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Bullying Awareness and Prevention Resources for Educators

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Resources for Educators
Posted on 11/13/2020

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week

Ontario has designated the week beginning on the third Sunday of November as Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week to help promote safe schools and a positive learning environment.

During Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week - November 15-21, 2020 - Ontario students, school staff and parents are encouraged to learn more about bullying and its effect on student learning and well-being.

Bullying is defined as a form of repeated, persistent and aggressive behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is intended to cause (or should be known to cause) fear and distress and/or harm to another person's body, feelings, self-esteem or reputation. Bullying occurs in a context where there is a real or perceived power imbalance.

Schools are encouraged to use this opportunity to explain the different forms bullying can take. These include:

  • physical - hitting, shoving, stealing, or damaging property
  • verbal - name calling, mocking, or making sexist, racist, or homophobic comments
  • social - excluding others from a group or spreading gossip or rumours about them
  • written - writing notes or signs that are hurtful or insulting
  • electronic (commonly known as cyber-bullying) - spreading rumours and hurtful comments through the use of e-mail, cell phones (e.g., text messaging) and on social media sites.

Source: ONTARIO.ca http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/prevention.html

Our Superior North Catholic District School Board Mental Health Team has prepared a summary of Anti-bullying week resources that may be used by our educators.

Bullying Prevention starts with Social-Emotional Learning

Second Step Social-emotional learning (SEL) focuses on core social-emotional skills that are particularly important for bullying prevention, including empathy, emotion management, and social problem-solving. In addition, embedded within these lessons are topics such as friendship building and how to be assertive, which are also key skills in bullying prevention. Inform your school Administrator if you are interested in receiving Positive Behaviour Support Worker support to implement the programming in your classroom!

  • Make kindness the norm in your classroom. Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has an evidence-based kindness program for kids in Kindergarten to Grade 8. Click here for the curriculum.
  • Encourage kids to feel safe by allowing them to speak up if they are being bullied or see someone else being bullied. Click here for a letter that your students can hand in.
  • Prevnet has educational videos on bullying that can be shared with the class. Click here to see descriptions of the videos.
  • Learn with Howard B. Wiggle Bottom through free downloadable books, songs and lessons on how to be a better person!
  • Scholastic provides a list of books involving bully prevention. Included are lesson plans and discussion guides to follow when reading this book to the class. Click on this link for more information!
  • Click here for a colouring book about anti-bullying by PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center.
  • KidsHealth provides teacher lesson plans including scenarios and quizzes to help students understand bullying.
  • Committee for Children has a Bullying Prevention Superhero named Captain Compassion in support of Bullying Prevention. This resource can help empower kids and adults to use their bystander power and to give Captain Compassion's trusty sidekick Kid Kinder guidance on how to help others recognize, report, and refuse bullying. This resource includes; videos, draws, comic strips, downloadable posters, and other related bullying prevention resources! Second Step Resource; "Captain Compassion and Kid Kinder":
  • Committee for Children Activity; "Bullying or Joking": Learn to Identify What's Bullying, What's Joking, and How to Deal With It by this scenario based activity in which students come up with actions that can be taken when being bullied or as a bystander to stop the bullying. Click here for this activity resource.

Our team of staff are always here to support you.

Please reach out if you are in need of assistance and be sure to check out our www.sncdsb.on.ca/mentalhealth page for information on the amazing services that continue to be offered by our dedicated service providers.

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