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Not in Our School

About NIOS

Not In Our School is a program that creates safe, accepting and inclusive school communities. Not In Our School provides training, films, lesson plans and resources that inspire students to take the lead in standing up to bullying and intolerance in their schools.

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  • The Royal Chicano Air Force
      The Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) is an artistic collective based in Sacramento, California.  It was founded in 1969 to express the goals of the Chicano civil rights and labor organizing movement of the United Farm Workers. Its mission was to make available to the Chicano community a bilingual/bicultural arts center where artists could come together, exchange ideas, provide mutual support, and make available to the public artistic, cultural, and educational programs and events.
  • Activity Guide: Bullying Role Play and Practicing Intervention
    In this video, students use role-playing scenarios to depict experiences with prejudice or name-calling and practice effective interventions to combat or stop the bullying or harassment. This process can be an effective tool to use with students in your own classroom and school. Please use the guidelines below and review the “Note of Caution” to ensure a positive and productive experience.
  • Lesson Idea: Stand Up, Stand Out: No Checking, No Capping, No Bullying
     Overview:
  • Slater Jewell-Kemker - EXPRESS
      Slater Jewell-Kemker is a 17-year-old filmmaker and reporter who celebrates the best of humanity, empowering young people to change the world with media and technology. Through her work, Slater has empowered a global network of young environmentalists and met with important trendsetters and lawmakers. By using the tool of EXPRESS, Slater and the youth that join her are creating positive social change. This lesson addresses the following Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies and you can have students look for these issues and examine them in themselves.
  • Extraordinary Upstander: Jennifer Gaxiola
      Although unable to speak, read or write in English when she came to the United States in 2005, Jennifer Gaxiola's innate sense of self-worth compelled her to succeed.  
  • Activity Guide: Discussing Prejudice and Discrimination
    Engaging students in dialogue about prejudice and discrimination is a very powerful tool in combating hate and bullying and ensuring respectful classrooms and schools. Such dialogues can be led by classroom teachers, school social workers or counselors, or by other students trained to lead and facilitate dialogue.  Having students view the “Students Tune In and Speak Out” video to begin such a dialogue is an effective way to open this process.
  • Class Actions in the Classroom: A Compilation of Lesson Ideas
    Schools and college campuses are screening Not In Our Town: Class Actions across the country. Here we will compile ideas on how to use this PBS program in your classroom. Thanks to Newcomers High School (Long Island City, NY) teacher Julie Mann and Lakewood High School (Lakewood, OH) teacher Joe Lobozzo for preparing these comprehensive materials.  Pre-Screening Activities 
  • Chukou Thou - ORGANIZE
      Chukou Thao, executive director of National Hmong American Farmers, immigrated to Fresno, CA with his family at age 8, after Laotian citizens were granted asylum in the US after the Vietnam war. Many of the first Hmong farmers suffered from discrimination, so Thao left his "cushy" job at the city of Fresno to ORGANIZE his community in a fight against injustice. Using the experiences of community members, Thao has grown NHAF to promote economic development, training and assistance to create positive social change in his community.
  • Janet Miller - ORGANIZE
      Janet Miller, a teacher at Hoover Middle School, said that she was blown away by district-wide statistics that revealed the risk of violence that transgendered youth experience. Moved by the statistics, Miller made an impassioned plea to her colleagues that it was their responsibility to create a safe learning environment for ALL students and that any type of discrimination should not be tolerated. This lesson addresses the following SEL strategies and you can have students look for these issues and examine them in themselves.
  • Facing History and Ourselves Lesson Plan: Spread the Peace
    Facing History and Ourselves combats racism, antisemitism, and religious prejudice by using history to teach tolerance in classrooms around the globe.
  • Lesson Idea: “No Human Being Was Born Illegal”
    Created by Facing History and Ourselves    Overview
  • Not In Our School Lessons Meet the Common Core State Standards
    Additional Writing Activities for Not In Our School Films and the Video Action Kit NIOS films and lesson plans can be used in academic courses that address writing and health. Here are some activities that can be added to address Common Core State Standards in areas of Writing and Critical Thinking.
  • Lesson Plan for Sikh Way of Life Videos
    Three Films Produced and Directed by Sikh Youth
  • Watching "Lancaster, CA: A City Unites to End School Bullying" In Your Classroom
    The video, "Lancaster, California: A City United to End School Bullying," profiles students, educators and community members working to create change after two teen suicides, resulting from bullying, devastate two nearby towns. In the aftermath, a local middle school counselor initiates an anti-bullying program throughout the district and students take the lead in standing up to bullying and intolerance in their schools and community.  This lesson is part of the Not In Our School Video Action Kit, a comprehensive toolkit featuring films, lessons, and resources designed to motivate students to speak out against bullying, and create new ways to make their schools safe for everyone.
  • Break Bullying: Not in the Break Room, Not on the Playground
    The Public Service Announcement (PSA), “Break Bullying,” depicts adults in an office environment re-enacting the director’s personal bullying experience from middle school. His point: If we would not stand for this in the office, why do we stand for it happening to kids in schools?  It is a call to action for everyone to take bullying seriously. Students and teachers alike are reporting visceral responses to the PSA. You will hear a few bleeps—but those bleeps, unedited, are what kids experience daily in their schools. Produced by MAKE, a professional ad agency in Minneapolis, MN. Directed by Mike Nelson and donated to Not In Our Town. Directions
  • Creating a Campus Climate Committee
    Each school’s anti-bullying efforts contribute new and exciting ideas to share with others. Read how Abbott Middle School in San Mateo, CA has created a Campus Climate Committee with a range of exciting and interactive activities. As part of this work, Abbott teachers have also made a “promise” to support their students. Abbott has embarked upon a spirited campaign to decrease bullying, and more to the point, create a community of citizens that value treating one another with respect and empathy. We developed the Campus Climate Committee (CCC) to include students, parents, and teachers to lead this project. The students developed activities to address areas of concern such as rumors, the isolation of bullied students, and being an upstander. We wanted to promote awareness among students and staff on the problems that occur when bullying is left unchecked, and how to proactively engage in intervening.
  • Lesson Plan for "Shajee's Story: Middle School Students Learn About Islam"
    Lesson Idea from Facing History and Ourselves   Overview  
  • Class Actions in the Classroom: A Compilation of Lesson Ideas
    Schools and college campuses are screening Not In Our Town: Class Actions across the country. Here we will compile ideas on how to use this PBS program in your classroom. Thanks to Newcomers High School (Long Island City, NY) teacher Julie Mann and Lakewood High School (Lakewood, OH) teacher Joe Lobozzo for preparing these comprehensive materials.  Pre-Screening Activities  Part 1: Mississippi Part 2: Indiana Part 3: California
  • Lesson Idea: Stand Up, Stand Out: No Checking, No Capping, No Bullying
     Overview:
  • Class Actions: Post-Screening Activities
    Find previews and information about Class Actions at niot.org/ClassActions Written by: Julie Mann, Newcomers High School teacher, and Joe Lobozzo, Lakewood High School teacher I.    Role-playing:   Put students into groups of 3.  Give out the role-play scenarios. Explain to your students that they will be acting out these scenes. It is their job to create a positive ending, one in which the bullying is prevented.  Have each group perform the scenario and have the class analyze the scene to see what positive solution they created. Write down all the positive solutions on a poster as possible antidotes to bullying.

School Groups

Across the country, NIOS groups are creating new ways to make their schools safe for everyone. Start your own NIOS group page, and share how you're standing up for acceptance and inclusion!
Learn More About School Groups