Cruel Schools

Essential questions the lesson will answer	What environmental and external factors affect individual and community health?
What is the primary problem students are answering?	How do peer relationships affect health (e.g., name calling, prejudice, exclusiveness, discrimination, risk-taking behaviors)?
Internet resources to be used to help students	http://www.stopbullying.org (a problem solving animated story about Lisa) http://www.stopbullying.org/frontpage.html http://www.talk-helps.com/ (learning about how the bully and victims feel and solutions to wrong choices) http://www.stopbullying.com/family/kids.html (resource links just for kids) http://www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying/video.shtml (Don't suffer in silence video) What's wrong with bullying? A thinkquest http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312169/?tqskip1=1
The objectives for the lesson clearly stated and need to be measurable	1. Describe the continuum of violence 2. Identify ways to personally make a difference in their school 3. State and carry out the basics of research and data collection 4. Gain experience in drawing conclusions and summarizing concepts 5. Participate in group/team activity to solve problems
The educational skills, benchmarks or content area standards are stated and could relate to State Technology Standards	Subject area: Health Standards: Knows environmental and external factors that affect individual and community health Benchmarks: Knows potential signs of self-and other directed violence Benchmark: Knows the various possible causes of conflict among youth in schools and communities, and strategies to manage conflict Benchmark: Knows how refusal and negotiation skills can be used to enhance health Subject area: Life Skills- Thinking and Reasoning Standard: Understands and applies basic principles of logic and reasoning Benchmarks: Understands that personal values influence the types of conclusions people make Benchmark: Recognizes situations in which a variety of conclusions can be drawn from the same information (situation) Subject area: Life Skills-Thinking and Reasoning Standard: Applies decision-making techniques Benchmarks: Identifies situations in the community and in one's personal life in which a decision is required Benchmark: Identifies the values underlying the alternatives at are considered and the criteria that will be used to make a decision among the alternatives Benchmark: Make decisions based on data obtained and the criteria identified Subject Area: Language Arts Standard: Gathers and uses information for research purposes Benchmarks: Gathers data for research topics from interviews (asks relevant questions, makes notes of responses, complies responses) Benchmark: Organizes information and ideas from multiple sources in systematic ways (outlines, notes, etc.)
A list of materials required for the lesson included	1. Large bulletin board paper (for discussion sessions) 2. Pencil/pens/markers (for discussion sessions) 3. Computers, Internet access, word processing, Excel and other productivity tools 4. Student survey on bullying and violence handout 5. Reality matters, Cruel School's facts handout 6. Continuum of violence handout
Internet resources are cited by Web addresses as well as URL (address)	1. Worksheet: Student Survey on Bullying and Violence handout http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/worksheets/cruelschools/worksheet1.html 2. Worksheet: Reality Matters, Cruel Schools Facts handout http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/worksheets/cruelschools/worksheet3.html 3. Worksheet: Continuum of Violence handout http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/worksheets/cruelschools/worksheet4.html 4. Standards and Benchmarks: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning http://www.mcrel.org/

