First Class Meeting Following Olweus Kick Off

First Class Meeting Following Olweus Kick Off

The Celebrations Leadership Team would like to use the beginning of each classroom meeting to find out if there is anything we should be celebrating. Please ask your homeroom “Does anyone know of anything that we should be celebrating, either in school or outside of school?” It could be another student or someone’s parent that has accomplished something outside of school. (ie. Rich Smith saved a bunch of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico…). Please forward celebrations information to Carol Ward.

1.  Explain the purpose of class meetings:

•  getting to know each other better

•  learning about bullying

•  discussing/problem-solving bullying situations

•  working together to stop or prevent bullying at school

•  talking about other issues of importance to your class

2.  Discuss the benefits of class meetings:

·  Build a strong class community

·  Allow everyone to feel heard

·  Help resolve problems before they become bigger.

Here are a few rules to follow in every classroom meeting:

·  Raise your hand when you want to say something

·  Everyone has a right to be heard

·  We let others speak without interrupting

·  Everyone has a right to pass.

·  We can disagree without being disagreeable or saying mean things; no ‘put downs’

·  When talking about bullying or other problems between students, we don’t mention names. However, it is important that students tell you or another adult if they know or suspect that bullying is a problem in the classroom.

Remind the class why we are having classroom meetings. We are here to get to know one another better and to work together better as a group. We can discuss life here at school, such as the way students relate to each other, things you are concerned about here, or improvements you’d like to see happen. Today, we want to start talking something very important – bullying. Here is a definition of bullying:

Bullying is when someone repeatedly and on purpose says or does mean or hurtful things to another person who has a hard time defending himself or herself. The students who bully continue to act mean to the other student even though it hurts the other student’s feelings.

Please go over the rules that Karen Shields distributed to each homeroom. The rules should be posted in all classrooms in the school.

Rule 1: We will not bully others. Remind students that bullying is being mean or hurtful on purpose, it happens over and over again and it involves an imbalance of power as a bigger-smaller issue.

Question to students: What are some examples of bullying? (physical, verbal, cyber)

Rule 2: We will try to help students who are bullied.

Question to students:

·  What are some ways you could help students who are being bullied? What would you say? What would you do?

·  How would it make the person who is bullied feel?

Rule 3: We will try and include students who are left out.

Question to students:

·  What does this rule mean? Another way to say this rule is that “everyone should have someone to be with” Ask students, without mentioning names, whether there are students in our school who are often isolated or left out. Does everyone have someone to be with during lunch?

·  How can you include classmates who are often left alone at lunch, at recess or breaks, during group activities or other activities both during and outside of school hours?

·  Some student might have a hard time making friends or connecting with others. Why might it be hard for some students to do this?

·  Has anyone tried to help another student who was being bullied? (without mentioning names)

Rule 4. If we know that somebody is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and an adult at home.

Question to students:

·  Think for a moment to yourselves…which adult(s) at school could you talk to if you or another student is being bullied? Remind students that every teacher in the school has pledged to take bullying seriously and to do something about it if they are told it is occurring. Tell them that sometimes students believe that telling an adult will make things worse for the person who is being bullied or they think that telling an adult is “tattling”

·  Please ask students why telling is so important and why is it important to tell an adult at home and at school? Why do you think that students who are bullied often don’t tell anyone?

·  What about bystanders? How common do you think it is for bystanders to report bullying? Explain that compared to students who experience bullying, even fewer students who witness bullying report it to adults.

·  Remind students that they now have a rule that they must tell an adult if they or someone else is being bullied. This includes in school, outside school and even cyberbullying.

·  What can we do at our school to make it more likely that students will report bullying? Please have someone record the suggestions, collect them and forward them to Mrs. Helsel.