Lesson 1: What is Bullying?

Lesson 1 - What Is Bullying?

Bullying is defined as follows: "Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems."

Adapted from stop bullying.gov

Before starting lesson one, please watch the introduction to "The Bullying Project", a documentary that was created to study and show the affects of bullying on children all over the country. You can find the video through this link : The Bully Project Intro

What are characteristics of a bully? There are many different signs you can look for while trying to pin point who may be considered to be a bully in your classroom or school environment. Please take a moment to watch this video Bullying Characteristics Along with the video, here is a list of other traits or characteristics that may be a sign of a bully. It's important to remember that not ALL children who bully will fit into these categories. These are just signs to look for to make sure we are creating a safe environment for our students to learn in.

1.) Impulsive attitude toward others and themselves. When a child will act quickly, and just take something if wanted. They often do not think ofconsequences before acting upon their thoughts.

2.) Having a dominant personality. A bully who is dominant will often take charge and want to "run" things. Many times when children bully in groups there will be a "leader" who is often the most dominant of all.

3.) Some bullies get easily frustrated or annoyed, which is why they act negatively. Some bullies also may lack empathy, and not know how to be sympathetic to other's needs or wants, only their own. Bullies of this kind often do not think of other people's feelings, and only worry about their own feelings.

4.) A common sign of a bully is a child who has a lack for rules and authority, and will not see or care about consequences to their own actions.

5.) Some bullies will see violence as a positive thing, and think that violence is how you are able to solve your problems or get what you want in life.

6.) Both boys and girls can be bullies. Typically, boys who bully tend to be physically stronger than other children, and girls who bully tend to be perceived as popular.

Task #1: As we have looked into different characteristics of bullying, please take the time to choose three characteristics of a bully that you think are the most important signs to look for, and that you think would be able to easily pin point in a classroom. Once chosen, include one way for each characteristic that you as an educator or supervisor could implement to help a student portraying that characteristic.

Lesson 1 pt. 2 - Different Types of Bullying

Bullying can take a number of different forms. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s Building Respectful and Safe Schools (2010) identifies four types of bullying.

Please take a brief moment to look at the link Kinds of Bullying I have outlined the information from this site below about the different types of bullying you may be seeing in a classroom.

1. Physical bullying

"Physical bullying includes hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property."

2. Verbal bullying

"Verbal bullying includes name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, or verbal abuse."

3. Covert bullying

"Covert bullying is often harder to recognise and can be carried out behind the bullied person's back. It is designed to harm someone's social reputation and/or cause humiliation. Covert bullying includes:

lying and spreading rumours negative facial or physical gestures, menacing or contemptuous looks playing nasty jokes to embarrass and humiliate mimicking unkindly encouraging others to socially exclude someone damaging someone's social reputation or social acceptance."

4. Cyberbullying

"Cyberbullying is overt or covert bullying behaviours using digital technologies. Examples include harassment via a mobile phone, setting up a defamatory personal website or deliberately excluding someone from social networking spaces. Cyberbullying can happen at any time. It can be in public or in private, and sometimes only known to the target and the person bullying."

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Task #2: As learners become familiar with the different types of bullying, they are to choose one type of bullying and create a skit to show what that type of bullying may look or sound like to someone who is witnessing it. The skit should include at least two characters, and create a scene and text to create the issue arising. Within the skit, use the map of the bullying cycle to address which character plays which role in the bullying cycle.

On To Next Lesson : Lesson 2: How can we Prevent Bullying in our Classrooms?

Back to Main Page : Stop Bullying Now