National Bullying Prevention Month is a nationwide campaign founded in 2006 by PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center. The campaign is held during the month of October and unites communities around the world to educate and raise awareness of bullying prevention. The following resources from NCTE and ReadWriteThink.org help to spread the message: “The End of Bullying Begins With Me!”
NCTE’s “Resolution on Confronting Bullying and Harassment” offers a rationale and a list of actions for confronting the kinds of abuse that have become far too common in schools, this resolution is an important reminder and resource.
The Council Chronicle article, “Stories of Us: Students and Film Director Collaborate The Problem of Bullying” shared how an anti-bullying film project can captivate students and also gives a glimpse of 21st Century Literacies in the classroom. Learn how to promote positive peer relationships at www.storiesofus.com.
“[T]wenty-five percent of today’s teenagers have inordinate emotional baggage beyond the normal angst of adolescence.” This burden can lead to unhealthy escapes, including substance abuse, sexual activity, violence, eating disorders, and suicide. One healthy escape, however, lies in books, where students can read about teenagers living in painful circumstances who make healthy choices. Read more in “Teachers Offering Healthy Escape Options for Teenagers in Pain” from Voices from the Middle.
Tune into the Text Messages podcast episode “Books about Bullying” to hear insights on bullying from bullying expert CJ Bott, author of The Bully in the Book and the Classroom and More Bullies in More Books. You’ll also hear about a variety of fiction and nonfiction books for teens that explore the problem of bullying. After listening to this episode, be sure to print out this list of recommended titles to take to the library or book seller. Find more book suggestions from the English Journal column, “Off the Shelves“.
The themed issue of English Leadership Quarterly, “The Deadly Power of Mean Words” provides resources to help answer, “How can we best teach students about the power of words? What do we do when classroom talk becomes harmful? How do we stand up against negative language, and how do we teach that to students?”
In the month of October, and beyond, remember “The End of Bullying Begins With Me!”