Discussion and Opinions.  In several places, the Curriculum encourages children to discuss their thoughts about bullying and cyberbullying.  The purpose of these discussions is not so much to convey specific points of knowledge as it is to reduce the secrecy surrounding abusive behaviors and to encourage children to recognize the similarity between their own experiences and those of their peers. 

Learning From Older Peers.  In addition to conventional adult-led lessons, this Curriculum takes advantage of children’s developmentally appropriate interest in learning from slightly older peers.  The purpose is to promote positive anti-bullying modeling by older students and positive social relationships between children of different ages (which in turn promotes a positive social climate). 

Emphasis on the emotional impact of bullying and cyberbullying on targets, bystanders and eggers, the purpose of which is to make any justification and minimization of bullying and cyberbullying more difficult.

Emphasis on bystander undermining of bullying, rather than on active confrontation.  In the abstract, children generally endorse the position that bystanders should take aggressive action by confronting bullies.  However, research has found that in real situations, children who witness bullying very rarely feel able to directly take any action, such as confronting a bully or openly siding with a victim.  (The same, incidentally, is true of adults.)  Thus, urging children to take direct action may not only be futile but may actually reinforce children’s perceptions that adults “don’t get it.”  For this reason, this Curriculum teaches children to undermine the position of bullies by refusing to be an audience of bystanders and by alerting adults.  Of paramount importance is that they become aware that their bystander behavior may inadvertently contribute to, and support, bullying by providing an audience.

Among older elementary students, there is an emphasis on student direction and student leadership in addressing bullying and cyberbullying among peers. 

Detailed descriptions of bullying and cyberbullying.  Children both learn about and produce definitions and descriptions, the purpose of which is to promote thought about what is and what is not bullying (and to reduce confusion and overuse of the term).

Pairing

For the Kindergarten, First, Fourth, and Fifth grade lessons, classes will need to “pair up” with a “buddy class” for the final three lessons. 

Kindergarten classes should pair up with a Fifth grade class.

First grade classes should pair up with a Fourth grade class.

The purpose of these “paired” Lessons is to

·         Reinforce peer modeling and peer values to younger children.

·         Reinforce to older elementary students their responsibility as older peers.

·         Permit student-engaged activities across grades.

·         Promote positive social relationships between children in different age groups.

The Fourth and Fifth Grade Curricula include preparation for the “paired” lessons. 
 

Note about cartoons and materials in color:  Many of the materials and cartoons found in this Curriculum are in vivid color.  This may make copying them difficult for many K-12 schools, which either lack color copiers or use them only sparingly.  However, color is an important element in the lessons, as it serves to make the materials more engaging visually – a very important factor in education today.  If you cannot reproduce multiple copies of color materials, here are some alternatives:

·         Project the paper version of the materials using an overhead projector.  This may be more desirable than having each child with an individual copy, as it promotes a group approach.

·         Project the electronic PDF version of the materials using an LCD projector and a computer or laptop. 

·         Project the online version of the materials, again, using an LCD projector and computer.

·         Particularly for the cartoons shared with the entire class, you may want to laminate them to preserve a good color printout; then they can be reused as necessary and only one copy is necessary.

       *  Technology requirements
*  Curriculum Objectives, broken down by Grade Year
* Books utilized in the Curriculum