We have been on the topic of bullies and other large threats that children across the United States and world face every day. I think it has been fairly easy to read about these topics, learn the proper technique for recognizing the signs and then put the anti-whatever it may be procedures into action. We are told that if it is a bully/victim situation we should listen to both the bully and the victim and try to solve the situation from the root. Listen to the bully. Find out why he/she is acting the way she is. Help rehabilitate the bully. All in the mean time be sure you are paying very close attention to the victim. Make sure he/she feels safe and supported, and be gosh darn sure they have zero access to weapons! P.S. you also have a classroom of 24 other students who are ready to pounce on any excuse possible to not do their regular work. How on earth is there really time to correctly handle all of this? (this is all assuming that some 2nd grade teacher didn't do her job and stop the bully when he/she was little, and now it is a big problem)
To be honest, I do not think I am going to be very keen on listening to any pleading from a bully if I do witness bullying in action. Emotions are going to well up inside of me and my compassion for the victim is going to take over any thoughts I may have had towards the other individual. I am not sure, but I assume that is a normal feeling most teachers/people feel. It is going to be very hard for me, at first, to not despise the bully for doing things maybe he/she feels they have no say in doing. The bully just hit a student/spread a horrid rumor about someone. Entire school districts are responding with a "Zero Tolerance" campaign. How am I going to not support that movement? This is clearly a weakness of mine, but my immediate reaction is to get that bully as far away from my kids as possible.
I completely understand that sometimes the victim is not innocent. I know I have the know-how to work through the mud and get to the bottom of a situation where the protagonist may also be the antagonist. This I am not concerned about. My concern is that my knowledge of the bully's SES, parental situation, learning abilities, you name it, are all going out the window as soon as a crime has been committed. Am I the only one with this fear?
ED460 Personal and Social Well Being is a course taken by college students in education during their student teaching semester. Topics covered include: poverty, child abuse, bullying, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, counselors' role in school, adolescents and choices, and the use of technology.
I totally agree with you that dealing with bullying will be a challenge. It will be difficult to understand the side of the bully, but I think in the end you will have compassion for them. I am sure that all of us will be furious or upset with the bully. But once we have time to simmer down and control ourselves we will be able to get to the bottom of the situation having compassion for both sides. However getting to the point of compassion for both parties may take time and a continuation of learning about bullying.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it will both be hard to feel any empathy for the bully and handle the situation properly with everything else that must be taken care of. For the little experience that I have in the classroom I know that it is near impossible to properly and adequately handle every situation at once. And while I need to attend to my class I also know that bullying is not one of those things that can usually be left til later that day. So often bullying escalates in minutes and if you waste any moment handling it it can fly out of control. So...I have no solution, but I know that the administration and I will have to become best friends if anything will be taken care of in proper time and through proper procedures.
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