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This non-fiction text educates readers on bullying. I plan to use some of the stories from the book such as Bullying and the Problem of Peer Pressure, Negative Peer Pressure, Spoken and Unspoken Peer Pressure, In Class, Keeping Cool at School, and the Need to Look Right. Each topic shares so much regarding bullying in school. After reading, discuss the meaning of peer pressure. When does peer pressure happen? Where? Who gets peer pressured? What does it mean when the author says the "need to look right" and why do kids feel that way?

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Review our talks on school bullies. To wrap up this subtopic, read the article on what victims can do regarding school bullies. Also, go back to the WorldBook Text Bullied by Friends and read the subtopics Offering a Helping Hand and Advice and Assistance. Have the students create a glogster to portray what to do with a bully, who to talk to, and how to help.

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Read the article and discuss/make a list of where school bullies are? What do they target? What can you do?

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NoBullying - Bullying & CyberBullying Resources

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A bully is described as someone who uses strength or power to intimidate or harm a person whom they believe is weaker. An oppressor typically belittles another person because of insecurities within himself. As a result of being unable to deal with personal struggles, a bully will taunt someone whom he believes to be inferior and vulnerable. Although completely avoiding oppression in this day and age is nearly impossible, children can steer clear of continuous abuse by being aware of who bullies search out in school, and immediately responding to any type of oppression.

So what are the various types of oppression and where is bullying most common?
Types of Bullying: Physical and Mental
Many view physical abuse as the only sort of bullying around, but the federal government includes physical, verbal, and social interactions as three areas in which bullying can take place.

According to the institution's website devoted to ending oppression, physical abuse can include anything from spitting to pushing. Even a person who spits at another individual but misses their target can be considered a bully since the purpose of spitting on someone is to humiliate them in public.

Such humiliation extends to social bullying in which a person is intentionally ostracized from a group. This type of oppression is typically seen when cliques come together and point out an individual's differences before a captivated audience. Unfortunately, this sort of bullying goes unnoticed by educators and other disciplinarians in school because the act of ostracization is viewed more as the victim's inability to make friends and less as the oppressor's way of embarrassing that person.

Verbal abuse is also a form of bullying that is gaining more popularity these days. Although many classify words as being abusive when they prompt individuals to do the unthinkable, one does not have to say much to be offensive.

Remarks such as, "Your head looks big in that hat," and, "That shirt looks weird on you," can be viewed as abusive when the tone is right. Many see such comments as suggestions but fail to place themselves in the shoes of the victim who is constantly being told that their head is big and clothes look weird on them.

This is the essence of verbal abuse. Bullies tend to taunt their victims on a daily basis, which ultimately affects the self-esteem of the oppressed.
Grades in which Bullying is Most Prevalent
Although various beliefs credit small children with being brutal, studies show that bullying occurs more often in middle school. DoSomething.org states, "Physical bullying increases in elementary school, peaks in middle school and declines in high school. Verbal abuse, on the other hand, remains constant."

From this it may be concluded that while verbal abuse is something that kids encounter from the first day they begin school, physical abuse increases as time progresses. A boy who starts out taunting a girl in kindergarten can end up pushing that girl into a locker when they get to middle school, if his bad behavior is not recognized and corrected by an adult.

Although bullies come in all shapes and forms, boys tend to become more heartless with their actions as the years pass. Such heartlessness may be why there are more cases of bullying in middle school than in elementary school. In addition, kids in middle school are transitioning to adulthood from childhood and haven't yet attained the maturity level that most high school students have by the 10th or 11th grade. Hence the reason why some 6th and 7th graders tend to pick on kids who are different from themselves.

So just where is bullying most common?
Boys and Girls Restrooms
The restroom is one place that disciplinarians cannot be present all the time. As a result, it is the one place where most bullying takes place. Boys and girls who fall victim to oppression typically find that trips to the restroom are most stressful since entire groups of bullies can lie in wait for prey without being questioned by an adult as to what they are doing.

Several news stories have deemed the restroom as the number one place where physical bullying occurs. One mother took her story to the media after she informed the school's administration of the abuse that her child underwent on a daily basis while trying to use the restroom. "One student distracted him, pointing in one direction. Then they pulled my son's pants and underwear down," said the angry mother. The school promised to "follow up" on the incident, but it wasn't until a kindergartner was physically and sexually assaulted by a bully that administrators wholeheartedly addressed the matter.

It is this kind of nonchalance from disciplinarians and aggressive behavior from kids that makes the restroom a breeding ground for bullies.
Hallways
Another place where bullying is prevalent is in the school hallways. Although physical abuse is addressed by disciplinarians, subtle social oppression often goes unnoticed. An entire group of girls turning their backs to someone who is trying to make conversation with them is a form of bullying that is overlooked by hall monitors because it is considered to be more of a personal problem that the child must overcome, and less of an issue that the school needs to address.

