Bullying Intervention
Bullying is a topic of conversation in faculty lounges, parent conversations, among students, via print and e-publications, blogs, television, movies, Facebook posts, radio, and too many other mediums to name. It is a nationwide if not an international epidemic.
Bullying can take on many forms, a few of which are listed below.
- Teasing
- Name calling
- Name calling with profanity
- Gossip or rumor spreading
- Verbal cruelty
- Slander
- Racial, religious, gender, or ethnic slurs
- Purposeful embarrassment or humiliation
- Sexual harassment
- Purposeful exclusion
- Intimidation or threats
- Extortion
- Destruction of property
- Pushing, shoving, or tripping
- Assault, battery, or physical fighting
- Cyberbullying
The Pacer Center along with cosponsors the National Education Association, the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, and the National PTA promoted October as National Bullying Prevention Month. The fact that bullying now requires its own awareness month makes it sound like an epidemic issue on par with Poverty Awareness month or Cancer Awareness month.
“The only reason I even bother to tell my sad sob story is that someday the public might know what a teenage girl goes through. So as you know nice guys finish last. Well it might as well be nice girls finish last, too.”
—Kristina Calco, junior high student
(The quotation above is Kristina’s journal entry before she committed suicide in response to the bullying she experienced.)
The information below is based on ideas offered in the PLS course Behavioral, Academic, and Social Interventions for the Classroom™.
Read on for teacher bullying intervention tips.
Strategies for Bully-Proofing the Classroom
Foster a climate of cooperation and caring.
- Find out what each student values and enjoys. Single out and speak to those values whenever possible. Encourage other students to do the same. It is harder to bully someone who shares a common interest or with whom students feel a connection.
- Model the behavior you expect from all students. If you respect all students and the classroom, they will learn that cultivating a respectful climate is your expectation. If you use a sarcastic tone or talk down to students, they will think that they have your permission to treat others in the same fashion.
Catch a bully being kind.
- Positive reinforcement feels good to all of us. If the bully is recognized for positive behavior, he or she may not seek out opportunities for negative attention.
- Describe the specific behavior the student exhibited so he or she understands exactly what was right about the behavior.
Hold a classroom meeting to discuss bullying.
- The act of discussing an issue raises awareness among students.
- Students come from different social situations and may not recognize bullying for what it is. If the class shares a common definition, others can help identify instances of bullying versus good-natured teasing, for example.
- Clarify that bullying is not tolerated and that all reports of bullying will be taken seriously.
Role-play social situations with students.
- Letting students practice how to react and respond to situations is much more helpful than telling or asking students what to do.
- It might be challenging to take time from your busy days to allow practice, but if a student is being bullied, he or she will be focused on that rather than your lesson.
- A role play is a safe place to discuss feelings and what could be done the same way or differently in this particular situation and to project how to handle situations that are similar in the future.
Inform other school staff and parents about potential bullying situations.
- You can only control what goes on in your classroom. By informing others, they can help encourage positive behavior and troubleshoot bullying.
Strategies for Dealing with Bullies
Act immediately if you observe or hear of bullying taking place.
- By ignoring the matter or choosing to discuss it after a few infractions, you may inadvertently send the message that such behavior is permitted.
- The longer the abuse is tolerated, the greater the emotional toll on the individual being bullied.
Talk privately with the bully.
- The purpose of disciplining the bully is to deter his or her aggressive actions, not to humiliate or embarrass.
- If you give the behavior attention, the bully may increase the bad behavior to show classmates that he or she has won the power struggle.
Talk to the victim.
- Check in with the student who was bullied. Encourage him or her to come to you when there are problems.
- Students who have been victims of bullying once are likely to be victims again.
- Pay attention to students who are isolated from their peers. Those students may be experiencing bullying and are afraid or are unsure what to do.
Advocate for your school to develop an antibullying policy.
- Doing so can reinforce the class meeting and common definition of bullying.
After all, wouldn’t you rather look forward to Teacher Appreciation Week in May rather than National Bullying Prevention Month next October?
Taking It Further
For 10 tips to decrease bullying and cyberbullying, visit: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/10/06/reducing-bullying-and-cyberbullying/
To learn about the basics of bullying, visit:
References
Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79, 491–525.
Malti, T., Perren, S., & Buchman, M. (2010). Children’s peer victimization, empathy, and emotional symptoms. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 41(1), 98–113.
McGrath, M. J. (2007). School bullying: Tools for avoiding harm and liability. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Rigby, K. (2005). Why do some children bully at school? The contributions of negative attitudes towards victims and the perceived expectations of friends, parents and teachers. School Psychology International, 26(2), 147–161.