Coping with Bullying Lesson Plan: Strategies for Real-Life Situations

Lesson Procedure:

1. Project the Word Wall for students to see, and ask them to define the word 'bully'. Introduce the BrainPOP Jr. definition. Have students have experienced someone saying hurtful things to them over and over? On index cards, write out different bullying scenarios that students mention. For example, one scenario might be about a kid who receives hurtful e-mails. Another scenario might be about a bully who keeps breaking a kid's toys.
2. Display the Talk About It feature and invite students to share ways they can respond to bullying.
3. Play the Bullying Movie and instruct students to listen for similarities and differences between the way they cope with bullying and the strategies that Annie and Moby suggest.
4. Revisit the Talk About It chart and have students add ideas they learned from the movie.
5. Take out the index cards you previously used to record various bullying scenarios that the class shared. Read each one individually and have students brainstorm different ways they could tell the bully to stop if they were in that situation. Sample responses might include "Cut it out!" and "No one thinks you're being funny." Remind your students of the importance of staying calm and confident; a bully wants to see someone get upset. Have them say their responses out loud in a confident manner. You can model behavior for the class by demonstrating confident body language, with shoulders forward and head held high, and remind them to make eye contact with the bully, even if they are scared.
6. Give students the opportunity to practice in more scenarios. Divide students into pairs or small groups and distribute the Game Board. Allow students to use either the BrainPOP Jr. spinner or a regular spinner to play the game.
7. Have students share anti-bullying strategies they practiced during the game. As new ideas are explained, add them to the Talk About It chart.