Creating a Bully Free Classroom

1. Creating a Bully Free Classroom Classroom management and Character Education is the foundation for a bully free Environment!

2. Teach social competence, core values and empathy Establish consistent and effective behaviour standards Create/model a classroom climate in which acceptance, respect, and responsibility are practiced and clearly present Develop explicit expectations, rules, boundaries, and consequences Insist that all students meet these expectations and be consistent in cases of non-compliance Recognize, reward, and praise compliant behaviour Develop a behaviour tracking system with a reflection component so that students are responsible and accountable for their own behaviours Individualize programs (maintaining the same expectations and responsibilities as classroom) for students with exceptionalities so success is possible. Consistency in all components is a must! Components:

3. Bullying Prevention Starts in the Classroom Creating learning environments free of Bullying is much more than putting policies into place. It is supporting a community-wide model that celebrates positive behaviours-behaviours carried by students into their adult lives. When we create safe, respectful learning environments, we build and nurture safer communities for all our citizens. (Shaping Safer Schools, Ministry of Education 2005)

4. Create a physical environment that promotes social competence, core values and empathy. Display posters, quotes, pictures, ect, post them all around the classroom as a constant reminder. Due to the nature of most bullying situations, students are afraid to “TELL”. Provide opportunities for students that make discloser possible. Eg, Journal writing, Classroom meetings, Scheduled one on one time with the teacher, or Classroom comment box. Get a copy of you schools code of conduct. Review it with your students. Send copies home for parents to review. To insure understanding, use it as a teaching tool. Be Pro-Active

5. During first week of school have students be active participants in developing classroom rules and expectations. Post these rules and expectations in your classroom. To insure understanding, use it as a teaching tool. • Provide a weekly team building activity for your students to bond. (class meeting, social hour, community outings, ect) • Develop your own consequences and be consistent. Be sure there meaningful and that they give students an opportunity to except responsibility and ownership for their behaviour. • Provide guidance and support for those students who are exceptional and may have difficulty following rules. Example; Strategies, opportunities, classroom buddy, EA support, safety plan, IEP, ect

6. Classroom MeetingsActivities • Classroom meetings provide opportunities for your students to discuss issues directly related to your classroom that are of importance or concern to them • Everyone has to participate in a classroom meeting • The meetings take place in a comfortable setting (circle on the floor) that is inclusive. • A comment box will be placed on the teachers desk. Students anonymously drop of their written issues

7. Responsibility and Accountability • Student must take ownership of their behaviour in order to understand the impact it has on the lives of others. • Disciplining bullying behaviour must include a therapeutic component for all involved • Provide opportunities for students to reflect and understand both sides of Bullying behaviour. Being Bullied vs Bullying. • Use a behaviour tracking system with a reflection component. During a detention, Time out, ect, provide the student an opportunity to take responsibility for their behaviour, while at the same time holding them accountable.

8. Bullying Myths and FactsPrevnet (Promoting relationships and Eliminating Violence Network, 2007) • Myth:Bullying does not cause any serious harm. • Fact: Bullying is associated with a range of physical and mental health problems, as well as suicide, educational problems, antisocial problems, and relationship problems.

9. Victimized children are more likely to report headaches and stomach aches than non-victimized children (Due et al., 2005; Williams, et al., 1996). Children who both bully and are victimized may be at greatest risk for physical health problems. • Victimized children are more likely to report anxiety and depressive symptoms than children uninvolved in bullying (Due et al, 2005; Kaltiala-Heino et al, 1999). Of greatest concern is the fact that psychiatric problems associated with involvement in bullying tend to persist into later life (Kumpulainen & Rasanen, 2000). • A high risk of suicidal ideation (having thoughts of suicide) is found among children who are bullied, who bully others, and who are involved in both roles (Kaltiala-Heinoet al., 1999). • Both victimized children and children who bully are at risk for poor school functioning, in terms of poor attitudes towards school, low grades, and absenteeism (Rigby, 2003; Tremblay, 1999). • 20-25% of frequently victimized children report bullying as the reason for missing school (Rigby, 2003). • Youth who bully others are more likely to use alcohol and drugs (Pepler et al., 2002), and are at risk for later criminality. For example, 60% of boys who bully others in elementary school had criminal records by age 24 (Olweus, 1991). • Solution: It is essential to identify children at risk for bullying and/or victimization and to provide support for their development in order to prevent the negative consequences associated with this type of disrespectful peer relationship.

10. Myth: Only a small number of children have problems with bullying.Fact: Approximately 12% of girls and 18% of boys reported bullying others at least twice in previous months, whereas 15% of girls and 18% of boys reported being victimized at least twice over the same time period (Craig & Harel, 2004) These figures suggest that in a classroom of 35 students, between 4 and 6 children are bullying and/or are being bullied. Many more children observe bullying and know that it is going on. At some point, the majority of children will engage in some form of bullying and experience some form of victimization. A small minority of children will have frequent, long-lasting, serious, and pervasive involvement in bullying and/or victimization (Craig & Pepler, 2003).Solution: To ensure that children have healthy and productive relationships, it is important to include all children, regardless of their involvement in bullying, in bullying prevention programs. This means that programs and strategies must address the needs and provide the necessary support for children who are victimized, children who bully others, and children who watch bullying occur.

