PLANNING 10 							NAME_____________

Bullying 

Have students identify “safe” and “not safe” areas on a school map without revealing their answers to the rest of the class

Bullying:
•	is the combined use of aggression and power to harass and/or intimidate another person.
•	can range from exclusion, gossip, and name calling to stalking, fighting, and theft. 
•	usually involves a power imbalance and intent to harm. It causes distress and is usually repeated over and over.
People are bullied for all types of reasons and often for no logical reason at all. The victim usually has no control over these reasons (i.e., race, disability, sexual orientation, etc.). People who do the bullying usually pick on others to make themselves feel more powerful. They believe that the person they are picking on has less power than themselves.
Sometimes the teasing and bullying are too much for the victim. In the past few years there have been cases in British Columbia where students have taken their own lives in order to stop the bullying. Sadly, these students weren’t aware that there were other options open to them. In these cases, the students who committed the bullying ended up in jail.
Bullying essentially takes away the victim’s freedom, causing them to be afraid, intimidated, and distressed. It is up to the victim or to the people who know about these situations to take responsibility and tell an appropriate person so that the bullying can be stopped as soon as possible.
Who Should You Tell?
Who are appropriate people?
Consider telling:
•	teacher 
•	parent 
•	coach 
•	other adults you feel confortable telling 
Or you can call 1-800-680-4264, twenty-four hours a day and report a situation. This is the Youth Against Violence telephone number. 
You just leave a message and a police officer in your area will get the message and deal with the problem right away. Calls are confidential and you don’t have to leave your name or other personal information if you don’t want to.
If you think that someone is going to get hurt or might hurt you and you don’t know what to do, call the Youth Against Violence number right away. Remember, the best way to stop violence is to prevent it from starting.

Class Discussion

1.	Do you think male bullying is different than female bullying? How?
2.	Do you think that the media is creating female characters that are more physically aggressive than they have been in the past? What impact if any does this have on youth?
3.	Is it cool for either girls or boys to be nice? Is it cool to be mean? Discuss.
4.	Why do you think female violence is on the rise?
5.	Do you know of someone who has been “bullied”?
6.	Have you ever witnessed “cyber bullying”?

Student Activity

You are on the administration team of a high school. Parents and teachers are concerned about cyber bullying by high school students and need to determine how best to deal with the situation. 
 
1.	Develop a proposal for dealing with cyber bullying at the high school: punishment, rehabilitation, and so on. 

This proposal should include: 
•	what causes bullying in teenagers
•	a policy for dealing with cyber bullying at the school
•	a rationale for the policy that you have prepared; and 
•	 some answers to the objections you anticipate students will raise.