© 2019 Drama by George LLC. Permission granted to reproduce this page for classroom use only within school buildings which have hosted a presentation of Real Life Drama: Stopping Bullies during the current academic year.

STOPPING BULLIESDISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. WelearnedadefinitionforbullyingduringtheRealLifeDramaprogram: “Hurtingsomeone’sbodyorfeelings onpurpose and morethanonceina one-sidedfight.”Cansomeonetelluswhatoneofthoseunderlined phrasesmeansinyourownwords?

Write the definition of bullying on the whiteboard before you ask your students to unpack it.• Hurting means that bullying is always designed to cause pain. Whether the bully hurts your feelings or hurts your

body, the point is that it’s painful!• Bodyorfeelings means that bullies may use actions (like hitting or shoving) to cause physical pain, or they may

use words (like calling names or spreading rumors) to cause emotional pain.• Onpurpose means that bullying is always done intentionally—in other words, the bully is trying to make you

hurt. If a person causes you pain by accident, she may have been careless, but she wasn’t a bully.• Morethanonce means that bullying is repeated over time. If someone calls you a name once, that’s mean, but it’s

not bullying. If he calls you names every day for a week, that’s bullying.• One-sidedfight means that bullying happens when one of the people involved is doing all the mean stuff, and the

other person hasn’t done anything wrong. When two people use mean words against each other, it’s called an argument (or verbal fight). When two people hurt each others’ bodies, it’s called a fist fight. Bullying happens when only one person is being mean and the other person didn’t do anything mean to cause it.

2. Allofushavethoughtsaboutdoingmeanthingstootherssometimes, especiallywhenwe’reangry.Whatdidwelearnaboutturningmean thoughtsintoniceactions?

We learned an equation for “Kindness Math” which you may want to write on the whiteboard: “WhatwillhappenifI’mMEAN?+HowcanIchoosetobeNICE?=KINDNESS.”• Think about what will happen if you do the mean thing you’re thinking about. What will happen to you? What

will happen to the other person? For example, maybe you’re tempted to hit a classmate who said something unkind to you. But if you hit the person, you may get in trouble and feel guilty for hitting. Your classmate will get hurt and might not want to be arund you. You probably don’t want those things to happen.

• Instead of being mean, choose a way to be nice. For example, maybe you’ll walk away from the classmate before you hit him. Even better, maybe you’ll say something kind to him even though he was unkind to you! When you’re able to turn mean thoughts into nice actions, kindness is the result.

3. TheRealLifeDramaprogramtaughtusfourideasforstoppingbullies. YoucanrememberthembythinkingofthewordsStop,Leave,Tell, and Friend.Whocantelluswhatoneofthosewordsmeans?

Write the four key words (italicized above) on the whiteboard before asking your students to explain them.

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• STOP means that you should “have courage to tell the bully to stop.” Sometimes, stopping a bully is as simple as clearly and firmly telling her that you don’t like what she’s doing, and you don’t want her to do it anymore. You might say, “Stop it, I don’t like what you’re doing.”

• LEAVE means that you “Don’t listen to trash talk. Just walk away.” If the bully doesn’t stop after you ask them to, it’s time to leave the situation. Nothing good will come from hanging around the bully. Why would you stay somewhere that you’re in danger?

• TELL means that you should “Tell an adult you trust what happened.” If the bully won’t stop when you ask, and he comes after you if you walk away, then it’s time to get an adult involved. This is not the same thing as tattling! Tattling means trying to get someone in trouble. Reporting a bully is protecting yourself from a dangerous situation.

• FRIEND means that you should “Hang out with people who care about you.” Bullies often pick on kids who are alone. When you’re with friends, bullies are less likely to come after you, so spend time with people who genuinely care about you. By the way, if you’re not being bullied but you know someone who is, you could make a big difference in his life by making friends with him!