11. Myth: Reporting bullying will only make the problem worse.Fact:Given the power imbalance that exists between the child who bullies and the child who is victimized, it is incredibly difficult for children who are being victimized to remove themselves from this destructive relationship. They make numerous attempts to make the bullying stop on their own but these efforts are usually unsuccessful and may make the bullying worse. Adult intervention is required to correct the power imbalance. Children and parents may have to report the bullying to more than one person before the behaviour will stop.  We do know that victimized children who told an adult about being bullied reported being less victimized the following year compared to children who did not report being bullied (Yuile, Pepler, & Craig, 2004). When no one talks about bullying, children who bully feel they can carry on without consequences. Secrecy empowers children who bully. • Solution: Children need to be encouraged to report bullying and be given multiple strategies to make these reports. Adults must convey the message that they want to know about children’s experiences and that it is their job to make the bullying stop.

12. Myth: Children who are victimized need to stand up and fight back.Fact: Encouraging children who are victimized to fight back may, in fact, makes the bullying interaction worse. We know that when children use aggressive strategies to manage bullying situations, they tend to experience prolonged and more severe bullying interactions as a result (Mahady Wilton, Craig, & Pepler, 2000). Solution: Children should be encouraged to be assertive, not aggressive, and to inform a trusted adult about what has happened to them.

13. Myth: Children who are victimized need to stand up and fight back.Fact: Encouraging children who are victimized to fight back may, in fact, makes the bullying interaction worse. We know that when children use aggressive strategies to manage bullying situations, they tend to experience prolonged and more severe bullying interactions as a result (Mahady Wilton, Craig, & Pepler, 2000). Solution: Children should be encouraged to be assertive, not aggressive, and to inform a trusted adult about what has happened to them.

14. Myth: Bullying is a school problem.Fact: Bullying occurs wherever children gather to live, learn, or play. As such, the majority of bullying tends to occur in the classroom, on the school playground, and on the school bus where children are most often together. Although bullying tends to occur in school, we know that bullying is a community problem, not just a school problem. As the primary institution in children’s lives, schools can play a leadership role in addressing bullying problems. Solution: Adults are essential for children and youth’s healthy relationships. All adults are responsible for creating positive environments, promoting healthy relationships, and ending violence in the lives of children and youth. They are role models and must lead by example and refrain from using their power aggressively. Adults must look for, listen, and respond to bullying. Adults can organize social activities in ways that protect and support children’s relationships and stop bullying.

15. How to identify students in your class who Bully or have potential to BullyPrevent (Promoting relationships and Eliminating Violence Network, 2007) Children and youth who bully may show behaviours or emotional signs that they are using power aggressively: • Little concern for others’ feelings • Does not recognize impact of his/her behaviour on others • Aggressive with siblings, parents, teachers, friends, and animals • Bossy and manipulative to get own way • Possessing unexplained objects and/or extra money • Secretive about possessions, activities, and whereabouts • Holds a positive attitude towards aggression • Easily frustrated and quick to anger

16. Children who bully others often experience power and aggression in their own relationships or in those close to them: • Parents may model use of power and aggression by yelling, hitting, rejecting child • Parents may model use of power and aggression with each other • Siblings may bully child at home • Child has friends who bully and are aggressive • Child has trouble standing up to peer pressure • Teachers or coaches may model use of power and aggression by yelling, excluding, rejecting • Few opportunities to shine and show talents at home, school, or in the community (positive power).

17. How to identify a Child in Your Class who may be a Victim of BullyingPrevnet (Promoting relationships and Eliminating Violence Network, 2007) • Children and youth who are being victimized often show a change in behaviour and/or emotions: • Not wanting to go to school or participate in extra-curricular activities • Anxious, fearful, over-reactive • Exhibits low self-esteem and makes negative comments about him/herself • Headaches and stomach aches • Lower interest and performance in school • Loses things, needs money, reports being hungry after school • Injuries, bruising, damaged clothing, broken things • Unhappy, irritable, little interest in activities • Trouble sleeping, nightmares, bedwetting • Expresses threats to hurt himself/herself or others

18. Children and youth who are victimized often lack relationships in which they can experience positive identity, power, and independence:  • Parents may be overprotective, restrictive • Siblings may bully child at home • Lonely and isolated at school • Few friends at school or in neighbourhood • Teachers may be unaware of child’s strengths and challenges and therefore unresponsive to needs. • Few opportunities to shine and show talents at home, school, or in the community (positive power)

19. "Tell Someone“PSA from Concerned Children’s Advertisers • This was produced with the expert counsel of bullying researchers, Dr. Debra Pepler and Dr. Wendy Craig, who ensured that the latest research and information was at the root of this campaign.

