart, and Learns We Can All Get Along. Below each story, make sure you look for the extra resources-some of the stories even have lesson plans complete with ASCA standards!

5) Sesame Street: Conflict Video (K-1st)

In your youngest classrooms, you may not use the word "bullying." Instead, you may introduce students to the concept of having a "conflict." This Conflict Video from Sesame Street does a fantastic job introducing young students to the concept of conflicts. The video is engaging and silly and is a great introduction to speaking up when there is a problem. If you are not able to access YouTube at school, you can use a site like Save Tube to download the video at home prior to your lesson.

6) 4 Ways to Deal with a Bully: Video (3rd-6th)

4 Ways to Deal with a Bully is a wonderful video from Kristina Kuzmic and her son. You may have seen some of Kristina's parenting videos shared on Facebook. In this video, practical bullying prevention strategies are shared in a comical way. Your students will love the humor in this video! Several of my 4th grade students have asked me to share the link to this video, so they can watch it again at home-I call that a win!

7) Bullying vs. Conflict: Video (3rd-6th)

In the upper grades, it is important for students to understand the definition of bullying vs. conflict. This simple video does a great job of comparing both concepts in an easy to understand way. This video is also great to send to parents as a quick way to help them understand the definition of bullying.

8) Classroom Check-In: Tool for Teachers (2nd-6th)

While not specifically related to bullying, the Classroom Check-In tool is a wonderful resource to help teachers get an inside view of which students in their class may be feeling left out. As a counselor, you can present this tool at a staff meeting and instantly give teachers a way to get insight about relationships in their classrooms. The resource, which was inspired by a popular Facebook post a few years ago, is available for free on TPT. Encourage your teachers to give it a try and see what impact it can make at your school!

9) StopBullying.gov: Resource Website (K-12)

StopBullying.gov is a comprehensive website with resources for teachers, students, and parents. It is a good one-stop-shop if you need a site to refer parents to for more information about bullying. It provides parents with statistics, warning signs, ways to talk to their children, and more. The website is written in a parent-friendly manner and provides a wealth of helpful information.

10) 25 Ways to Ask Your Child "How Was Your Day?" (K-6)

One of the best ways to help bring awareness to bullying and conflicts is simply to improve communication. When children are open and honest with the adults in their lives, adults can begin to gauge the size of problems and help intervene before situations escalate. So often, we ask children, "how was your day?" and get a minimal response. I created a fun list of 25 questions to ask children "how was your day?" without asking "how was your day?" This year, I provided this list to parents at Open House and received a great response! It is a great tool to help parents improve communication at home.

I hope the free resources above provide you with a great foundation for your bullying awareness lessons. For more bullying resources, check out some of our other posts:

Do you have any favorite free bullying prevention resources? Please share your ideas in the comments!

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10 Free Bullying Prevention Resources - Confident Counselors

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October is Bullying Prevention Month, which means many counselors will be searching for resources to help bring awareness to bullying. It can be a challenge to find bullying resources that are not only helpful but also FREE! Listed below are 10 free bullying prevention resources that can be used for classroom lessons and school-wide programming in elementary and middle schools.

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An older article (2005) about bullying

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A decade ago, Branford High School had a bullying problem. Harassment, violence, and graffiti became so prevalent that administrators created a far-reaching anti-bullying program aimed at changing the entire climate of their suburban Connecticut school. Since then they've witnessed a remarkable change: levels of bullying and violence have dropped by more than 50 percent.

"When I first took over in 1990, I would be inundated with behavioral referrals," said Vice-Principal David Maloney. "Now, I hardly get any at all."

© Nancy Bareis

Administrators at Santana High School in Santee, California, had a similar problem. Bullying became such an issue among their students that they received a $123,000 Justice Department grant to implement an anti-bullying program in 1998. Yet three years later, the school was the scene of violence worse than anything its students had experienced before. Freshman Charles "Andy" Williams killed two classmates and wounded 13 other people with his father's gun, a shooting rampage that began in a boys' bathroom. Afterwards he claimed his crime was a response to the bullying he had suffered from fellow students.

The contrast between these two stories underscores a challenge faced by researchers, educators, and legislators nationwide. Over the past two decades, a wave of scientific research has repeatedly documented the harmful and lasting impact of bullying among youth. Researchers have found clear evidence that bullying, long thought to be a benign rite of passage, actually contributes to violence and mental health problems. In response, educators and researchers have developed an abundance of anti-bullying programs.

