Bystanders and Bullying 

From the Marshall Memo #450

In this NJEA Review (New Jersey Education Association) article, 8^th-grade teacher Michael Seaman says the goal of anti-bullying programs is “fostering compassion in classrooms where no student wears a label on his or her forehead.” But this isn’t easy. “How do we walk the fine line between creating an environment of acceptance and boring students with redundant anti-bullying messages?” he asks. 

Seaman has found that his Holocaust unit is an excellent vehicle for getting into issues of intolerance and building students’ emotional intelligence. He begins with a pre-assessment in which students anonymously answer these questions:

• Do you think bullying is a serious problem in your school or community? Why or why not?
• How do you think bullies feel when they demean someone else?
• Is it possible to make a bully understand other people’s feelings? Why or why not?
• How do adults in your school address bullying? What interventions do they use to prevent or stop bullying?
• What interventions can young people use to prevent or stop bullying?
• Do you think you’ve ever bullied someone? If so, what made you stop? What made you want to bully someone again?

Seaman is surprised by his students’ answers to some of the questions. Almost all students think bullying isn’t a problem because they have the Olweus Program in their school. But a large percentage of the same students admit to bullying actions, mostly driven by anger or frustration. Fear of retribution is the most common reason for stopping. “Shockingly,” says Seaman, “almost every student admitted to witnessing an adult figure turn his or her head instead of addressing the bullying situation.”

This is why a key component of his Holocaust unit is the bystander’s responsibility to act. Seaman has students choose a teenage Holocaust victim from a variety of resources and, putting themselves in the person’s shoes, write a song or poem. “My students escape their own identities and enter the minds and hearts of another teenager who might have been helped by a bystander,” he says. “I am always amazed by what students produce. Their poems and songs are beautiful, and they show an increased awareness of empathy for those who lost their lives.” 

Seaman describes other curriculum experiences he gives his own students, and then has suggestions for anti-bullying activities in language arts, social studies, world languages, art, music, science, and math. 

“Beyond Anti-Bullying Programs” by Michael Seaman in NJEA Review, May 2012 (Vol. 85, p. 22-24), http://bit.ly/IE8lTG, spotted in Education Digest, September 2012 (Vol. 78, #1, p. 24-28)