What monitors and other faculty fail to realize is that simple acts such as these can lead to physical abuse in later years. In addition, social bullying can anger the victim so much that she becomes the oppressor to her inferiors.

Granted it typically takes several instances of social bullying for the oppressed to become the oppressor, every unkind gesture leads the victim closer to displaying intimidating characteristics that she despises.
Online
The Internet has become one of the greatest assets for bullies. Whereas in past times oppressors would only torture their victims during face-to-face meetups, they now go on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to further drive negative connotations home.

It is not out of the ordinary for bullies to make inappropriate comments on Facebook, as the site has an inbox feature that allows friends and enemies to send an unlimited amount of private messages to subscribers. Twitter is also a danger spot for victims as anyone can follow a person without asking permission. An oppressor can essentially turn their victim's online experience into a nightmare by sending threatening messages and tweeting demeaning comments all day and into the night.

Many do not realize just how stressful going to and coming from school is when one has a bully on their trail who lives down the street. Walking two miles can seem like a lifetime when teasing and pushing is included. Even going to the local market on the weekend may seems like a chore for the individual who knows that his bully is lying in wait.

Surprisingly enough, utilizing public transportation on school days does not resolve the problem of bullying when the victim and oppressor take the same bus to and from their destination. There have been several instances where children have been physically and verbally assaulted on the back of school buses because the driver was pre-occupied with transporting duties and couldn't stop the bus to address the issue.

Although riding the bus is better than walking alone, the best way to handle a bully is to address him or her boldly.
What to Do
One of the first things individuals who find themselves to be the subject of oppressors should do is tell an authority. Children should first tell a disciplinarian at school and then inform their parents of bullying if the reported behavior is not properly addressed. It is not a good idea to allow oppression to grow as bullies have a way of becoming more violent with those whom they find to be weaker links. Instead, it is best to report any offense to adults no matter how great or small it may be.

In addition, parents should be on the lookout for tell-tale signs of bullying. Since some children will not report incidents immediately and may become afraid to say anything about their oppressors as time passes, it is important for moms and dads to recognize and address any changes in their kids' attitudes. Crying and showing an overall dislike for school after once being excited to attend everyday should not be regarded as growing pains. In many instances, kids who no longer want to attend school are enduring physical and mental abuse that has sucked the joy out of learning.
What Not to Do
A parent should never sit around and do nothing if they suspect that their child is being bullied. Even if it is no more than addressing the poor attitude that the child now has for education, a mom and dad should strive to stay involved.

Adults should never let teasing, pushing, or inappropriate comments online escalate to a child committing an unthinkable act. This means that every instance of bullying should be addressed.

Asking, "Where is bullying most common?" is not enough. Action must be placed behind one's inquiry about oppression to bring about freedom.

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Where is Bullying Most Common? - NoBullying - Bullying & CyberBullying Resources

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A bully is described as someone who uses strength or power to intimidate or harm a person whom they believe is weaker. An oppressor typically belittles another person because of insecurities within himself.

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Fierstein's story is about a duck that is being made fun of for the activities he is choosing to participate in. After reading, watch the video clip. Discuss with the class what we think of bullies, where we find bullies, who they are, etc. Discuss the roles of some of the characters such as the victim, the students that did the teasing, and the ones that sat there and did nothing.

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Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully by Julianne Moore

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Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully by Julianne Moore

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Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully regards a bully in school but on the playground and during sports games.
After reading, have the students read the article about recess bullying from the NY Times and discuss bullying within sports games and during recess. Come up with ways to prevent bullying on the playground and during sports games (which will lead to the next lessons on preventing bullying!)

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More than 150 years ago, Charles Dickens published "Hard Times," a novel centered around the students of an English schoolmaster named Thomas Gradgrind, who had no use for play or any sort of imaginative pursuit. For Gradgrind, if something did not demonstrably add to the productive capacity of the nation and could not be justified with facts and statistics, it had no place in a child's education.

Dickens invented Gradgrind (and introduced him in a chapter entitled "Murdering the Innocents") to dramatize what he saw as the soullessness of utilitarianism, a school of thought prevalent in England during the Industrial Revolution that emphasized rational pursuits and quantitative measures over all else.

We take it for granted that kids know how to play.

Over the past century and a half, we've learned a great deal about child development. In spite of this, in recent decades the major thrust in U.S. public education has forced educators to behave more like Thomas Gradgrind than many would like to admit. For example, in response to the No Child Left Behind act, nearly half of all school districts in the country have shifted large chunks of time to math and reading instruction in order to improve student test scores. What's been cut? Art, music, social studies and recess. The last has been particularly hard hit. On average, American kids get only 26 minutes of recess per day, including lunchtime - and low income kids get less than that.

