Steps to Respect
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[edit] DESCRIPTION
http://learning.turner.com/thewb/7thheaven/teased/images/bullying_pic.gif
- Steps to Respect is a Bullying Prevention Program that presents lessons and teaches skills for making friends and handling bullies. The school staff is trained in ways to effectively respond to bullying. The school staff learns how to handle bullying situations and coach students involved in bullying situations. The students learn how and when to report bullying. The students receive lessons through role-playing, literature lessons dealing with making friends, discussion sessions, and both small and large group activities that deal within the framework of respecting, caring, and responsible actions.
[edit] PROGRAM OVERVIEW
[edit] Preface:
- When the President addresses the nation, he sometimes refers to how things were before 911 and after. In schools we usually refer to how things were before Columbine and after. We in education got a wake-up call to make our schools safe. Now most schools have emergency plans, locked doors, and all kinds of ways to make our students safe. Another by-product of Columbine was the realization that “bullying�? was a contributing factor to what transpired at Columbine, and the whole education community had better do something about it.
- There are lots of web-sites dedicated to bullying not only in the United States, but also across the world. Even Dr. Phil has a quite extensive web-site dealing with bullying. In my last year of teaching, it seemed that I was dealing with students who were being bullied more than I had in previous years. Understandably, it was something that needed to be addressed. So the Steps to Respect (A Bullying Prevention Program) seems to fit the need that not only I was seeing, but others were seeing also. I was introduced to this program because my former school Unity East Elementary in Philo, IL was instituting it for this school year 2004-2005. Hopefully, since I am substituting in that school during this school term, that I will see some improvement in the students’ behavior and see the end to bullying.
[edit] Program Overview:
- First there is a 3 hour all-staff training. This training is essential because active adult involvement is necessary to right the power imbalance inherent to bullying and bring about the school-wide changes shown effective at decreasing bullying. All adults at the school (volunteers, custodial staff, office staff, playground monitors, bus drivers, and both classroom and special teachers) are trained to receive and effectively respond to bullying reports.
- Second there is a 1 hour & 45 minute coaching training session. This session is designed for all staff who will coach children through bullying situations. This should include classroom teachers, counselors, and administrators.
- The third part of the program is the 1 hour curriculum orientation. This is intended to help the teachers feel comfortable with the lessons that they are going to incorporate into their teaching schedules.
- The fourth part of the program consists of 4 booster trainings that range from 15-30 minutes. These are used to help the staff maintain their enthusiasm and also give reassurance and support.
- Finally, there is a 1 hour 30 minute parent overview. This session provides specific information to parents and families. Participants learn about the concepts taught in the program, what constitutes bullying behaviors, why friendship skills are taught as part of the program, and strategies for reinforcing Steps to Respect skills at home.
[edit] The Program:
- In the all-staff training the participants learn to define bullying, discuss bullying behaviors, learn to respond to children’s bullying reports and gain general information about the Steps to Respect classroom curriculum.
- The training manual states it as follows:
- “The purpose of this training session is to understand why it’s important for students to feel adults at our school really care about them. This training will identify and examine the importance of healthy friendships in reducing bullying and provide you with the knowledge and skills to recognize bullying, to support children who are being bullied, and to intervene effectively in bullying situations.�?
- So at first the participants learn to define and recognize bullying. Bullying is defined as “unfair and one-sided�?. It happens when someone keeps hurting, frightening, threatening, or leaving someone out on purpose. The difference between bullying and horseplay is that bullying is hurtful, often repeated, and one person has more power than the other. Bullying differs from normal conflict in which the power is equal between participants. They also learn bullying behaviors-
- Physically hurting or threatening to hurt someone
- Social exclusion
- Insults
- Name-calling
- Mean gossip and rumors
- Sexual bullying (sexual harassment)
[See enclosed quiz that the participants use to help them see and recognize bullying behaviors. (Correct answers- 1,2,5,6,8, & 10)]
After the portion dealing with recognizing bullying, the participants are then exposed to a classroom lesson that teaches the students how to respond to bullying which uses the 3 “R’s�?-
- Recognize the bullying
- Refuse the bullying
- Report the bullying
The next part of the training deals with handling bullying reports. At this time the participants are also instructed to learn the difference between tattling and reporting. The children are going to be taught to report bullying anytime, but always if any of the following occur.
