Education Short List

Bullying has been in the news more than usual these past few weeks; and for good reason. An Irish immigrant was bullied to death, so much that the girl who was being terrorized by her peers committed suicide because she just couldn’t take it anymore. Another girl, who was not allowed to attend her own prom, was set up to go to a fake one – all organized by her peers. She received, and still does, threats and slurs on a daily basis.

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~~~~I would like to be able to say to you that bullying is something new; but we all know it’s not. I’m also not going to make you spend a lot of time reading a log article about bullying. I do want to take a few minutes to discuss it from an educator’s perspective (something I feel has been lacking from the media lately) and then provide some resources that could be useful to all involved. I’ve been working on this article for a while, so I hope that you find it to be as comprehensive as I wish it to be.~~~~

When someone becomes a teacher, they go through mandatory trainings on how to best help their students in all situations, including bullying. However a training can’t prepare you to deal with every type of circumstance that can present itself to you where bullying is part of that problem. Furthermore, I feel there is a balance between overreacting and reacting too late. All good teachers want to see each of their students to be successful. And yes, no matter how ‘bad’ a child may be – if a teacher doesn’t find a reason to love the bullies too – then they lose out as well. Add to that, that everyone – EVERYONE – gets picked on at some point. No, it’s not fun or fair – but neither is life. I’m not advocating bullying – so hear me out. As a teacher, I want to protect and prepare my students for life. In the ‘real world’ each person is going to meet someone who is not nice to them, who doesn’t see the real value and beauty in them. If I can help a child to understand that, to not let that random person get to them, then I feel I have helped my student out. So, if there is an incident, that I, as a teacher, thinks isn’t a big deal – then I might use that as a lesson to help my student who has been teased. Obviously if it happens again, or repeated by another student – I will approach it differently. Plus, I always take the time to figure out what is motivating the bully to lash out at their classmate. Children can be cruel, so can adults. It’s my job as a teacher to nurture and care for each student. And, I am legally bound to be obligated to protect the rights and privacy of each student.

I just wish that some of the news articles would take these points into consideration before condemning a school or teacher for not doing enough.

Beyond that, it hurts me to see schools that aren’t protecting all of their kids. I wonder what happened to let situations like the ones I’ve read about get so out of hand. I have used all of the resources here to aid either myself or another educator in helping with bully situations. I truly hope it can help others too.

Here are several resources to help students, families, and educators with bullying

1. Loudmouth article, Educational Theatre group from the UK

http://www.loudmouth.co.uk/loudmouth-news.cfm?newsID=23

2. Teaching Tolerance

http://www.tolerance.org/activity/bullying-tips-students
http://www.tolerance.org/resource/bullied-teacher-bullied-student-how-recognize-bullying-cultu
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/bullying-guidelines-teachers

3. Bullying Organization

www.bullying.org

4. Ed.gov Pamphlet on how to deal with bullying in the classroom

http://www.edpubs.gov/Product_Detail.aspx?SearchTerm=ED001366B

5. Strategies For Bullying

http://www.amazon.com/McGraws-Life-Strategies-Dealing-Bullies/dp/1416974733

Here are recent news articles dealing with relevant bullying concerns:

1. Today Show –

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36191902/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36120659/ns/health-behavior/

2. Dr. Phil

http://drphil.com/shows/show/115

3. News about Constance McMillen

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2010/03/ellens_message_to_mississippi_student_constance_mcmillen_0324.php

4. Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-lamar/fake-prom-parents-despica_b_529590.html

5. Oprah Show – Two Kids Who Were Bullied to Death

http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Bullied-to-Death-Two-Devastated-Moms-Speak-Out_1

6. Portland, Oregon Bullying in Schools

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=123862305059786800

The winter holidays are quickly approaching, teachers are excited about being able to integrate some fun, alternative, creative lessons. But, while still enjoying the celebration it is just as important to acknowledge and learn about something other than just Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Teaching Tolerance created a great resource of lessons for just this purpose. The part that I think is the best is that these lessons aren’t just geared toward elementary-aged students (as it common during this time of year); so educators are able to give their high school students something different as well.

http://www.tolerance.org/activity/school-holiday-calendar?ttnewsletter=ttnewsgen-111509

Halloween is just around the corner; and this is a fun time for teachers to bring in creative lessons, plus some arts and crafts. But what about older students? Or for children who don’t celebrate Halloween? Do they just get left out? Unfortunately that answer is usually yes. I actually had a girl whose family did not want her celebrating or participating in holiday activities. I always felt so bad for her, missing out.

Here, I have found several sites with lessons that incorporate the general fun feeling of Halloween, ones that create learning lessons for older students, others are focused on the seasons, another brings a thought provoking lesson into the history of Halloween, one tells us about what our Halloween costumes really say, and a few surprises. This list of lessons and sites should give teachers the chance to incorporate something different without excluding any of their students.

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http://www.edhelper.com/halloween.htm

http://www.edhelper.com/pumpkins.htm

http://www.edhelper.com/DailyThemes_November_1_2.html

http://www.edhelper.com/Autumn.htm

http://www.tolerance.org/activity/what-do-halloween-costumes-say

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Halloween/

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/teaching-topics/teaching-topics-halloween/

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/the-horror-the-horror/

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2002/10/31/frighteningly-fabulous-festivals/

Hispanic Latino Heritage Month

September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. They all declared independence in 1821. In addition, Mexico, Chile and Belize celebrate their independence days on September 16, September 18 and September 21, respectively.

For educators, this is an opportunity to celebrate diversity found in your classroom and/or your community. Personally, I believe that diversity should be integrated into lessons all the time, and that we shouldn’t necessarily focus on people’s racial backgrounds. However, having a dedicated time to honor the accomplishments of people from Latino decent should still be acknowledged.

Here is a grouping of six websites that are dedicated to providing teachers and instructors with materials and lessons that are directly related to teaching about Latino Heritage Month. And although the month of celebrating this month ends on October 15th, several schools and districts continue these types of lessons until the end of October.

EDUCATION WORLD LATINO LESSONS

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson023.shtml

SCHOLASTIC HISPANIC LESSONS

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/hispanic/index.htm

SMITHSONIAN’S EDUCATION HISPANIC RESOURCES SITE

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/resource_library/hispanic_resources.html

TEACHING TOLERANCE SITE

http://www.teachingtolerance.org

TARGET’S DREAM IN COLOR SITE
http://scholastic.com/dreamincolor/

IMPORTANT FIRSTS BY HISPANIC AMERICANS

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933896.html