No Child Left Behind requires that efforts to improve education be based on "rigorous scientific research." However, nothing about the decline of school-based play is backed up by research. In fact, the benefits of play have been well-documented. There is strong evidence that school-based physical activity improves children's cognitive skills, concentration and behavior, possibly by influencing their brain's physiology.[1] At the same time, studies of "social and emotional learning" programs indicate that students do better socially and academically when they learn how to understand their emotions, empathize with others, and make good decisions. [2] Both of these processes are very much at work when children are playing well with others - which is why recess is a uniquely valuable resource - if it is well-run.

The pressure to maximize instruction time is not the only reason principals have cut back on recess. Close to 90 percent of disciplinary problems occur during recess or lunch or the transitions before and after. Principals say recess is not what it used to be. Many children spend much of their time in the schoolyard standing around idly or playing free-for-all games that get out of control. Recess has always been a time of teasing, bullying and scraped knees, but principals report that injuries and fights in elementary schools are more prevalent and more serious than in the past.

"Recess is meaner than it used to be," one Oakland principal told me. That's why some educators have decided they can do without it. Others have instituted " zero tolerance" no-fighting policies, with mandatory suspensions for schoolyard altercations, sending home perpetrators - predominately African American boys - who are as young as six years old. Others have dealt with the problems by banning games like tag.

Today, I'd like to explore what educators might gain if, instead of viewing recess as a liability - a drain on teaching time and a behavioral headache - they saw it as an opportunity to make the school a happier place, contribute to children's healthy development, and maybe even boost academic performance. In order to do this, many schools would need to transform the way they manage recess.

One approach that has been advanced successfully comes from an Oakland-based nonprofit organization called Playworks, which operates in nearly 250 urban schools serving low-income students in 15 cities and has a long waiting list of principals who are willing to spend $25,000 to bring the program to their schools. One Baltimore principal told me: "I will get rid of the computer room before I get rid of this program."

Playworks sends trained, full-time play coaches into schools who organize an array of play opportunities for children during recess and lunch, as well as in class and after school. The coaches - typically recent college graduates who are delighted to come to work in sneakers every day - become like faculty members. The kids call them by their first names - "Coach Joe" or "Coach Eunice," for example - and teachers say they often become the most popular adults in the school.

It may seem intrusive or overprotective to enlist coaches to help children play. Shouldn't kids be left alone to direct their own play during recess? If they can, yes. And some adults disagree with Playworks' approach because they feel that children need more time for unstructured play. But it's not clear that there is such a thing as unstructured play, even simple make believe. "All play has rules," the play philosopher Johan Huizinga has written. "The rules of a game are absolutely binding and allow no doubt... As soon as the rules are transgressed the whole play-world collapses." The real question is who provides the structure - the children or the adults.

Evidence shows that play during school can bring mental and emotional benefits to students.

We don't let children loose in the water before they can swim. Why do we throw them into playgrounds before they can structure their own play? The problem is that many children today don't know how to initiate games and keep them going, largely because they've grown up with so little practice. We take it for granted that children know how to play, but the skills that make play fun, that make it possible - like being able to resolve conflicts quickly, knowing how to choose fair teams, knowing and respecting rules -are not innate; they are learned. And they must be practiced.

In decades past, when neighborhoods were perceived to be safe, children had lots of time to play outdoors, and they naturally picked up the culture of play from older kids. Today, children are indoors more and "personal use media" takes up six or seven hours of their time every day ( pdf). Young people between the ages of 10 to 16 engage in vigorous activity for only 12.6 minutes per day - nowhere near the 60 minutes that the surgeon general recommends. And the kids who are regularly active typically participate in sports leagues run by adults.

"Do you know how hard it is to get kids to exercise for 60 minutes a day?" explains Jill Vialet, the founder of Playworks. "Do you know how easy it is to get kids to play for 60 minutes a day?" She adds: "Kids are desperate to be taught ways to get along with each other and be successful in play and school. It hasn't been taught."

If children don't know how to play, says Vialet, the answer isn't to remove play from their lives; it's to teach them. That's what the coaches do. They aren't recess monitors or physical education instructors: they are skilled in the art of getting kids to understand the nuances of play. At first, coaches organize the playground, but the goal is for kids to learn how to do it for themselves - so they can create their own games with siblings or friends out of school. The coaches introduce games like foursquare, kick ball or volley ball. They teach games that involve hula hoops or bean bags (their playbook lists over 250 games, including 37 variations of tag). They chalk out areas in the schoolyard so kids know where to expect different games. Rules are modified to maximize the time kids spend moving and to make the games fun for all, not just star athletes.