While motivated by good intentions, these programs don't always get good results. Some have proven effective, some haven't, and some haven't been scientifically evaluated at all. Now educators and researchers are trying to identify and implement the best anti-bullying practices before the problem gets even worse.
Recognizing the problem
Perhaps the first question about bullying is how to define it. The Department of Justice says that bullying involves acts where there is "a real or perceived imbalance of power, with the more powerful child or group attacking those who are less powerful." Generally, researchers break down bullying into three categories: physical (hitting, kicking, etc.), verbal (name calling, teasing, etc.), and psychological (social exclusion, extortion, coercion, and rumor spreading).

Many of these behaviors seem an inevitable part of growing up. But the studies of bullying have called that assumption into question.

Researchers have linked bullying to violence and mental health problems among victims and perpetrators. Victims often suffer from low self-esteem, reduced academic performance and, in extreme cases, commit suicide or violent acts of retribution. Several long-term studies have found that students who engage in bullying during school are more likely to be incarcerated later in life. In 2002, the American Medical Association warned that bullying is a public-health issue with long-term mental-health consequences for both bullies and their victims. A recent study by UCLA researchers Jaana Juvonen and Adrienne Nishina showed that students who witness acts of bullying experience increased anxiety and develop negative associations with school. And the Department of Education has produced this startling statistic: Each day, 60,000 students in the U.S. avoid going to school because they fear being bullied.

"It is far from being a simple playground ritual," said Russell Skiba, a leading bullying researcher who directs the Safe and Responsive Schools project at the University of Indiana, Bloomington. "It is something that we need to take seriously."

In the United States, the public has started to take bullying seriously, and beyond the statistics, this increased awareness can be traced largely to one event. After the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, where the teenage gunmen were said to have targeted classmates who bullied them, the Secret Service initiated an investigation into school violence. Their report, released in 2002, found that in 37 school shootings since 1974, two-thirds of the attackers had said they felt "persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured."

In the wake of these findings, no fewer than 22 state legislatures have responded by passing anti-bulling legislation that requires schools to monitor and respond to bullying behavior. Congress took up its own anti-bullying bill this past year; though it didn't pass, it is gaining support and will most likely be re-introduced next year.

Anti-bullying programs are in place all over the country. This year, one of the largest of these programs, " Operation Respect," is being implemented in every New York City elementary and middle school. Roughly 10 percent of all school-aged children in the country are currently engaged in the "Operation Respect" curriculum.

But these programs are not all created equal. Indeed, some take a very different approach than others. As part of their anti-bullying efforts, some schools have gone so far as to adopt "zero tolerance" policies that mandate harsh penalties, including suspension or even expulsion, for any student found to have bullied another. These penalties sometimes seem disproportionate to the offense. In one case, they meant that a student was suspended for drawing a picture of a weapon.

Complicating matters further, many of the anti-bullying programs have yet to be rigorously studied; even among the programs that have been studied, the results are sometimes hard to make sense of.
Mixed results
Norway introduced the first major anti-bullying program in its schools in 1983 after three young bullying victims took their own lives. Dan Olweus, the researcher who created the program, found that his strategies generated a 50 percent reduction in bullying. Proponents of anti-bullying programs often cite this study. But when the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program was implemented in schools in South Carolina in 1995, its effectiveness rate was only 25 percent.
Psychologists Peter K. Smith, Debra Pepler, and Ken Rigby recently published a survey of 13 studies of anti-bullying prevention programs spanning 11 countries. They found a wide disparity of results across the programs: 12 of them showed at least a modest decline in some types of bullying, but seven reported increases in other kinds of bullying.

What accounts for these discrepancies? What makes some programs work while others don't-and how can the same program work in one context but not another?

According to Olweus, one possible reason for the disparity is the degree to which school administrators, teachers, and principals are committed to the program. Other studies support this view. For example, the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, a nonprofit coalition of law-enforcement leaders, researchers, and university officials released a report suggesting that principals who are aware and actively concerned about bullying have fewer incidents in their schools.

In Smith, Pepler, and Rigby's cross-national study, they found that the most rigorously tested programs have two things in common.

First, they emphasize the need for the school staff, especially teachers and principals, to become aware of the presence of bullying in their schools.

Almost 30 percent of students in the United States report moderate or frequent involvement in bullying, according to a 2001 study by Tonja Nansel, an investigator with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which surveyed nearly 16,000 students in grades 6-10. A more recent poll by Harris Interactive found that roughly two thirds of teenagers say they have been verbally or physically harassed in the past year.

