Exploratorium 2012: Tomes, Mary

Table #3       Bullying: How Do We Feel? What Can We Do? How Can We Help?

 

Audience:       Middle (can be used for Elementary as well)            

 

Presenter:       Mary R. Quinlivan-Tomes                                                      

                        Frank D. Paulo Intermediate School I.S. 75 R

                        455 Huguenot Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10312

Staten Island, NY 10312

Library Web site  www.is75.org – click on Paulo Library

E-mail   mquinli@schools.nyc.gov

 

Description, Goals, Intended Outcomes: 

“Bullying: How Do We Feel? What Can We Do? How Can We Help?” offers a simple but practical framework in which to discuss the widespread problem of bullying in all its many forms, with both general and special education students, and provides a vehicle for them to both brainstorm and research successful strategies for dealing with it. Students will create an anti-bullying “commercial” that can be placed on the school website, shown at assemblies, and played on the library’s flat screen TV for individual classes. Students will also create simple digital stories of their own on the concept of bullying, either in cartoon format or through a site like storyjumper.com, thus thinking through the construction of characters, a problem, and some sort of successful response or solution. (These stories and cartoons can also be placed in the school’s online newspaper). Students will be able to meet/reinforce the Common Core State Standards described below at the completion of the project. The overarching goals include getting the students to think proactively and critically about the bullying problem that surrounds them every day, how they might respond to it (either as victim or as witness) and what they might ultimately be able to do about it, both individually and collectively, to become not only a more ethical person, but a better and more productive citizen of the world.

 

Process to Develop and Implement This Project: 

Recognize the need to address the bullying issue in your school head-on.

Brainstorm with other teachers and administrators about the role of the library in this endeavor.

Identify the right time of year to conduct this project, and try to tie it to some kind of school-wide improvement initiative (ex. “Respect for All Month”).

Select a representative group of students, hopefully made up of different ranges of ability and interest (ideally you would achieve some sort of true cross-section, with some special education students included as well).

Using the text “Tomey and the Caterpillar” by Sabrina Panfilo as a starting point, collaborate with others in the building (teachers/administrators) in both lesson planning and the integration of reliable and creative assessment strategies that would be appropriate to your school and particular student population. (In our case, we had some students make an anti-bullying “commercial” out of individual video clips  filmed on a FLIP camera; others created a free digital story about bullying, in which they breathed life into their own characters, and assigned a plot, setting, resolution, etc.); still others designed a clever anti-bullying cartoon.

Plan out discussion questions, standards to be addressed, skills to be taught, etc.

Modify assessment strategies as needed (i.e., if making the commercial is too much, focus on having them write a bullying story or design a cartoon which reflects the theme and main idea). These stories and cartoons can be put in the school newspaper (ours is now online), or posted on the website. Follow-ups could include further research into the topic of bullying and what can be done to curb its insidious nature in our schools.

 

Budget: 

Most items are readily available in most school libraries. Project can be done for very little overheard. Flip cameras or some sort of digital camera may be purchased for about $150, and the other items are either free or available in some form or other throughout the school (e.g., drawing paper, markers, pencils, etc., for initial drafts of their stories).

 

Timeline:

This is a 3-4 lesson project. These lessons would not have to (and probably should not have to) happen on consecutive days, in order to give the students time to reflect, gestate ideas for their own story, practice for their part in the commercial, etc. A class that meets once per week is ideal.

 

Evidence of Outcomes, Possible Adaptations, Lessons Learned:

Evidence of Outcomes could be gathered through a couple of basic IFC Assessments; the students’ self-produced stories on bullying; and their commercials.

 

Common Core State Standard(s) addressed:

For the discussion piece:

RI.6.1 and RI.7.1 : Cite (several pieces of) textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text;

W6.1 :  Introduce claims and organize reasons and evidence clearly; support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence, demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text;

R.6.3 : Describe how a particular story’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution;

S-L 6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 6 topics and issues, building on other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

For the commercial and story of their own:

S-L.6.4: Sequence ideas logically and use pertinent descriptions and details to accentuate main ideas and themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

The sixth history-social studies standard for Grade 6 (use technology to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently) also fits perfectly here.

Information Fluency Continuum (IFC) Skill(s) addressed:

• Makes inferences based on explicit information in text
• Combines and weighs evidence to draw conclusions and create meaning
• Recognizes the creator’s point of view
• Recognizes that there are diverse points of view that lead to different insights; communicates information and ideas in a variety of formats
• Creates products for authentic reasons and audiences

 

Skill(s) taught:

• Drawing accurate conclusions from information presented in a text
• Making meaningful inferences from a text
• Understanding author’s purpose
• Building a solid and logical argument
• Expressing a reasoned opinion clearly and creatively in a variety of formats (verbally in whole class and/or small group discussions; in writing on the IFC assessments; in the form of their own self-generated bullying story or cartoon; on video for the commercial).       

 

Assessments:

• IFC Priority Benchmark Skill 6.3 Drawing Conclusions from Information (adapted for special education students)
• IFC Priority Benchmark Skill 7.5 Cause and Effect (adapted)
• IFC Priority Benchmark Skill 4.8 Identifying the Story Elements (for when they are plotting out their own bullying story) IFC Priority Benchmark Skill 1.5 Picturing the Main Idea of a Story
• IFC Priority Benchmark Skill 1.1 What Do You Already Know About Your Topic? (to facilitate a discussion about their own experience of bullying).  The possibilities are really endless!

 

Resources Used:

Text “Tomey and the Caterpillar” ***

IFC Priority Benchmark Skills Assessments listed above

Flip video camera

Software like iMovie or Windows MovieMaker (to “loop” video clips into a creative anti-bullying commercial)

Storyjumper.com (to make their own stories on the bullying theme)

Toondoo.com and/or similar cartoon-making sites (to make their own cartoons)

Drawing paper/markers/pencils for draft ideas

USB FlashDrive

 

 

 

            *** A wonderful story about “Tomey and the Caterpillar” : Just published by Vantage Press, it is dedicated in memory of my father-in-law -- a teacher exemplar in every sense of the word. Can you imagine that, 20 years after his death, a former student whom he had helped through a bullying crisis would write this beautiful book to encourage kids to love themselves and believe that they will indeed “fly high” someday?