Learning Objects

STOP Bullying

Abstract: What bullying is? Why is important?

The number of Spanish children between 12 and 16 years old who have been bullied in a school increases every year. In schools the biggest problem teachers have is the bad coexistence.

There are many researches and protocols to do, but the only way to stop the bullying is the awareness.

These kinds of activities are carried out by teachers or school counsellors.

The most important characteristics of bulling are:

Imbalance of power (physical, psychological or social)

Intentionality and repetition

Lack of defence and personalization (normally the victim is only one)

Nowadays it’s necessary spend a specific time to work in this field. The consequences of bullying can be very dangerous.

Content: What is bullying?

- Bullying is a form of aggression, is abusive treatment.

- The teen who bullies uses aggression and control to maintain a position of power over the victim.

- Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse - emotional, verbal and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.

- The "imbalance of power" may be social power and/or physical power.

- The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a "target".

- It may be directed persistently towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality or ability.

The basic elements of bullying are:

Unequal Power: One person has more power than the other person (or at least it seems that way to the people involved)
Hurtful Actions: Physically or psychologically harmful behaviour takes place
Direct and Indirect Actions: The behaviour may be face-to-face or behind one's back
Repetitive Behaviour: The hurtful actions keep happening so the person being hurt finds it more and more difficult to escape

*Teasing, rough housing or even play fighting are not considered bullying when both students are willing participants.

In schools, bullying occurs in all areas of school. It can occur in nearly any part in or around the school building, though it more often occurs in PE, recess, hallways, bathrooms, on school buses and waiting for buses, classes that require group work and/or after school activities. Bullying in school sometimes consists of a group of students taking advantage of or isolating one student in particular and gaining the loyalty of bystanders who want to avoid becoming the next victim. These bullies taunt and tease their target before physically bullying the target. Targets of bullying in school are often pupils who are considered strange or different by their peers to begin with, making the situation harder for them to deal with.

There is a strong link between bullying and suicide or "bullycide". Bullying leads to many suicides among young people every year although it is hard to determine exact numbers.

Question: Someone took a photo of my kid, wrote a silly caption and texted it to the entire school. Does that count as cyber-bullying? What are some other types of cyber-bullying?

Answer: Usually, cyber-bullying is characterized by repeated cruelty. Whether this was a thoughtless, one-time prank or a more deliberate act of cruelty, it sounds like your child was humiliated over and over as other kids saw the picture. That makes it cyber-bullying. Hopefully, the child’s parents were notified and your child recovered.

Here are some other examples of behavior that could cross the line into cyber-bullying:

Sending a mean email or IM to someone
Posting mean things about someone on a website
Making fun of someone in an online chat
Doing mean things to someone’s character in an online world
Creating a hostile environment in an online world or game
Impersonating someone online—including creating a fake online profile
Repeatedly texting someone to the point of harassment
Directly threatening or intimidating someone online or in a text
Starting rumors or spreading gossip online
Stealing someone’s password and logging into someone else’s account
Taking a photo or video and sharing it without the subject’s consent, knowing it might be embarrassing

Bullying can take many different forms:

Physical bullying	when the abuses are involving bodily contact
Psychological bullying	when the abuses are related to the mental and emotional state of a person
Verbal bullying	when the abuses are mainly speaking.
Social Hitting / Punching Kicking	physical aggressions in group.
Excluding from group activities	when somebody denies you access to an activity
Pushing/shoving	When someone exerts force on you in order to move you away or try you fall over.
Stealing	when somebody takes your something (your property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it.
Dating aggression	physical or verbal actions including grabbing, pushing, punching, spreading rumours and name-calling. Can hurt the young person's body, damage belongings or make the person feel badly about himself or herself. Can make the young person feel badly about himself or herself. Can make the young person feel alone and not part of the group.
Insults Name-calling	when somebody says you A thing so worthless or contemptible as to be offensive
Hurtful Comments Threats Sexual harassment	occurs when a person or group hurts another person by taunting or discussing sensitive sexual issues, creating sexual rumours or messages, making homophobic comments, rating sexual body parts or name-calling, telling sexual jokes, and initiating unwanted sexual touching
Ethnoculturally-based comments	any physical or verbal behaviour used to hurt another person because of his or her ethnicity (culture, colour or religion)
Gossiping	when a person talks about other people's private lives.
Ignoring	when somebody disregards you intentionally
Cyber-bullying	refers to the use of communication technologies (e-mail, cell phones, pager text messages, Internet sites and instant messaging) to physically threaten, verbally harass or socially exclude an individual or group. Using these technologies to distribute damaging messages and pictures allows bullies to remain anonymous and bullying to become widespread

The unforgettable story of Amanda Todd

See and read more here.

How can students help a bullied peer?

If a teen is being bullied, you can suggest:

"Stay calm and try not to show you are upset. Try to respond to the person bullying you without anger. Anger can make things worse."
"Look the person in the eye and say you don't like what they are doing."
"As soon as you can, find an adult you trust and tell the adult what happened. It is your right to be safe."
"Stay close to peers you can count on to stick up for you."
"Stay away from places where you know bullying happens."
"If the bullying continues, walk away, join other teens or ask someone else for help."

If a teen sees someone being bullied, you can suggest:

"Speak out and help the person being hurt. Nobody deserves to be bullied. You can help by telling the person who is bullying to stop."
"Comfort the person who was hurt and make it known that what happened was not fair or deserved."
"If this does not work right away or if you are afraid to say or do something on your own, find an adult you trust to help you."
"Help a teen who is being bullied by being a friend. Invite that person to participate in your school activities. This will reduce the feeling of being alone."

Glossary

Vocabulary activity. (Print and do it)