I've seen some bullying in my day, both verbal and physical. But right now I'm interested in the verbal and emotional bullying. Sometimes I had teachers who intervened, and sometimes I had teachers who completely ignored what was happening. There's been a little bit of research being done on bullying intervention through drama, and how it can sometimes make bullying worse. So the focus has shifted from focusing on the bully and the victim - to the bystander.
The rest of your students who witness bullying are bystanders. As teachers, we are bystanders. How much should we, as bystanders, intervene? Or should we let the students work it out on their own? Do we only intervene when someone asks for help, or do we say something the instant we hear a mean joke or comment? What if it is happening outside your classroom but you are aware of it? Where do our responsibilities end?
10 comments:
It always surprises me, that I continue to observe instances of bullying into adulthood. I never think that bullying is ok. I have had an experience where I stood up for a coworker and explicitly told the bully that what was being said was inappropriate and that it must stop. I have also done this in a case where I did not know the people involved on a public transit bus.
I understand that as teachers, we want our students to learn to work out social issues on their own. In fact, part of the school experience for students involves learning how to interact in a social environment. In that regard, a teacher could hold back to see if students (including bystanders) can handle the situation. But I do find that it's pretty easy to tell when a situation has gone to far and some intervention is required. Even at that point, you can still feel out the seriousness of the situation through your method of action/dialoge with the students. Remember what the vice principal said today, you model the behaviour you want to see in your students.
It is sometimes a tough balance between what provides a learning experience and what is traumatic at the high school level. I definitely agree that a huge aspect of the high school experience is social. Natalie is totally right when she said that bullying continues far into adulthood, and the students need to understand how to deal with that situation in order to be confident later on in life.
However, as a teacher, a vital aspect of the job is to create a safe learning environment where students feel comfortable. This extends to outside the classroom as well. I think in every situation that you witness bullying, whether in the class or elsewhere on school grounds, it is important to address it and the underlying cause of it. If you are not familiar with the student(s) involved, then discussing it with other teachers would be a good idea. I think that there should always be consequences for treating fellow students disrespectfully and it is far too often overlooked in my own personal experience.
When I was in highschool I was bullied by a particular student who will remain nameless. He harassed me constantly. I don't know to this day why. I remember wanting and wishing that someone would be able to stop him and when the day came that a particular teacher did intervene it was horrible. That teacher made such a big deal about it that the whole school knew. It ended up for me worse than the actual bullying in the first place.
I think as teachers we have to careful how much attention we draw to something and base our actions on the student who is the victim. Not all students are comfortable in the spotlight and I think something that we forget sometimes is just to ask the student if there is something we can do to help. Let them be part of the process. It may be as simple as helping the student build self confidence.
I will take the stance though that any bullying that is based in racism, sexism or homophobia should be stopped the instant that it starts.
I agree with Aaron in that some tact is needed in dealing with a bullying situation. I think sometimes it's tempting to make an example out of the situation for other students, or to set a precedent. But, it's important to take the effect of your actions into account as well so that you don't make the experience worse for the victim than it already was.
In our psychology class today we talked about how important role models are for kids and how much impact teacher have on providing a sanctuary for kids to develop and feel safe. A lot of kids don't have an environment that is safe at home and we have a very challenging role in providing a place for those kids. How can we work to provide environments that promote respect? How do we make this behavior totally unacceptable in the first place? I think that might help when we do see bullying happening. That we have already set up the guidelines. That was also something the vice principal talk about yesterday.
Last year, I took that 101 Psychology class and the teacher told us about this famous story where a woman in New York was murdered on the street even though she had been crying for help for one hour. 35 people heard the cries but nobody called the police. That kind of behavior has even a name (which I can't remember) and it is considered by psychologists as a "normal" behavior, normal meaning here that the majority of people are going to do that, not that it is right. It's based on the fact that we expect someone else to take an action. Psychologists even proved that the larger the group, the more frequent this reaction will be, which makes perfect sense. If we witness an accident and we are alone, we will feel obliged to call the police but if there are fifty of us, we will think that someone has probably already called so why bother?
Since I learned about that, I am much more prone to act.
I think that everyone has to work together in order to stop bullying (community, school, parents). I definitely think that teachers should intervene so that the students feel safe in the school environment. I think even if the bullying is taking place outside the classroom, we should try to intervene, not only as teachers but just as human beings that care.
I think that when the bully sees that others are standing up for the person than they may start to realize what they are doing is not right.
Also, I think that it is important to talk to the bully and see where they are coming from. Often times, bullying may be due to some underlying emotional issues (maybe the bully is having trouble in school or at home).
I think that everyone has to work together in order to stop bullying (community, school, parents). I definitely think that teachers should intervene so that the students feel safe in the school environment. I think even if the bullying is taking place outside the classroom, we should try to intervene, not only as teachers but just as human beings that care.
I think that when the bully sees that others are standing up for the person than they may start to realize what they are doing is not right.
Also, I think that it is important to talk to the bully and see where they are coming from. Often times, bullying may be due to some underlying emotional issues (maybe the bully is having trouble in school or at home).
I agree with everyone that we should intervene when our students are being bullied. How we do so is extremely important though because the wrong intervention (as Aaron mentioned) can make things worse. We need to talk to the student one on one first to make sure we know what is going on, and let them know we are there for them, or direct them to a counsellor. As a former victim of bullying, the thing that helped the most for me was when I finally talked to someone about it who listened and helped me figure out how to deal with it. We can institute a zero tolerance policy in our classroom, but that doesn't stop what goes on outside it. It's a tough issue, but if we can get the victim to open up and talk about it, it'll be much easier to figure out how to deal with it. In my case it was a new girl who decided she didn't like me for some reason ( I still have no clue). But the thing that helped me was getting involved with other kids my age who were not from my school we could get to know me for me, then when I moved to middle school, I already had them as friends so it was easier to move away from the small group of girls at my rural elementary school.
I have had experiences in my highschool of being bullied and I think that in a lot of cases the teacher intervention can lead to more problems than it can create. If the bullying is based in race, sexuality or gender then yes stepping in is appropriate and I would be worried if a teacher didn't do something on this level.
There are many cases where the students can however work things out for themselves. I think that if we really want to be of help to the student being bullied we should approach them and talk to them privately about whats going on and if they indeed want or need our assistance. Remember that many times coming to the direct defence of someone can do more harm than good in the bigger picture.
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