Jump to:
Action Ideas for Adults
- Action Ideas for Adults Who Want to Support Youth and Create Kind Schools
- Bullying Prevention Programs
- Other Programs and Websites with Good Information
- Mentoring Youth
Action Ideas for Students
- Establish a Group/Committee in Your School Whose Focus Is Creating a Kinder School
- Projects That Your Bullying Prevention Group Can Initiate
- Events to Raise Awareness and Educate
- Websites with Resources for Starting a Gay/Straight Alliance in Your School
- Websites with Resources for Starting a Diversity Club
- Student Action Tool-Kits
- Website Pages Specifically with Ideas for Student Action
Action Ideas for Adults Who Want to Support Youth and Create Kind Schools
(Compiled by Jeremiah’s Hope for Kindness)
“If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.” ~Carl Jung
These suggestions could be used various places in the community including schools, places of worship and/or any club or organization for youth.
- Offer to support students/student groups who want to stop bullying in their schools by helping with some of the ideas or projects suggested in the “Student Action Ideas for Kind Schools” found below.
- Find out what is already being done to prevent bullying. Are there any groups, projects or campaigns already in place that you can help with? If not, offer, maybe along with other parents, to organize or help organize a bullying prevention group/committee to decide on and oversee implementation of a bullying prevention plan or program. Ann at www.facebook.com/jeremiahshopeforkindness is happy to offer suggestions and assist with this (my e-mail address is at the bottom of page). Below are links to best practices for bullying prevention. They are excellent guidelines for schools in order to be effective in their bullying prevention efforts.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Best_Practices/ and http://www.bullyingprevention.org/repository/Best%20Practices%20PDFs /BP-Prevention.Intervention.pdf
- Invite other parents, coworkers or community members to join you in these efforts.
http://learningtogive.org/resources/Adults-in-Schools-Guide.pdf – Guide for adults who want to volunteer in school
- Mentor students who may be targets of bullying and/or who are doing the bullying. Mentoring programs help prevent bullying in a number of ways. Go here to learn about mentoring.
- Volunteer to help at recess or in the lunchroom, making an effort to watch for bullying and befriending kids who appear to be alone.
- Volunteer to play/teach kids some cooperative, community building games and activities that teach respect and compassion.
- Offer to read stories with themes of anti-bullying, kindness, compassion and respect. If possible, do this on a regular basis to have a bigger impact.
http://www.chicagonow.com/portrait-of-an-adoption/2012/04/anti-bullying-reading-recommendations-for-children-and-teens -list of books for children and teens
http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/libraries/documents/bullyingk_5.pdf – very comprehensive selection of books divided into various aspects of bullying with descriptions of stories for grades k-5
http://www.open-circle.org/resources/literature.html -list of books for each grade level and by subject (great!)
http://www.bullyingpreventioninstitute.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=VWXJwRQjWUE%3d&tabid=39 -comprehensive list with additional info compiled for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
- Spread the word and include these suggestions and others to community leaders, businesses, churches, civic organizations and other community organizations. Bullying affects everyone in the community. Bullying prevention is crime prevention, substance abuse prevention, family violence prevention, truancy prevention and suicide prevention. A kind and caring school environment positively influences the community and vice versa.
- ·Animal lovers- offer to bring in a pet to show students. Animals can help to increase empathy http://www.webvet.com/main/2008/06/20/animals-teach-children-empathy-and-compassion.
- ·Show your appreciation of all school staff. School climate is enhanced when all staff feels respected and appreciated. Help students show their appreciation for teachers too.http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept11/vol69/num01/Respect%E2%80%94Where-Do-We-Start%C2%A2.aspx
Bullying Prevention Programs:
The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is one program that uses Best Practices and has been very effective in schools when implemented with fidelity and consistency.
http://www.olweus.org/public/safe_schools.page
http://www.olweus.org/public/parents_school_bullying.page
Other programs and websites with good information:
http://www.welcomingschools.org – Free program and resources
http://nosuchthingasabully.com/
http://www.sde.state.ok.us/Schools/SafeHealthy/pdf/Bullying.pdf
http://www.safeandcaringschools.com/default.asp
http://www.bullyingprevention.org/
http://www.pta.org/bullying.asp
http://stopbullying.gov/
www.bulliesout.com
www.stopbullyingworld.org
http://www.bullyingnoway.com.au/default.shtml
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/
http://www.eyesonbullying.org/
For further information or assistance please contact Ann Gettis at jeremiahs.hope@yahoo.com and/or visit www.facebook.com/jeremiahshopeforkindness
Student Action Ideas for Kind Schools
(Compiled by Jeremiah’s Hope for Kindness www.facebook.com/jeremiahshopeforkindness)
Establish a group/committee in your school whose focus is creating a kinder school climate (bullying prevention)
http://www.schoolclimate.org/bullybust/assets/documents/upstanderKit_students.pdf -Toolkit for starting an Upstander Alliance
http://www.dosomething.org/clubs/starter-kit -Toolkit for starting a club/team/committe
-Ask a teacher or parent to help you get started on this.
-Determine a name for your group and how often you will meet.
(http://www.actionwork.com/positiveslogans.html)
- Themes related to anti-bullying/bullying prevention that you can focus on:
-Being kind, respectful, compassionate.
-Making sure kids are included (no one is left out).
-Being a good friend.
-Speaking up when you see /hear or hear about bullying (be an ally, an upstander instead of a
bystander).
