national bullying prevention month

  This week, Not In Our School featured a video of DeMonte, an upstander at his middle school as a Safe School Ambassador. The Ambassadors program is part of Community Matters, which encourages students to act as role models against bullying. Community Matters founder Rick Phillips works to equip students with the tools to keep their own schools safe.    By Rick Phillips, Founder of Community Matters   As educators, parents, and the community at large, we have addressed the growing issue of bullying, cyberbullying and harassment by implementing tools, policies and procedures that focus primarily on security.  All too often these decisions have been made in the absence of a powerful stakeholder group, a voice that is critical in making systemic change to prevent, de-escalate and stop mistreatment on school campuses, the student voice.   

October has arrived, which means National Bullying Prevention Month is here. This year, we're dedicating the month to Extraordinary Upstanders, ordinary citizens who see something wrong and do something to make it right. We believe that being an upstander, who speaks up and stands up for themselves and others, is a way of life. 

October Bullying Prevention Month is almost over. But there is still time to take action!  All month long, we have discussed bullying and showcased creative ways to address it. During Week 1, we premiered the video “Break Bullying: Not in the Breakroom, Not on the Playground.” This video addressed the urgency and seriousness of bullying, and was featured on the CNN Schools of Thought website and viewed over 50,000 times!  For Week 2, we showed that anyone can speak up and stand up to bullying. We shared innovative and creative ways to be upstanders, people who speak up and stand up to bullying and intolerance.  And for Week 3, we made efforts to put an end to cyberbullying. We shared our film, “Students Take On Cyberbullying.” We also shared how students from the film joined a cyberbullying panel discussion on a MTV-sponsored “Digital Citizenship Day.”

For educators, National Bullying Prevention Month is a great opportunity to discuss cyberbullying in the classroom. In this Not In Our School video, “Students Take On Cyberbullying,” high school students tackle the problem of cyberbullying in their schools through a class discussion and presentation. They log onto Facebook and create a more positive online environment, addressing the problem of cyberbullying head-on. Watch this short film with your students: Discuss: 1. What strategies might students use to address the issue of cyberbullying?2. What challenges might students confront?3. What might be the consequences of doing nothing?  Several students in this film were invited to participate in a town hall for New York Digital Citizenship Day cohosted by Common Sense Media and MTV. Stay tuned for more later this week!