Judge M.T. Thompson, Jr and Professor Monica R. Nuckolls Presents:
Making Choices
Facing Consequences
The rash of school shootings around the country has focused new attention on the age-old problem of bullying. The recent proliferation of teen suicides has intensified the discussion and the search for solutions. Bullying poisons the educational environment and affects the learning of every child who is exposed to it. When schools ignore or downplay bullying all students suffer. Schools have a duty to provide a safe learning environment, one that is free of physical, emotional and psychological intimidation.
Matt's Safe School Law prohibits all types of bullying. A school district may be liable for student-on-student bullying if the school had knowledge of the bullying and was deliberately indifferent to it. Indifference may include a school district’s failure to implement a bullying prevention program such as the Weekly Bully Beat Down.
“One shot” prevention efforts, including speakers, assemblies, appearances by authors, books and games are not enough to create a positive school culture or change attitudes toward bullying. A more comprehensive prevention program like the Weekly Bully Beat Down is needed It consists of ten weekly readers.
The Weekly Bully Beat Down is an evidence-based and field-tested anti-bullying program which can reduce the episodes of harassment and bullying among students and help create a bully free educational environment. During 2010, both Delta College and Oakland University conducted comprehensive studies which confirmed the effectiveness of the program. It uses a set of real life stories and exercises to help students understand and cope with the problem of bullying. It helps students develop personal and social judgments about bullying and increases their social sensitivity, empathy, and respect for others.
WEEKLY BULLY BEAT DOWN
By: Hon. M.T. Thompson, Jr., Prof. Monica R. Nuckolls & Dr. Gwendolyn M. McMillon
Table of contents:
Lesson One: The Bully Next Door/ The Boy Cheerleader
Some students are bullied because other students think that they are not feminine enough, masculine enough or they do not fit certain sexual stereotypes. In The Bully Next Door Monica is bullied and excluded from the neighborhood basketball games because she is a girl. In The Boy Cheerleader, Tyler is bullied because he joins the school’s cheerleading team.
These two stories introduce the concepts of discrimination, sexism and stereotypes. This edition also provides Michigan’s new definition of bullying along with an exercise designed to test the students, parents and teachers understanding of that definition.
Lesson Two: The Purse Club/ The Pillsbury Dough Boy
In The Purse Club Heather is bullied by a group of girls because of the way she dresses. She cannot afford the designer purses some of the more affluent girls are carrying. Another student intervenes on Heather’s behalf to stop the bullying. She serves as a positive role model for other student bystanders.
In The Pillsbury Dough Boy, Herbert is bullied because of his weight. Students humiliate him by placing Oreo cookies in his chair, e-mailing him fat jokes, and conducting an on-line contest where other students attempt to guess his weight, waist size and hoodie size. He is finally driven to the point of considering suicide. Herbert locks himself in his bedroom to decide what to do. The students are instructed to write an ending to this story.
This edition also contains a list of seven things students can do to stop the bullying.
Lesson Three: The Face Book Attack/ An Inappropriate Touching
This lesson focuses on cyberbullying and how the computer can be used to bully or harass another person. In The Face Book Attack, Jack hits Dawn after he discovers another guy visiting her. He also damages the other guy’s car. Jack is charged with domestic violence and malicious destruction of personal property. Jack is also suspended from school after he sends a series of nasty e-mail and face book messages about Dawn to other students while pretending to be someone else.
In An Inappropriate Touching David touches Debra’s breasts after being repeatedly told that she has no romantic interest in him. As a result, he is charged with assault and battery and criminal sexual conduct. This story stresses the importance of not touching another student in a private place and the potential consequences of doing so.
This edition also includes a list of 9 things parents should look for to help determine whether or not their child is being bullied.
Lesson Four: Revenge/ Nowhere To Run
In Revenge Eric takes a gun to a football game to get even with a group of bullies. He had shared his plans for revenge with Lance. Lance sees Eric following the bullies into the parking lot. Lance is caught in a dilemma. He can inform the security guards and stop Eric from ruining his life by hurting or killing someone or he can keep his best friend’s secret. Students are asked to role play and decide what they would do if they were in Lance’s place.
In Nowhere To Run Wendy is being bullied by a group of girls at school. She finally decides to take her father’s gun to school for protection. She hides the gun in her locker and makes her best friend Kelli promise not to tell anyone. Like Lance, Kelli can keep her friends promise or tell someone and stop a possible school shooting.
There are two possible endings for these two stories. Lance and/or Kelli can keep their friends’ secret or they can tell. The students are asked to write a different type of ending for each story. For one story, they are asked to provide the best possible outcome. For the other story, the students are asked to write the worst possible outcome.
This edition also provides a Profile Of A Bully and a Profile Of A Victim, as well as a long-term view of what happens to each.
Lesson Five: A Gun Is Never The Answer/ A Bully On The Bus
Both of these stories focuses on the unintended and life altering consequences of taking a weapon to school. In A Gun Is Never The Answer Mark is bullied by a group of older boys. He finally takes his father’s gun to school in his backpack. When the bullies approach Mark, he quickly reaches into the backpack to get the gun. He is so nervous that he accidently pulls the trigger and hits and kills an innocent bystander.