Yet a different study found that teachers are aware of as little as four percent of the bullying that goes on in their schools.

"It is especially difficult to recognize bullying among girls," said Phil Mulligan, an assistant principal at Bryan Middle School in St. Charles, Missouri.

The plight of bullied adolescent girls is so subtle that, according to one study, teachers are often unaware of it until the girls reach the stage of contemplating suicide.

"We need to recognize that bullying is happening in every school," Mulligan said. "It's like having a boil: either you can put make-up on it, or you can lance it."

When Mulligan decided to target bullying at his school, he began by implementing a weekly survey that asked students to report on bullying they witnessed or experienced. When the first surveys started coming back, the results were shocking. They showed an average of three reports of bullying every day; previously, Bryan Middle School had record of about two incidents of bullying each week.

"There was so much going on that we didn't know about," said Mulligan, "because we weren't asking."
Whole school approach
Smith, Pepler, and Rigby's study also identified the importance of a "whole school approach," with coordinated action at the level of the individual student, the classroom, and the school.

Russell Skiba endorses this approach, which he contrasts with zero tolerance policies. According to Skiba, zero tolerance policies are an anti-bullying strategy that is not only ineffective but also counterproductive. He points to research showing that zero tolerance policies don't change students' behavior: on average, 30 to 50 percent of the students who are suspended will be repeat offenders.

"It made intuitive sense that if we remove all troublemakers from school, we will have safer schools," he said. "But research shows that we are much better off if we seek to prevent disruption and violence rather than reacting after the fact."

Skiba believes that zero tolerance policies don't get at the root causes of bullying but rather punish bullies and leave them ill-equipped to deal with their social and emotional problems. The most effective way to curb bullying in schools, Skiba maintains, is to implement school-wide programs that aim to stop bullying before it even begins.

Olweus' anti-bullying program is a model of how to implement such a "whole school approach." The Olweus program begins with a questionnaire that asks the students to report on the bullying that occurs in their school. The results of this survey are used to generate awareness-among parents, teachers, and students-of the need for intervention strategies. Next, the program directs teachers to establish classroom rules that clearly define bullying behavior. Then each school selects from a variety of interventions that are best suited to meet its needs. These methods can include individual counseling with bullies and victims, implementing workshop-type activities at both the classroom and school level, and restructuring school areas where bullying is particularly rampant, such as playgrounds or hallways. For instance, after some schools identify "hot spots" for bullying, they have teachers or administrators monitor these locations. One school in England went so far as to build a school with no hallways and with a bathroom attached to every classroom.

Branford High School's "whole school approach" meant creating an AdvisoryProgram where, once a week, the students meet in groups of 12-14 with an adult advisor. During a half-hour period, students and their advisor have free and open discussions about career opportunities, school policies, community service experiences, and individual progress reports. This program has been in place for seven years, and Vice Principal David Maloney said the relationships it has cultivated between students and "caring adults" have provided the foundation for a culture of trust and respect at the school.

This doesn't mean that there's no violence or bullying at Branford, but the school has tried to ensure that students who get into trouble don't become repeat offenders. Before a suspended student can return to school, they are required to meet with a member of the school's counseling staff to discuss problems like bullying and teasing. This extra step, said Maloney, has worked to significantly reduce the recurrence of behavioral problems.

In the "whole school" model, the most effective anti-bullying programs are tailor-made to the schools they serve. When Russell Skiba implemented anti-bullying programs at five separate schools in Indiana, each school was given the freedom to shape the program to address its specific needs.

For example, staff at Owen Valley High School identified a major problem particular to their school: The hallway in front of the principal's office was often full of students who had been sent there for bad behavior. In response, the school created an Intervention Room, where teachers could send difficult students prior to the office; once there, the students meet with other teachers to discuss their problem. Often when students are sent out of the classroom for minor infractions, or even misunderstandings, they and the teachers staffing the Intervention Room will quickly and easily remedy the situation. In other cases, when there is a more significant problem, the teachers in the Intervention Room talk with the student about their behavior and recommend steps they can take to address deeper issues. Since the school launched the Intervention Room, the number of bullying incidents, and the number of students lined up outside the office, has declined considerably.

In fact, all five of the schools involved in Skiba's study showed significant declines-40 to 60 percent-in the number of students who were suspended for both bullying and non-bullying offenses.

