"Every seven minutes a child is bullied at school" - (U.S. Department Of Justice, 2005)
Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students participate in the Middle School anti-bullying program throughout the school year. Students learn to recognize, prevent, and respond to bullying through classroom lessons, activities, and discussions. Anti-bullying curriculum topics include the following:
- Defining bullying and recognizing bullying behaviors
- Comparing "fun" teasing and "hurtful" teasing
- What to do when you are the victim of bullying
- What to say and who to tell when you are a bystander to bullying
- How to react (and stay safe) when a friend bullies someone
- Positive ways to communicate with friends, peers, teachers, and parents
Deer Lakes Middle School currently uses the Second Step social-emotional learning program to help provide students skills to be successful in middle school, as well as in life. The goals of the Second Step Bullying Prevention Unit include:
- Recognize common types of bullying
- Understand the potential negative impacts of bullying by taking the perspective of targets and bystanders
- Assess the risks and benefits of using different upstander strategies to respond to bullying under various circumstances
- Be an upstand by making a responsible decision in bullying situations
Links
- Stop Bullying Now - US Department of Health and Human Services offers flash movies, games, and information about bullying and how to prevent it.
- Highmark Healthy High Five - Highmark Healthy High 5 has a mission to promote lifelong healthy behaviors in children and adolescents (ages 6-18) in Highmark's service area to ensure that they have healthy bodies and minds.
- Second Step - Second Step is a social-emotional learning program that includes a unit on bullying prevention
- Policy 249 - Bullying/CyberBullying
- Cyberbullying: What Teachers and Schools Can Do.