A Bully On The Bus involves a group of boys who like to shoot dice on the school bus. One day, Bubble takes their money at knife point during the dice game. The next day, the boys get on the bus with their own knives. They agree that if Bubble messes with one of them they will all rush him. When Bubble tries to take their money, they all attack him. Bubble dies and the boys are convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
This lesson also includes two student exercises. First, they are asked to develop a song, rap or poem which incorporates our list of what students can do to stop bullying. The students are also asked to write an essay on how bullying can be stopped at their school.
Lesson Six: Judgment Day
This story incorporates some of the facts from the Columbine High School shooting. Two students who are mercilessly bullied develop a plan to blow-up and kill hundreds of students. Several students know about the shooters plans but fail to tell anyone.
This edition also includes a list of the warning signs for school shooters and teen suicide.
Lesson Seven: The Suicide Note/ Bullycide
In The Suicide Note Jerome is falsely accused of being homosexual. He is called nasty names, pushed around and hit on a daily basis. Jerome decides to commit suicide after the other members of the baseball team send him an e-mail telling him “No punks on the team.”
Students are asked to pretend that they are Jerome and write a suicide note to his parents. They are also asked to pretend that they are Jerome’s best friend and that he calls them just before he commits suicide. Students are asked what they would say to Jerome to stop him from killing himself.
Princess is the victim in Bullycide and Sharon is the bully. Sharon and her friends start to bully Princess after Sharon’s boyfriend asks Princess to the big dance. They finally stole all of Princess’s clothes while she was in the shower after gym class. Princess is forced to wear some rags from the lost and found home. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Princess’s 10-year old sister found her hanging in the stairway a short time later.
This edition also contains a list of 10 things that parents can do if their child is being bullied.
Lesson Eight: Tyler’s Secret/ Sexting
Tyler is a star basketball player who comes out of the closet after some of his teammates beat up his friend. As a result, Tyler is bullied and excluded from all team activities. He abandons his dream of winning a scholarship and of playing in the NBA. He finally walked down to a local bridge and stands there considering suicide. The students are asked to write an ending to this story. They are asked to figure out a way to rescue Tyler.
Sexting is the act of using a cell phone or computer to send nude pictures or sexual messages to other people. This story focuses on the unanticipated and negative consequences of engaging in this type of risky behavior.
This edition also includes a list of six things parents can do to stop bullying.
Lesson Nine I Am Muslim/ I Am Christian
In I Am Muslim Carrie and her family moved to the United States from Iran. Carrie is a Muslim and wears a hijab (Muslim headscarf) to school. Several of her classmates, who lost family members in Iraq, Afghanistan and/or on 9/11, hate all Muslims and blame Carrie for their death. They bully Carrie and engage in their own personal “war on terrorists.”
I Am Christian examines the other side of the coin. Youcef was born into a Muslim family in Iran. He came to the United States to go to school. While here, he converted to Christianity. Years later, he returned to Iran. Youcef and his family had trouble fitting into the Muslim culture. He was finally arrested, tried and sentenced to death for practicing Christianity.
Lesson Ten: I Am Bi-Racial/ The Basketball Player
Malik is bi-racial. His father is black and his mother is white. Malik and his family moved into a predominately white neighborhood where Malik attended a new school. Among other things, the white students ridiculed Malik’s dreadlocks, created a segregated cafeteria through the use of “white only” and “colored only” signs and hung a black faced doll from a hangman’s noose on the school bus. Three of Malik’s classmates also came to his door dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes on Halloween.
The students are asked to go on line and look up the historical use and significance of the “white only” and “colored only” signs in American history. They are also asked to determine the symbolic meaning of the black faced doll and hangman’s noose. Finally, the students are asked to write a positive ending to this story and explain how they would end racial harassment/bullying.
In The Basketball Player, a white student named Leonard moved into a predominately black neighborhood and went out for the school’s all black basketball team. The other basketball players bullied Leonard until he was befriended by the team’s star. Leonard subsequently helps win the championship game. He became a hero and was accepted by his black teammates.
In this edition students are also asked to develop a school plan to stop bullying.
Contact us to find out how your organization can begin your Weekly Reader Series!
The Weekly Bully Beat Down is a Ten Week Program
The Weekly Bully Beat Down Series (WBBD)
The Weekly Bully Beat Down Series was developed with a tri-fold purpose:
1. to address the serious problem of bullying and school violence
2. to offer authentic ways to reinforce the main areas required by the Core Curriculum State Standards for English Language Arts
3. to provide classroom teachers a mentor text that utilizes the Universal Design for Learning perspective
The Weekly Bully Beat Down Series addresses bullying and school violence.
* Utilizes real-life stories (hypotheticals) to engage students, teachers and parents in rich discussions about the texts.
* Encourages parental involvement by providing take-home activities for students and parents.
* Requires students to think about the choices and consequences in each scenario, and relate the characters’ experiences to their own lives.
* Complies with Matt’s Safe School Law
Teachers can incorporate the WBBD Series in their classroom curriculum to meet many of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts including:
* Key ideas and details
* Craft and structure
* Integration of knowledge and ideas
* Range of reading and level of text complexity
* Text types and purposes
* Production and distribution of writing
* Research to present and build knowledge
* Range of writing
* Comprehension and collaboration
* Presentation of knowledge and ideas
* Knowledge of language
* Vocabulary acquisition and use
The WBBD Series utilizes the Universal Design for Learning perspective and can be used as a mentor text. The UDL approach requires teachers to:
* Present/teach information in various ways
* Assess students in various ways
* Ensure that instruction is interesting, challenging and motivating.