20. Resources The RISE Program (Grades 7-12) • RISE (Respect In Schools Everywhere) is a program designed by East Metro Youth Services to help young people reduce the level of violence in their schools and community. It provides both primary and secondary prevention effects, premised on evidence-based practices for violence prevention. RISE is intended to promote change by helping young people make use of their strengths and build further developmental assets by engaging in meaningful activities in their schools and communities. It uses the principles of youth engagement, which acknowledge that young people are a resource to their community, have a stake in its well-being, and can be part of the solution to social problems that affect them. RISE recruits students in school (both pro-social students and students "at-risk"), and provides them with training in valuable skills while helping them build connections with school staff, parents, and the community. In class workshops are conducted by RISE student leaders for Grade 9 and 10 classes in their own schools, as well as in "feeder" schools. RISE also offers workshops and training to professionals who are interested in utilizing a youth engagement model to address the issue of school-based violence. • Contact: East Metro Youth Services, 1200 Markham Road, Suite 200, Jessica Weiser, jweiser@emys.on.ca, 416-438-3697 ext. 262

21. Cool Kids In The Zone • Cool Kids In The Zone is a violence prevention program that helps to teach students key values and strengthens the socialization process vital to their success in school and life. It is an interactive DVD/video (French and English) utilizing animated characters exemplifying respect, honesty, kindness, co-operation and empathy. Program resources include paper-based manuals, CDs and other age-relevant materials. The program is available in English and French. • Contact: Stu Auty (Canadian Safe Schools Network), 416-977-1050 • Audience recommended by the provider: JK – 3 • Website: www.canadiansafeschools.com • Costing Information: $150 per school provides licence and allows duplication of materials

22. Beyond the Hurt: RespectED • Beyond the Hurt: RespectED is a nationally-recognized violence and abuse prevention program to promote safe, supportive relationships and healthy communities. Beyond the Hurt works with youth organizations, schools, sports and community groups to assist in building community capacity to respond to bullying and harassment through a comprehensive prevention planning model. The aim is to break the cycle of abuse, neglect, harassment and interpersonal violence through prevention education. It is an interactive program that encourages pro-active approaches. Available to children and youth, and to the adults who work with them, it is delivered by certified RespectEd staff and volunteers. • Contact: Brian Smockum, Canadian Red Cross, 5700 Cancross Court, Mississauga ON L5R 3R9, 905-890-1203 ext 321, brian.smockum@redcross.ca • Audience recommended by the provider: Grades 7-12 • Costing Information: The design and delivery of workshops in the Beyond the Hurt program are designed to meet the unique needs of your school or organization. Please contact Red Cross RespectED for a quote on their services.

23. Cool Heads In The Zone • Cool Heads In The Zone is an interactive exploration of bullying in schools that allows students to explore the consequences and outcomes of their actions and choices. This CD-Rom utilizes child actors playing out commonly understood bullying scenes in an interactive fashion. Program resources include paper-based manuals, CDs and other age-relevant materials. The program is available in English and French. • Contact: Stu Auty (Canadian Safe Schools Network), 416-977-1050 • Audience recommended by the provider: Grades 3 – 7 • Website: www.canadiansafeschools.com • Costing Information: $150 per school provides licence and allows duplication of materials

24. Roots of Empathy • Roots of Empathy (ROE) is an evidence-based classroom program designed to reduce levels of aggression and violence among schoolchildren while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. All students are positively engaged instead of targeting bullies or aggressive children. The program is delivered by certified ROE instructors. The specialized curriculum, available in English and French, is developmentally appropriate for each of four age ranges (Kindergarten, Grades 1–3, 4–6 and 7-8). The ROE curriculum has been correlated with the Ontario elementary school curriculum. The program fosters the development of safe and caring schools. • Contact: ldicarlo@rootsofempathy.org • Audience recommended by the provider: Grades K-8 • Website: www.rootsofempathy.org • Costing Information: Approximate cost: $2,500 per classroom

25. TV&ME: Helping children to be media and life wise • TV&ME is a national program from Concerned Children's Advertisers that provides tools to help children address issues of challenge as they navigate their way through their growing years. In addition to addressing substance abuse prevention, self esteem, active living and media literacy, TV&ME provides users with a comprehensive bullying program that wraps around the trilogy of television messages on bullying produced by CCA. Aligned to provincial curriculum expectations, TV&ME's bilingual, research-based lesson plans are supported by a parallel parent/community program providing tips, tools and strategies to help children be media and life wise, and a comprehensive web site at www.cca-kids.ca. • Contact: Miranda Hill, mhill@cca-kids.ca, 416-484-0871 ext. 5 • Audience recommended by the provider: Grades 1-8 • Website: www.cca-kids.ca • Costing Information: The TV&ME program is provided free to educators, parents and community organizations working with children.

26. Walk AwayPSA from Concerned Children’s Advertisers A compelling commercial that empowers bully bystanders or the peer audience that stands and watches with tools to start doing their part to reduce the instances of bullying.

27. Words HurtPSA from Concerned Children’s Advertisers A powerful spot that marries graphics and images to reveal the damaging results of social and verbal bullying among girls.

28. What’s Your Thing? PSA from Concerned Children’s Advertisers An important message for boys that while nobody can be good at everything, everybody's good at something.

29. We Are Girls PSA from Concerned Children’s Advertisers An empowering and honest portrayal of girls, encouraging them to stay true to themselves and to be the best they can be.