Procedures listed as a narrative step-by-step	1. To provide a great introduction of the lesson to your students, click on play to watch the overview of Cruel Schools: play (download the free realplayer) 2. As a class, talk about what it means to be a "bully" 3. Have students think of words that might be associated with a "bully" (examples: loud, mean, popular, etc.) Write these words on the board or overhead. 4. Have students think of words that might be associated with a "victim" (examples: weak, different, studious, etc.) Write these words on the board or overhead. 5. Place additional vocabulary words (attached list of 10) on the board, overhead or in hand out form. Have students work in assigned groups of two. Try to pair up students who might not usually choose to work together. Have them define the 10 vocabulary words. Using a dictionary or computer, the paired groups should write their definitions on paper or handout. Note: By pairing students who might not usually work together, you are creating an assignment within your assignment. Watch how students try to get to know each other. How do they work on building a new relationship? After the class has completed the vocabulary, ask the students how they felt about getting to know someone they might not have known before the assignment. Other questions might be: When you know a little bit about someone, does it change your view about that person? Why? Is it easy to make new friends? 6. After students have written their definitions, have each group give their definition of one vocabulary word to the class. These definitions can be placed on the board or overhead. 7. Once students have an understanding of the word "bully" or "bullying", introduce the Student Survey on Bullying. 8. Student Survey on Bullying and Violence- Part Two-Second Lesson Print copies of both handouts for this segment of the lesson: Reality Matters, Cruel Schools Facts and The Student Survey on Bullying and Violence. 9. Introduce the facts handout first, review the details with the class, and ask the students how they feel about their school. Where does our school stack up against these facts? Do our students and teachers feel safe? Let's take a look at bullying at our school. 10. Next, introduce the survey form and instruct the students on how to administer the survey, The Student Survey on Bullying and Violence. They can do this during class time and as additional homework. They are to survey 3 students and 2 adults (on campus). Students will need 5 copies of the survey. They will only need to note if the person surveyed is a student or an adult, and that the person has not answered the survey for another student. Note: Individual names of those surveyed should not be used. Students should be aware that confidentiality is important so as not to promote reactions from others and to ensure the safety of those being interviewed. 11. Once surveys are complete, have students compile their individual responses. See the example of the spreadsheet to use to help compile and review the results. 12. Individual Reports and Class Summary-Part Three-Summary Lesson With information gathered from the survey, students write a synopsis of their findings. Have them include their answers to the following questions: Can one person make a difference? If bullying has no audience, can it exist? How is empathy the first step to stopping violence? How can you become part of the solution to bullying at school? 13. Once students have completed their individual summary, time should begiven for students to voluntarily share their responses with the class. Lead the class in a summarization of their surveys to create a profile of their school. Record the profile of the master survey results and conclusions by using overhead or on a large bulletin paper in classroom
Problems (anticipated)	Students may have problems following the instructions. The class will be working on different parts of the lesson and at a different pace. Teacher will have management issues to deal with. The size of the class may be a problem. The number of students per computer. Will there be a computer for each team or will there be computers for each student?
Solutions or workarounds (anticipated)	Instructions will have to be very clearly stated. Each team may need to go over the instructions for clarification. The teacher will have to be on hand to answer questions at all times. The students will receive checklists for every stage of the lesson to avoid students feeling lost or having nothing to do. The students will have a copy of the students assessment rubric so they will know what is expected of them. Teachers will have to find out in advance what the situation is in the computer room and work accordingly. It may be necessary to break the class down in half and work on other areas like discussions in smaller groups in another area. Not everyone will be working on the computers at the same time.
Differentiated instruction accommodations	Older students: These may be advanced and more challenged students Older students should also prepare a research analysis of the number of reported violence acts in schools over the last five years, ask them to draw conclusions on trends, and/or have them plot a geographical map of the locations. These activities will enhance the school survey. Students can submit their reports to the teacher and selected reports should be shared with others in the class. Younger students: These may be students who are weak, disadvantaged or learn differently. Students role play different bullying situations (examples: name calling, teasing, spreading rumors). What are the feelings that are being displayed? Talk about the different solutions to these situations and how an observer can get involved. This may help students prepare for the types of questions they are going to ask adults and their peers.
Follow-up activities	Presentation of work by each team or by individuals by a video, PowerPoint, or a stage play A research survey at a future date to see if there were less cases of bullying behavior in school as a result of the lessons Feedback on how students felt about their work on bullying
Extension activities	Students will learn about "The Continuum of Violence". Begin with the Continuum of Violence Handout. Ask each student to use Excel rank the behaviors from least to most violent. Have all students compare their lists, make adjustments and decide on a class consensus. Then discuss the following: Are all of the acts violent? What makes one act more violent than another? Do you think a person who acts at the low end of the continuum and gets away with it might move up to commit more violent acts? At what point should you tell an adult if you witness these acts? Create a web site with students and publish students' work. Produce a play to be staged and seen by the whole school. Produce a video on the subject of bullying
Supporting activities	Parents and the community should be involved in the project. Have students interview their parents about bullying and what it was like when they were in school. Were they bullied? Did they see others bullied? How did they feel about it? How do they feel about it now? Students may interview family members and neighbors.

C criteria

5 points

10 points

15 points

20 points

Points

Describe the continuum of violence

A limited description

A clear description that was not presented

A creatively presented and clear description

Identify ways to personally make a difference in school

Identified one way

Identified two ways

Identified four ways

Identified five ways

State and carry out the basics of research and data collection

Used a search engine and one relevant web site

Used search engine and two relevant web sites

Used search engine and three relevant web sites

Used search engine and four relevant web sites

Gain experience in drawing conclusions and summarizing concepts

No conclusions drawn but used some summarizing concepts

One conclusion drawn and some summarizing concepts

Two conclusions drawn and some summarizing concepts

Three or more conclusions drawn and use of summarizing concepts

Participate in team activity to solve problems

Worked in a team but didn't

participate on a regular basis

Worked in a team but didn't help

solve problems

Worked in a team and helped solve many problems

Led the team activities in

solving problems

Total

100

Title	Cruel Schools: Bullying behavior in school
Subject	Health
Grade level	6-8, 9-12
Set up time and class time	three class periods
Type of lesson	Internet and class activities and face-to-face discussions on social and communicative life skills. The students work collaboratively while learning to apply decision making techniques
description	A video clip introduces a real life situation as a result of bullying behavior. Students learn to become aware of the dangers of bullying behavior in school, solve problems and are ready to make character change as they learn about the importance of caring about others.