- Someone is unsafe (or feels that way)
- Someone is touching or showing private body parts
- Refusing doesn’t work
When students report bullying the participants are instructed to use the Four-A-Response.
- Step 1- Affirm the child’s feelings
- Step 2- Ask questions
- Step 3- Assess the child’s safety
- Step 4- Act
At this point in the training the participants are involved in role-playing so that they really learn these strategies.
In the Coaching Training session the participants are trained on how to talk to both the student who has been bullied and the student who was doing the bullying. Here again the participants are using role-playing to define the strategies that are being taught. [See the attached worksheet on Coaching Training]
During the Curriculum Orientation the time is given to the teachers so that they may become familiar with the lessons that they are going to teach. (As most teachers know, it doesn’t matter how well organized any program is, but if the teacher doesn’t feel comfortable using the program- it won’t get taught.) This program is taught in grades four through six or three through five. The curriculum components are as follows:
- Skill unit
- Literature units (2)
- Handouts
- Transparencies
- Take-home handouts
- Photo cards
- Posters
- Video
The skill lessons are taught in numerical order 1-11. Usually one lesson is taught per week, typically started on Mon. or Tues. with a booster session on Wed. or Thur. A typical skill lesson has the following format.
- Gearing up
- Getting started
- Exploring and Discovering
- Reflecting
- Transfer of learning
These lessons use behavioral skills training, role-play activities, cooperative, small-group learning, problem solving, and transfer of learning as part of their teaching. For example, the most effective way for students to actually learn to do a new skill is to practice using the skill. It seems role-playing is one such way. Here again, the participants use the same role-playing that the students are going to use. It helps them to understand what the lesson is trying to teach, model the behavior that they are going to want to see in the students, and also it helps the participants be able to guide the students in proper role-playing behaviors.
Finally the last but just as important aspect to the Steps to Respect program is the Parent Overview session. In this session the parents learn the definition of bullying, different bullying behaviors, and the role of friendship skills in preventing bullying. The parents also get a comprehensive overview of the Steps to Respect curriculum. According to the training manual, “research shows that when adults become actively involved in handling bullying situations, bullying behaviors decrease. Making school safer for our children means teamwork- among all adults associated with this school.�?
In conclusion, bullying is a common experience for many children and adolescents. Surveys indicate that many as half of all children are bullied at some time during their school years and at least 10% are bullied on a regular basis. So with all of these statistics, it seems that something needs to be done to deal with this problem. I think the Steps to Respect program is just one of many programs that are dealing with this issue. I am hopeful that it is going to help those students at Unity East who find themselves being bullied or are witnessing someone being bullied.
[edit] BRIEF CASE STUDY AT UNITY EAST ELEMENTARY
( This study was done by interviewing faculty, staff, and students during February 2005 through April 2005)
After reviewing the Steps to Respect curriculum, I went back to Unity East Elementary School and interviewed administrators, lunch recess supervisors, teachers, and students. I wanted to get an idea of whether the curriculum was being effective. (I am not trained to do an authentic case study, but I felt comfortable in asking questions and then reporting what I gained from my interviews.) First, I found that the school decided to implement the anti-bullying message in all the grades. So at the PreK-Kindergarten level the program is called “Woven Word�?, and it uses Children’s literature to teach the lessons. The lessons are designed to teach the children about how to make friends and treat each other appropriately. The First-Third Graders are taught the “Second Step�? program which uses role-playing and discussion activities about making friends and getting along. Now the whole school is focused on making Unity East a safe and caring school where all students are involved in the process. This also allows the anti-bullying message to be taught and learned from PreK-sixth grade.
I talked to a third grade teacher who felt that the students were using what they were learning in the classroom, but it didn’t seem to be carried over to the playground. She felt it was good as a reference point for the students when she was reminding them about being respectful to each other and gave her a reference point in which to begin.