Skiba points out that the schools in his study saw improvements in other areas, such as attendance and academic achievement. This kind of ripple effect also took place at Branford High School after its anti-bullying program began: attendance rose from 86 percent to 97 percent, and the results of all measures of academic performance-standardized test scores, percentage of students on honor roll, the number of students pursuing higher education-went up.

"We're ecstatic. We're thrilled to see these results," said David Maloney. "It took a few years to get going, but we've really seen some dramatic improvements."

But Skiba cautions that not every school can be a Branford. He stresses that even the most well-designed programs need to be implemented carefully and monitored vigorously. Without that level of commitment, school districts stand to invest a lot of money and energy in programs that do them little good.

"No matter what program is put in place, schools need to be paying attention to the results," said Skiba, "and not just blithely assuming that they're getting the intended results."

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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A decade ago, Branford High School had a bullying problem. Harassment, violence, and graffiti became so prevalent that administrators created a far-reaching anti-bullying program aimed at changing the entire climate of their suburban Connecticut school. Since then they've witnessed a remarkable change: levels of bullying and violence have dropped by more than 50 percent.

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To This Day...a look at the impact of bullying 

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To This Day...a look at the impact of bullying 

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Pretty emotional take on the impact of bullying

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a feel good video

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Rhonda Orr is the president and founder of Rhonda's STOP BULLYING Foundation. On this podcast, she expands on the newspaper advice columns she writes with Dr. Cheri L. McDonald, "Dear Rhonda & Dr. Cheri.." Rhonda speaks directly to you, with real-world, actionable advice.

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A guide from an expert

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A poem depicting the impact of bullying - reflection activity

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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A website with many resources

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No Bully: A Radically Effective Solution to Bullying | No Bully

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No Bully® is an evidence based program that leverages student empathy to stop bullying and cyberbullying.

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STOP BULLYING - Everyone Can Help

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In addition,  watching a bullying related movie would meet the professional learning requirement

As an example Netflix's 13 Reasons Why

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Preventing bullying in your school is a community wide effort. Watch an introduction to a program that introduces students to concepts of bullying, hatred and prejudice. A must see for teachers, students and parents.

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ELA.SL.6.1c

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

SL: Speaking and Listening Standards 6-12

6: 6th Grade

1c:
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled)
with diverse partners on grade 6 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others'\x80\x99 ideas and
expressing their own clearly.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or
studied required material; explicitly draw on
that preparation by referring to evidence on
the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on
ideas under discussion.

b. Follow rules for collegial discussions, set
specific goals and deadlines, and define
individual roles as needed.

c. Pose and respond to specific questions with
elaboration and detail by making comments
that contribute to the topic, text, or issue
under discussion.

d. Review the key ideas expressed and
demonstrate understanding of multiple
perspectives through reflection and
paraphrasing.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

|

ELA.SL.6.2

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

SL: Speaking and Listening Standards 6-12

6: 6th Grade

2:
Interpret information presented in diverse media
and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally)
and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or
issue under study.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. How does Ms. Withers encourage students to consider multiple perspectives and support their opinions?

2. What structures are in place to facilitate meaningful and appropriate group conversations?

3. In what ways do the case studies help students explore and test their ideas?

School Details

Amistad Dual Language School
4862 Broadway
New York NY 10034

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Cyberbullying: What's Crossing the Line?

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In this co-production with Common Sense Media, a middle school social studies teacher uses contemporary issues to incorporate ELA CCSS into a lesson about cyberbullying. Students use factual information, a video and two case studies to consider and analyze different perspectives in specific cyberbullying incidents.

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Change Attitudes Toward Bullying: Be An Ally

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Bullying is an issue in many schools. Watch how one school is tackling bullying with the Be an Ally program. Program covers bullying, bystanders and allies.

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Bullying prevention needs to start at a young age. Watch how one school introduces elementary school students to concepts of bullying, hatred and prejudice. A must see for teachers, students and parents.

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Teaching Channel Presents: Bullying at School

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Teaching Channel presents a video that shows how schools work to prevent bullying among students. From bullying prevention programs like Olweus to parent workshops and student assemblies, the goal is to get parents, teachers, administrators and students to understand what bullying is and what their responsibility to stop it is.

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Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy

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When Nancy Lublin started texting teenagers to help with her social advocacy organization, what she found was shocking -- they started texting back about their own problems, from bullying to depression to abuse. So she's setting up a text-only crisis line, and the results might be even more important than she expected.

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A toolkit to help educators create bully free schools.

The critical role that a positive school climate plays in bullying prevention.

Valuable research to help turn your school into a bully free zone.

