Bully

 Bully is a video to raise awareness of the true effect of bullying taking place in schools nationwide on families and students alike. Here is a link to both a trailer and the video should you choose to watch it. Bullying is very real and intervention can mean life or death for an individual. What are we to do?

http://youtu.be/fhBXlVTNZsg


  I know all students- regardless of age- need an outlet. Students face impossible situations everyday and so many times teachers, faculty, and fellow peers miss opportunities to bring life back to the lives around them. First as a precautionary, I believe one of the best outlets to send a "warning" to you as a teacher would be by a writing (or drawing for young students) assignment in the mornings before class really gets started. When I was in first/second grades, our teacher would give us bell work for the first 15 minutes of class, and at this time we were given a topic to write about and illustrate in our journal. Not only did it help creativity and writing skills, but alot of times, it was personal. I believe warning signs can be seen in such assignments. Kids are honest. If not in words, you can tell alot by a child's drawing. This would be one of the first things I would do as a teacher to catch the early signs of bullying. Even in high school, journaling is important and that's an outlet that is safe and can usually be used at home as well.
  If bullying is already in full stages, naturally, I'd take it to the principal; but because bullying is so often a matter of life and death, I believe the law enforcement needs to be involved. Yes kids are kids, but words have more power than they realize. If law enforcement won't be hired for the school to keep the campus, I don't think it'd be too much to call law enforcement to come pick them up and make the parent come get them from there. It's a situation that has to be taken seriously. Not only that, but I think the law enforcement should be on both ends- the bully and the bullied. Contact should be kept with the family of the student bullied. The family should be made aware. Signs should be taught. And counselors should be made available. Too many times, people miss the signs because they're in denial that it's real and because they're just ignorant to the facts. Parents need to be educated. In the kids having kids world we're in now, it's never too much to educate over the top. If it saves a life, one cannot deny the significance.