The fifth grade teacher I talked with didn’t feel that the lessons were being utilized by her students. She didn’t know if it was her, or just the class that she had this year. So she decided to go about getting the message across in a different way. She was teaching lessons on improving one’s self esteem called “Buckit Boosters�?. She felt that if she can improve each of her student’s self esteem then they would be more likely to resist either being a bully or resist being bullied. (I had some dealings with some of these students last year in my capacity as “Head Teacher�?. There are several boys who could be classified as bullies. When I talked to two of the boys that were being bullied last year and asked them if it was any better this year, one reported that it was and the other reported not much of anything had changed. Yet, I felt after talking with him that maybe he was still being bullied, but he was handling it better.
One of the playground supervisors reported that she felt things were much better especially with the sixth grade. She said at the beginning of the year the students would make fun of those students who weren’t as athletically inclined as the others. Now she sees them being more respectful to each other and working out small problems that might arise. There seems to be more reasoning going on between the students. She sees some of the more bashful students standing up for themselves and not being afraid to do so because they know that they have been “empowered�?.
I interviewed the fourth grade teacher also. She felt it was a positive improvement for her class. She sees her students being more reasonable with each other and it also gives her a reference point to discuss with her students. The fourth grade students that I interviewed said they see people asking more to get into the games and not taking it personally if they are refused. It seems that both the teacher and the students see that it is easier to talk with one another and being more tolerant of those who are a little different.
If I had to draw a conclusion from this, I think that it is having a positive impact on the students at Unity East Elementary. Next school year should be even better since all the students will have had some time to incorporate what they have learned and had more practice in using what they had learned.
[edit] RESEARCH ON BULLYING
- Research has shown that bullying can be reduced with a prevention program. Such a program communicates clear standards for students and school staff to follow. It helps interrupt unhealthy behavior patterns early and establish the consistent use of pro-social skills. It also helps provide students with the resources, knowledge, and skills to cope with bullying. (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry )
[edit] Signed Experiences and Testimonials
I would love to see our school district implement a program such as this. Even though it takes academic time, I think that these are issues that need to be addressed on a school wide level. I have had students that are bullied in my classroom and even though I have addressed that issue, the bullying has only moved to the locker room for PE class. - W. Rank
In elementary school I was bullied. I think that a program like this one would help to not only decrease bullying by showing kids alternative forms of resolving problems but also as a way to empower those that are being bullied. Although I was bullied, I never reported it to anyone. Lily Jimenez
My school district has implimented a bully prevention unit into the existing Second Step program for 4th, 5th and 6th grade students. As a teacher I can see the positive effects that it is having on the students. Bullied students are now less afraid of their bulliers and are starting to speak out against this behavior. Some of the bullies are now being forced to find other ways to fit in with their peers. -Chris Royer-
[edit] RELATED LINKS
Sites dealing with Bullying:
- Brotherly Help: Bullying
Information and advice on how to tackle, solve, and overcome bullying. (http://www.jkbtc.co.uk/Brotherly Help/Brotherly Help.htm)
- Bullies and Bullying
A look at what makes people bullies, how they pick their victims, and how to deal with them. Also Includes information dealing with identification of bullies. http://members.tripod.com/lou_rich
- Bullying
Covers types of bullying, asking for help, standing up to bullies, and where to get help. http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~rc313/bullying.html
- Bullying at School
Advice for brothers, sisters and friends on how to stop bullying of someone close to you. http://www.scre.ac.uk/bully/bother.html
- Bullying Online
Read questions on bullying from real kids, and answers from the experts at Bullying Online. http://www.bullying.co.uk/children/pupil_problems.htm
- Dealing With Bullies
Find out why bullies act the way they do and how to stop them from picking on you. http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/emotion/bullies.html
- Don't Suffer in Silence
Clear instructions on what to do if someone bullies you. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying/pages/pupilsindex.shtml
[edit] REFERENCES
Sullivan, Keith, The Anti-Bullying Handbook, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Steps to Respect (A Bullying Prevention Program), 2001 Commmittee for Children, Seattle, WA. (www.cfchildren.org)
“bullying.org�? helpful resources,-(http://www.bullying.org/bullyingdev/public/resources.cfm)
“Bullying�? , American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, (http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/80.htm)
"Stop Bullying Now!", (http:ww.stopbullyingnow.com/)
Needleman M.D., Robert, "Effective Anti-Bullying Progtams in Schools", (http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,9600,00.html)
