Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy by Emily Bazelon

Outstanding Books for the College Bound

Bazelon, E.( 2013).Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy. Random House .New York.

The author starts the book with three school age students who were bullied and one was a bully at different school in America. She gives a picture of how difficult it is to be a teenager growing up in today’s schools. She gives us a glimpse of what happens when adults with well-meaning hearts try to solve a problem as she demonstrates the consequences of each story in the child’s life. : an African-American girl, Monique McClain, who was target by some girls at her school in Connecticut,  switched schools after experiencing depression and found happiness; a gay student from New York, Jacob Lasher, who had to deal with prejudice ; and Phoebe Prince, an Irish girl from Massachusetts, who was bullied appallingly to end up committing suicide. She gives to parents how they can intervene on behave of their child, what schools can make a difference in students and what can turn in as people and social agencies come together for the better of the child’s life. On the life of the girls who committed suicide she gives a clear view of how she had being changed from a school and was taking antidepressants but stayed of it for five weeks before taking her life. But a life like this can be turned around be helped as she has shown from George Sugai who deeply believes that positive rewards for positive social skills can be more effective than punishment for the kids who are the bullies. That has proven to change his school and his students. She also looks into Facebook how they are trying to also bring a stop to this but that some kids are giving up their privacy by being part of Facebook. She explains why she does not believe that violent video games, obscene music, absentee parents, and social media is the true cause of bullying. She does come to understand that it’s not one thing that is causing this negative behavior but an element of different things that contribute it each with its own specific combinations that can bring this to an individual life. 

There are several books that can all so help with the bulling they are found in Amazon and the lesson plans found in Teachers pay Teachers website; 

Bullying can cause hurt feelings, tears, and emotional scars. This pack helps define the many different types of bullying as well as how to handle it in different situations. 

Bullying Definition Posters
• What is Bullying? poster set (includes definitions and examples for: bullying, tattling, telling, reporting, kindness)
• Types of Bully poster set (includes: exclusion, cyber, physical, social, verbal)
• 3 non bullying posters
• 8 inspirational quote posters

Reading Passages and Printables on What Bullying Looks Like and How to Stop It
• What is Bullying? reading comprehension passage and questions
• Is it Bullying? 
• Who's Involved?
• Be More Than a Bystander
• Why Do People Bully?
• Face It!
• How Do You Feel? (using two real pictures)

Role Playing Activities So Students Can Practice What They've Learned
• 12 Buddy and Bully task cards 
• Buddy and Bully response sheet
• 24 bullying role play cards and die

All of the activities in this pack can also be used without the book!

Bullying Activities:
- Friendship Bullying Survey
- Put Ups and Put Downs
- I Spy Friendship Bullying
- My Book of Helpers
- My Bully Busting Book
- 6 Role Plays

Rationale:
Friendship Bullying or relational aggression is defined by the National Association of School Psychologists as “harm within relationships that is caused by covert bullying or manipulation.” 

Relational aggression (RA) can be difficult to spot. Students in grades 2nd-5th tend to view RA as a “friendship problem” rather than as a type of bullying. It is important to teach students the difference between relational aggression and friendship problems. 

Students experiencing RA need to be able to:
Identify when their friends are not acting like a friend.
Know that they do not need to put up with unfriendly behavior.
Execute strategies to combat aggressive behavior.

Empathy, Bullying, Self Esteem Lessons: 4-Weeks of Invaluable Health Lessons!

★This “Empathy, Violence, Self-Esteem, Bullying, Values Unit” is the perfect Health unit to help your students connect as a group, learn to respect differences, learn to get to know people for who they really are, and to realize almost everyone has hardships to overcome!

★Help your students build self-esteem and work on one of the greatest relationship skills-EMPATHY! 

★Help your students see the value of empathy, the power of words for good or bad, and the incredible difference each student can make by supporting the victims of bullying and teasing. 

********************************************************************

***What sets this curriculum apart from others is that***: 

-I-T'-S -N-O-T -J-U-S-T- -A- -U-N-I-T- -O-U-T-L-I-N-E- …

Highly organized, step-by-step teacher directions follow daily PowerPoints and tell you exactly to say!!