4. Whatare“bystanders”?Whatcantheydotostopbullies?A bystander is a person who’s not a bully, and he’s not being bullied, either. However, he sees what is happening. He tries to stop the bully by getting involved in the situation. He might tell the bully to stop, walk away with the person who’s being picked on, report the incident to a teacher, or be a friend to the bully’s victim. The most powerful thing that a bystander can do is simply tell the bully, clearly and firmly, to stop. According to a study cited on the website StopBullying.gov, bullies often back off when another person steps in to help. In fact, the meanness stops within seconds more than half of the time!

FOLLOW-UPACTIVITIES1. Sendaletterordrawing.

Our presenters love mail! If you’d like, you can assign your students to write us short letters (or draw pictures) showing what they learned from Real Life Drama. We can’t answer individual students’ letters, but we’ll reply to the class as a whole if we receive your letters within 30 days of your program. Please include your school’s address and tell us to whom the reply should be directed (for example, “Ms. Jones’ Third Grade Class”). Mail your letters to: Drama by George 1236 Lexington Road, Suite 102 Louisville, KY 40204-1164

2. Writeashortstory.Have your students write a short, realistic fiction piece about bullying. The story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. At the beginning of the story, we meet the characters (at minimum, a bully and her victim) and the bullying takes place. The middle must include at least one strategy that the victim tries to make the bully stop. The ending is where we find out if the strategy works. Does the bully stop picking on her victim? The story doesn’t necessarily need to have a happy ending, but the victim must at least try to use one of the strategies discussed during the program (Stop, Leave, Tell, or Friend) to prevent bullying. Remind your students that violence may not be presented as the solution to bullying! (Otherwise, some students are likely to submit inappropriate narratives.)

3. Createaposter.Assign your students to create a bullying prevention poster with the theme “STOPPING BULLIES.” Each student should choose one of the strategies for bullying prevention discussed during the program (Stop, Leave, Tell, or Friend) as the theme for her poster. Display the students’ artwork on a bulletin board, or better yet, hang them in various locations in your school’s hallways.

Helpingschoolsgrowstudentswithcompassionandcharacter|www.dramabygeorge.com

© 2019 Drama by George LLC. Permission granted to reproduce this page for classroom use only within school buildings which have hosted a presentation of Real Life Drama: Stopping Bullies during the current academic year. 2

STOPPING BULLIES

© 2019 Drama by George LLC. Permission granted to reproduce this page for classroom use only within school buildings which have hosted a presentation of Real Life Drama: Stopping Bullies during the current academic year.

STOP LEAVE

HAVE COURAGE TO TELL THE BULLY TO STOP. DON’T LISTEN TO TRASH TALK. JUST WALK AWAY.

TELL

TELL AN ADULT YOU TRUST WHAT HAPPENED.

FRIEND

HANG OUT WITH PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT YOU.3

WHAT IS BULLYING?

© 2019 Drama by George LLC. Permission granted to reproduce this page for classroom use only within school buildings which have hosted a presentation of Real Life Drama: Stopping Bullies during the current academic year.

Hurting someone’sbody or feelings on purpose and

more than once in a one-sided fight.

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TURN MEAN INTO NICE

© 2019 Drama by George LLC. Permission granted to reproduce this page for classroom use only within school buildings which have hosted a presentation of Real Life Drama: Stopping Bullies during the current academic year.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I’M

MEAN?HOW CAN I CHOOSE TO BE

NICE?KINDNESS

+5

STOPPING BULLIES

*Source: www.stopbullying.gov/news/media/facts, accessed 19 Jan. 2017. © 2019 Drama by George LLC. Permission granted to reproduce this page for classroom use only within school buildings which have hosted a presentation of Real Life Drama: Stopping Bullies during the current academic year.

STOPLEAVETELL

FRIEND6

BYSTANDER HERO

*Source: www.stopbullying.gov/news/media/facts, accessed 19 Jan. 2017. © 2019 Drama by George LLC. Permission granted to reproduce this page for classroom use only within school buildings which have hosted a presentation of Real Life Drama: Stopping Bullies during the current academic year.

Bullies often back off

when someone

steps in to help. The

meanness stops

within seconds more

than half the time!*

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