Most important, the coaches show kids how to get games started quickly and how to solve conflicts using a technique that takes about five minutes to master: rock, paper, scissors (which they call roshambo). They teach them how to choose teams without humiliating anyone. They encourage girls and boys, and children from different cultures, to play together. They deputize "junior coaches" - typically fifth graders - to distribute and collect equipment and model sportsmanlike behavior for the younger kids. (Give a 10-year-old a whistle and a special T-shirt and they are putty in your hands, says Vialet.) Along the way, they offer strategies to help children overcome the urge to fight or throw a tantrum or cheat. With continual reminders, "Ha, you're out!" gradually becomes "way to go" and "nice try" ( pdf).

I've interviewed several principals who use Playworks. Within about three months, they say, playgrounds in which a quarter or a third of children were previously involved in play become like anthills of activity, with 80 or 90 percent of the kids involved in games by choice. As a result, they contend that their playgrounds are safer and their schools feel more relaxed. One principal, Audra Philippon, who runs the AXL Academy, in Aurora, Colo., told me that Playworks led to a drop in playground injuries - from 242 one year to 51 the next. In the same period, disciplinary incidents requiring office referrals fell from 40 to 10.

﻿"Out of a very limited playground space Playworks has produced an enormous amount of physical activity that was never taking place before," Philippon told me. "And it's managed completely by the kids. It is so simple, and it's spilled over into the classroom. When there's a dispute the kids do roshambo and they solve it, no teachers required."

"It's significantly improved the amount of quality instructional time available in the afternoon," she added. "We've gone from kind of dreading teaching the period right after recess to it being a very productive academic time."

On Friday, I'll respond to comments, share some more stories from schools, and mention another organization that is working to make healthy play accessible for more children.

[1] Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a meta-review (pdf) of 50 studies and found "substantial evidence" that school-based physical activity "can help improve academic achievement, including grades and standardized test scores." Educators need not worry about losing precious teaching time: the report found "no evidence that time spent in recess had a negative association with cognitive skills, attitudes or academic behavior." Physical activity appears to interact with the brain's physiology in specific ways - for example, by increasing the production of neurotrophins (which stimulate the creation of new neurons) and the growth of nerve cells in the hippocampus, the center of learning and memory.

[2] A recent meta-analysis of 213 social and emotional learning (SEL) programs involving more than 270,000 students found that such programs can boost students' social and emotional skills and enable academic gains. The study reported an 11 percentile point increase in academic achievement. Researchers suggested that students who understand their emotions and learn how to become more emotionally self-regulating - also get better at setting academic goals, planning ahead, and motivating themselves to overcome challenges. Better relationships with peers and teachers makes school more enjoyable.
Join Fixes on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/nytimesfixes. David Bornstein is the author of "How to Change the World," which has been published in 20 languages, and "The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank," and is co-author of "Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know." He is the founder of dowser.org, a media site that reports on social innovation.

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More than 150 years ago, Charles Dickens published "Hard Times," a novel centered around the students of an English schoolmaster named Thomas Gradgrind, who had no use for play or any sort of imaginative pursuit.

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Stop Picking on Me: A First Look at Bullying by Pat Thomas and Lesley Harker 

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Stop Picking on Me: A First Look at Bullying by Pat Thomas and Lesley Harker 

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Thomas and Harker's book shares with readers a bit more information about bullying. After reading, have the class write on a sticky note how they define bullying and place it on our class "What is Bullying" Poster.

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stop picking on me (a first look at bullying)

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social topics - physical & emotional abuse

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juvenile nonfiction / social topics / bullying

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juvenile nonfiction / social topics / physical & emotional abuse (see also social topics / sexual abuse)

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juvenile nonfiction / social topics / bullying

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juvenile nonfiction / social topics / physical & emotional abuse (see also social topics / sexual abuse)

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Stop Picking On Me (A First Look At Bullying)

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Barron's A First Look At books explore the dynamics in relationships among children of preschool through early school age, and encourage kids to understand personal and social problems as a first step toward solving them. Written by an experienced psychotherapist and counselor, these books promot...

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King of the Playground by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 

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King of the Playground by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 

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King of the Playground is a story about coming in contact with bullies on the playground. Kevin always runs into Sammy on the playground, who is always telling him he will do bad things to him. Sammy confines in his dad about Kevin. Sammy's dad suggests confronting Kevin on his behavior, which he does, and a friendship blossoms after doing so.
After reading the story with the class, have the students work in small groups to create a Cultural X-Ray Project on one of the characters.

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social themes - self-esteem & self-reliance

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children's / teenage fiction: general fiction

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juvenile fiction / social themes / bullying

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juvenile fiction / social themes / physical & emotional abuse (see also social themes / sexual abuse)

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juvenile fiction / social themes / self-esteem & self-reliance

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juvenile fiction / social themes / values & virtues

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Kevin loves to go to the playground, but not when Sammy is there. And Sammy, who boasts that he is King of the Playground, is there most of the time. If he catches Kevin on the swings or the slide or the monkey bars, Sammy says, he will do awful, terrible things to him.