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1810578.html -article about one school’s antibullying club
Projects that your bullying prevention group can initiate:
When possible include parents and the community.
- Create a pledge based on one of the above themes or something similar such as
- I will be be kind.
- I will try to include everyone.
- I will try to help kids who are being bullied by befriending them and report the bullying.
– Some schools have created a short pledge/promise that the students recite every morning and/or create a longer pledge that students (and teachers) sign and display.
– Examples of pledges.
http://www.azkids2.org/Anti-BullyPledge.htm
http://www.bullying.org/external/documents/ACF6FA.pdf
http://www.sad34.net/~tritown/Anti-Bullying%20Pledge (also has a bus safety pledge)
http://www.csh.k12.ny.us/files/filesystem/pledge%20%20anti%20bully.pdf
http://www.arsafeschools.com/Files/BullyingCardBack.pdf
Create a Friendship Club that everyone can join.
-Talk about what it means to be a good friend.
– Talk about ways to help everyone feel cared about and included.
-Do fun activities involving being a good friend and including others.
- Discuss and plan activities to celebrate and honor all talents, abilities and uniqueness.
- Poster contests with an anti-bullying theme and display posters around school and community.
- Door decorating contests.
- Make a welcome video to give to new students when they first come to school.
- Decorate t-shirts with anti-bullying/ be a friend theme and decide to wear them once a week or month.
- Throughout the school year designate certain weeks with various themes surrounding bullying prevention/ being kind/ being a good friend/including others.
- Sponsor art/music/ writing/drama projects in which the focus is on bullying prevention themes.
- Write plays about bullying prevention themes to perform for younger students.
-Example ideas for plays:
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/activities/stick-puppet.asp
- Start a mentor or buddy program where older students mentor or befriend younger students.
http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/actionguide/start-a-peer-mentoring-program-your-school
https://www.ncjrs.gov/html/youthbulletin/9907-4/contents.html
http://www.dubuque.k12.ia.us/studentmentoring/Studentmentoringinformation.htm
- Write articles/tips on bullying prevention themes for the school and/or local newspaper.
- Create a flag as a symbol for kindness and respect in your school.
- Discuss ways to show appreciation to school employees including custodians, bus drivers, kitchen workers, secretaries and teaching staff.
- Talk about ways to show kindness.
http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/Kindness-Ideas
http://www.helpothers.org/ideas.php?op=theme#youth
http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/Educators/School-Activity-Ideas/
- Implement a bus /bus stop buddy program –possibly pairing older students with younger students to watch over them at the bus stop and on the bus.
- Start a buddy bus stop plan on your playground – providing benches where students who are being bullied or have no one to play with can sit. Teachers can monitor and address bullying of these students. Encourage or have volunteer students invite those sitting on bench to play with them. https://www.edulink.networcs.net/sites/teachlearn/esd/Resources/benches.pdf and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1321449/Buddy-Stop-helps-cut-playground-bullying.html
- Designate a place where kids can go during recess/breaks/lunchtime who have no one to be or sit with, such as a friendship table in the lunchroom.
- Explore and implement service learning projects in your school.
http://www.uen.org/k12student/service_ideas.shtml – service learning ideas
http://www.servicelearning.org
http://www.learnandserve.gov/for_individuals/students/index.asp -great resource for students who want to start a service learning program/project in their school
http://www.servicelearning.org/youthsite
http://www.nylc.org –National Youth Leadership Council
- Create a Peer Mentoring program in your school. Learn more here.
- Hold a community event in your community, church, girl/boy scouts, or other clubs and organizations.
-Sample agenda for community event:
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/pdf/Bullying-Community-Event.pdf
Events to raise awareness and educate: Consider holding some of these more than once a year. Repetition is key to integrating new social norms of kindness and respect into the school culture.
- Pink Shirt Day- http://www.pinkshirtday.ca/about
- No Name Calling Week- http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home.html
- Mix it up day (once a month?)- http://www.tolerance.org/mix-it-up/get-started
- Ally Week- http://www.allyweek.org/
- Bullying Awareness Week:
http://www.bullyingawarenessweek.org – click on each day on the left side of the page for lots of ideas to do anytime
http://www.actionwork.com/antibullyingweek – half way down the page there are lots of ideas
- Bullying Awareness Month:
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm – has lots of ideas
Websites with resources for starting a gay/straight alliance in your school:
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/2226.html?state=tools&type=student
http://www.gsanetwork.org/resources/building-your-gsa
Websites with resources for starting a diversity club:
http://www.dosomething.org/clubs/starter-kit
http://www.cherrycreekdiversity.org/2012/resources.php?target=Activity+Ideas+for+Diversity+Clubs
Student Action Tool-kits:
http://stompoutbullying.org/student_participation_toolkit.php
Website pages specifically with ideas for student action:
http://www.angriesout.com/kids6.htm
http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/binary-data/NoNameCalling_ATTACHMENTS/file/37-1.pdf -pages of ideas that can be used any time during the year, not just No Name Calling Week
http://www.adl.org/Prejudice/closethebook.pdf -101 Ways to Combat Prejudice
Be creative and have fun!! 🙂
For further information or assistance please contact Ann Gettis at jeremiahshopefk@gmail.com and/or look around our website, www.jeremiahshopeforkindness.org and our facebook page,www.facebook.com/jeremiahshopeforkindness