FEATURED RESOURCES

Groundbreaking research by NEA and NEA partners examining perspectives on bullying and bullying prevention efforts.
See more resources "

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A toolkit to help educators create bully free schools. The critical role that a positive school climate plays in bullying prevention. Valuable research to help turn your school into a bully free zone. Groundbreaking research by NEA and NEA partners examining perspectives on bullying and bullying prevention efforts.

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393 quotes have been tagged as bullying: Michael J. Fox: 'One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away u...

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National Bullying Prevention Center - Resources

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Founded in 2006, PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center actively leads social change, so that bullying is no longer considered an accepted childhood rite of passage.

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“Public shaming as a blood sport has to stop,” says Monica Lewinsky. In 1998, she says, “I was Patient Zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously.” Today, the kind of online public shaming she went through has become constant -- and can turn deadly. In a brave talk, she takes a hard look at our online culture of humiliation, and asks for a different way.

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Andrew Solomon: How the worst moments in our lives make us who we are

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Writer Andrew Solomon has spent his career telling stories of the hardships of others. Now he turns inward, bringing us into a childhood of adversity, while also spinning tales of the courageous people he's met in the years since.

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Each October, individuals and organizations nationwide work together to raise awareness of bullying during National Bullying Prevention Month, an initiative of the PACER Center. Whether you are an educator, education leader, parent, or other community member, you can take action to prevent bullying and harassment by fostering a culture of caring and respect in your school, home, and community. Use the resources below to support your efforts. In addition, consider participating in Edutopia's community to share your own insights and resources about bullying prevention.

Resources for Educators

Take a look at the infographic " Bullying: What You Need to Know," courtesy of StopBullying.gov, a U.S. government website, for information about some of the statistics behind bullying and impacts on children. As this video about a study from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) demonstrates, the effects of bullying are serious and linger well into adulthood.

The resources from StopBullying.gov address detection, preventive strategies, and effective responses. How do you know if a child is being bullied? Keep an eye out for these warning signs. Need to know what actions to take? Review these effective responses to bullying and prevention strategies. "Bullying: A Module for Teachers," from The American Psychological Association, includes a useful tip sheet, " Myths and Facts about Bullying," that addresses beliefs about school bullying not supported by current research.

Bullying Prevention Curriculum

Visit the websites below to find videos, activities, and lesson plans you can use in the classroom:

For more planning tips, the following Edutopia posts are good to reference:

Student Voice and Leadership

The National School Climate Center (NSCC)'s Student Leadership page includes several resources to support student leadership in creating more positive school climates. PACER's five-step guide, Unite Against Bullying - School Event Planning Guide, provides helpful information on working with students to plan bullying prevention events. The PACER Center's web pages on Student Action and School Action showcase examples of actions taken by students and schools to prevent bullying.

For more inspiration, check out these examples of student voice and leadership from Edutopia:

Resources for Parents

" Creating a Safe and Caring Home" from NSCC includes guidelines for parents to help children feel safe and create positive environments for children. To better understand what parents should expect from schools and what parents can do, read " What Can Be Done to Stop Bullying?" from NBC News' Education Nation. Looking to start a bullying prevention program at your school? " How to Start an Antibullying Program," from GreatSchools, describes how parents can get involved.

Communicating With Schools

GreatSchool's " Making Your Child's School Safe and Supportive" details specific questions parents can ask principals or other school leaders about how a school handles issues like social and emotional learning; teaching respect; and preventing bullying, harassment, and exclusion. The " 10 Facts Parents, Educators, and Students Need to Know" from Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center contains " Notifying the School About Bullying - Using a Template Letter" for parents needing to communicate with schools about bullying incidents, including templates for parents of children with special needs.

Cyberbullying

What are some ways you can initiate conversations with your children about cyberbullying?

Common Sense Media's Cyberbullying Topic Center provides comprehensive parent guides on everything parents need to know, organized developmentally by age and stage. If you are a parent of a teen, you may also want to review their " 16 Sites and Apps Kids Are Heading to After Facebook," newly updated for 2016. In addition, the downloadable tip sheet, " Technology and Youth: Protecting Your Child From Electronic Aggression," from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the " Prevent Cyberbullying" page from StopBullying.gov include advice on specific actions parents and caregivers can take.

