By: Amanda Stinebrickner Bullying By: Amanda Stinebrickner

Definition of Bullying (As defined by Teaching Tolerance-www.tolerance.org) Bullying happens when someone is subjected to negative actions from one or more people and has a hard time defending himself or herself Various forms of bullying: Teasing, taunting or verbal abuse Punching, shoving and physical acts Spreading rumors Excluding someone from a group Ganging up on others

Why is this important to me? This research increased my awareness and the urge to get actively involved in intervention at the schools We have all been affected by bullying, one way or another

Eye-opening statistics (www.tolerance.org) 160,000 estimated U.S. students skip school daily to avoid being bullied 32% of students report being bullied at school during the school year 86% of gay or lesbian students reported being bullied 70% of teachers surveyed say that educators “almost always” intervene when bullying occurs 35% of 9th graders who believe school professionals responded poorly to the bullying they observed 10-20% of bystanders who PROVIDE any real help

Home Life Bully vs. Victim “Bullying behavior is associated with”: Low maternal and paternal involvement In particular, youth who spend more time without adults are more likely to bully peers Coming from families with authoritarian parents who condone fighting back Family lacks warmth and structure Low family cohesion Family is explained as being high in conflict Victims have a tendency to come from families that: Have high levels of cohesion Victims are more likely to have less authoritative parents Live in families in which there are low levels of negotiation Have high levels of conflict Resource: (Holt, Kantor, & Finkelhor, pg. 45)

Bullying is on the rise……

Phoebe Prince

Tyler Clementi

Statistics 2005 Harris poll found 90 percent of gay and lesbian teens say they have been bullied in the past year 2009 survey by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network said of these, 2/3 of these students feel unsafe in school

Ellen DeGeneres

“It Gets Better Program” Dan Savage launched this program, which is a series of online videos delivered by adult gays and lesbians designed to tell young people that they can survive harassment and have happy lives

What can we do? (www.tolerance.org) To stop bullying before it starts, we can: Adopt and publicize an anti-bullying policy that includes clear procedures and consequences Provide school-wide training

If we hear or see evidence of bullying, we can: Stop the bullying immediately Offer guidance to bystanders on how to intervene appropriately

If we see or learn of a pattern of bullying, we can: Bring staff together to discuss the behavior and agree on a unified course of action

We should ask questions when we see: Ripped or damaged clothing Students who isolate themselves from others

New York State Education Department www.nysed.gov The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommend that schools should: Educate students, teachers, and other staff members about cyberbullying Be sure that the school’s anti-bullying rules and policies address cyberbullying Closely monitor students’ use of computers at school Use filtering and tracking software, but don’t rely solely on this software, to screen out cyberbullying and other problematic online behavior Investigate reports of bullying and cyberbullying immediately Notify parents of all children involved Closely monitor the behavior of affected students Investigate to see if the victim could use some support

Some websites we can use to help combat bullying Stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov Stopbullyingspeakup.com Glsen.org/bullying Adl.org/combatbullying Wiredsafety.org Youtube.com/user/itgetsbetterproject Pacer.org/bullying