Bully Behavior: National Poetry Month

Carmen Graber teaches poetry to her 8th graders, and they share their poems aloud. She writes and shares along with her students. This one stunned them. You'll see why.

Pinball (for my 8^th grade students) 

by Carmen Graber

Words shoot out of mouths

Like a pinball launching from the starting chute.

The words ricochet off the hallway walls

Bruising and battering unsuspecting students.

Points can be scored for claiming

“She is my friend”

“I am just joking and having fun”

“He doesn’t mind”

You score extra points

If you light up

A student’s fear and

Make him or her feel insecure.

Be careful though,

You don’t want to cause the game to tilt!

You are racking up the points;

But then the teacher comes out

With a look of scorn

And tells you

“knock it off-get to class”

Your fun is destroyed-

This round is finished.

But not to fret.

Another round is waiting in the chute.

This time when you launch,

The rules have changed.

The flippers turn into hands

Which slap the back of someone’s neck.

It’s a game you say.

No harm done.

But the marks are there

This time more evident than the words

But both are destructive.

There are pieces of students

Splattered on the walls

Trampled under foot,

Lost in the commotion.

Until that teacher comes over again

“keep your hands and your words to yourself”

And this time you hear

“game over”

But only till the game resets

And you start another round.

Here are some anti-bullying resources: Stop Bullying Stomp Out Bullying, and the program used in our local schools, Olweus. And a list of books for kids with an anti-bullying theme.

Bullying is not a game. Pinball is!

No Name-Calling, No Bullying

Freak! Fatso! Shrimp! Blockhead! or worse--much, much worse. "Sticks and stones may break our bones," but words can hurt a loooong time, whether delivered in person or electronically.



We are toward the end of No Name-Calling Week, an organized effort to educate about bullying and eradicate it.

My recent research about bullies revealed that bullies can be just about anybody. They come from all walks of life, social strata, and popularity levels. The one thing bullies have in common is that they themselves were bullied.

In the non-fiction book Letters to a Bullied Girl, two sisters started a letter-writing project to help a girl in a neighboring town who was bullied. Among the letters were several by adults who admitted bullying others when they were younger and who apologized for it now that they understood the hurt they'd caused.

The ugly cycle will continue unless we work together to stop it. The U.S. Department of Education is one sponsor in such an effort, launching the new website BullyingInfo.org. See what one official says about it here.

Many people and institutions ignore bullying or fail to take it seriously (it's part of growing up, they didn't mean any harm, etc.), but the news this past year has shown dire effects for not taking action. All it takes to stop bullying is for one person to stand up.

Author, speaker, and educator Barbara Coloroso recounts the story--told to her by an adult--who was called a racial slur by his elementary school teacher and kicked and called names by his peers. One boy, whose name the victim remembers all these years later, stood up to the others, took the victim aside, and played with him, stopping the abuse. Click Coloroso's name for helpful handouts adapted from the work of Dan Olweus, bullying prevention expert whose program has been adopted by many schools.

According to Olweus and Coloroso,the four most power antidotes to bullying are
1) having a strong sense of self,
2) being a friend,
3) having at least one good friend
4) being part of a group.

Be a friend, have a friend, and may any names you call be sweet.

(photo by Heather Katsoulis, http://www.flickr.com/photos/hlkljgk/2487113840/)