For more ways to take action against cyberbullying, take a look at these resources from Edutopia:

School-Wide and District-Wide Approaches

Consider scheduling a staff viewing of the film " BULLY." The BULLY Project has developed a toolkit to accompany the DVD that includes an in-school public viewing license, as well as a number of helpful tools and resources, including " A Guide to the Film BULLY: Fostering Action and Empathy in Schools." You can gather information to assess your current school climate with a tool such as the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) from the NSCC. Finally, there are several websites that have compiled examples of successful anti-bullying approaches. Character Education Partnership has collected examples of promising anti-bullying practices from various schools in " Promising Practices to Combat Bullying"; a searchable database includes more anti-bullying ideas that have been successful at other schools. The website for ASCD's The Whole Child initiative includes Elementary, Middle, and High School examples of anti-bullying approaches.

Restorative Justice

Restorative-justice approaches focus on repairing damage, rather than on blame or punishment. In " Restorative Justice: Resources for Schools," Matt Davis has collected several guides for implementing restorative-justice programs and links to helpful resources and articles. " Using Dialogue Circles to Support Classroom Management," a resource from Edutopia's Schools That Work, explores how dialogue circles, as part of the restorative-justice program at Glenview Elementary School in Oakland, California, have helped to build collaboration, respect, and positive behavior among students. Another useful source of information on this topic is the Center for Restorative Justice at Suffolk University.

For more school-wide strategies, check out these other posts from Edutopia:

Social and Emotional Learning

Organizations such as the Collaboration for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) have a number of well-researched reports and other resources on their website to combat school bullying. Download and read the full 2009 CASEL report, " Social and Emotional Learning and Bullying Prevention."

Cultivating Empathy

Programs like Roots of Empathy that teach perspective-taking skills and empower children to fight cruelty with empathy and kindness have shown effectiveness in decreasing aggression and increasing pro-social behaviors among students. The Empathy 101 videos, tips, and school examples from Ashoka's Start Empathy website include ideas for cultivating empathy in the classroom and at home. For more ideas about how you can foster environments of kindness, empathy, and connection, both inside and outside the classroom, check out VideoAmy's " Five-Minute Film Festival: Nine Videos on Kindness, Empathy, and Connection" and Lisa Currie's " Why Teaching Kindness in Schools Is Essential to Reduce Bullying" from Edutopia. Parents may want to explore Edutopia's curated list of blogs, articles, and videos for parents about fostering kindness and empathy (as well as resilience, perseverance, and focus) in children: " A Parent's Resource Guide to Social and Emotional Learning."

Diversity and Inclusion

StopBullying.gov describes Risk Factors for bullying, including information about at-risk populations such as LGBT youth and youth with disabilities and special health needs. At the website for GLSEN, you'll find a wealth of anti-bullying resources for addressing anti-LGBT bullying and harassment; make sure to download GLSEN's report " From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America - a National Report on School Bullying." The Special Needs Anti-Bullying Toolkit from The BULLY Project includes resources for educators and parents related to children with special needs.

For more ideas on addressing issues of diversity and inclusion, join the conversation in Edutopia's community. Conversations such as " Bullying and Students With Disabilities," " Please Call Me Jason: Supporting Our Transgender Students," and " Don't Ask, Don't Tell in Our Schools" are good places to start. Also see these posts on Edutopia:

Suicide Prevention

" Suicide and Bullying," an issue brief from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), discusses the relationship between bullying and suicide among children and adolescents, including recommendations, with a special focus on LGBT youth. Initiatives like The Trevor Project focus on crisis and suicide prevention among kids in the high-risk LGBT student population. All teachers should review the Trevor Project's list of warning signs.

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Resources to Fight Bullying and Harassment at School | Edutopia

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Each October, individuals and organizations nationwide work together to raise awareness of bullying during National Bullying Prevention Month, an initiative of the PACER Center. Whether you are an educator, education leader, parent, or other community member, you can take action to prevent bullying and harassment by fostering a culture of caring and respect in your school, home, and community.

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Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist. Here's how I chose peace.

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If you're raised on dogma and hate, can you choose a different path? Zak Ebrahim was just seven years old when his father helped plan the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. His story is shocking, powerful and, ultimately, inspiring.

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To This Day ... for the bullied and beautiful

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By turn hilarious and haunting, poet Shane Koyczan puts his finger on the pulse of what it’s like to be young and ... different. “To This Day,” his spoken-word poem about bullying, captivated millions as a viral video (created, crowd-source style, by 80 animators). Here, he gives a glorious, live reprise with backstory and violin accompaniment by Hannah Epperson.

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Stop Bullying on the Spot

When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time.

Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy.

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StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on bullying, cyberbullying, prevention and response.