Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Final Thoughts and Reflections


Final Thoughts and Reflections
This class has been a great experience. When I registered for this course I had no idea I would be blogging or creating brochures and lesson plans. I was disappointed that I was unable to execute my Strategy Presentation. I felt that it would have been a great experience to see how my target audience responds to the presentation. The subject of bullying has been very dear to me. In the recent news, there have been reports of elementary and middle school kids committing suicide because of bullying. Also, it is the technological age and cyber-bullying has run ramped in the young community. I found that just telling a teacher is not always the answer. So I decided to take a stand and reach out to the students. The overall goal is to help students understand the effects of bullying and have them look out for each other. The lesson plan and strategy presentation are designed to jump start their knowledge of the effects of bullying and the paradigm. The lesson plan went over the bullying paradigm and the strategy presentation was an overall introduction to bullying, going over the effects and different forms.
Blogging has been a great experience! I have read blogs in the past and never truly understood their function. Since this course I have developed other blogs. My “Stand Up Against Bullying” blog has been a great way to voice my health topic. Compared other strategies I felt that blogging was enriching and a great way to reach out to my fellow classmates. 

Strategy Presentation


My strategy presentation was to be presented to adolescent girls between the ages of 11-13 in a middle school setting.  Unfortunately I was unable to get a group together for the strategy presentation. With bullying being so predominate in middle schools, I wanted to reach out to this young group.  I interviewed a middle school principle at Briarhill Middle School months ago and he informed me that many students don't know how to identify bullying. This presentation is the precursor to my lesson plan which goes over the "Bullying Paradigm."
I prepared a PowerPoint presentation that outlines my strategy presentation. Many middle school students are not familiar with Photo voice. A few slides in my PowerPoint included “Photo voice” and I felt it was a good way to reach out to the students. Photos were taken with the help of my co-workers and friends that show the emotions and struggles of bullying. 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7su-WFrsVY4aHRNN0N2anRwOEU/edit





Thursday, July 18, 2013

Bullying and the Minority Population


Bullying in the Minority Population
Bullying affects the minority population just as much as the non-minority population(s).  Students that are black and/or Hispanic are at risk for suffering life-long psychological scarring from bullying (National Education Association [NEA], 2013). Current research suggests that minority students that are high academic achievers tend to be bullied by their fellow students (American Sociological Association [ASA], 2011). The bullying will lead the grades dropping for these minority high academic accomplished students. The reason for the drop in grade point average (GPA) is the fact that the bullying will make the students miss school and become depressed (National Education Association [NEA], 2013).
According to the NEA (2013), bullying occurs in all races for students who are academic achievers; however “it seems to be especially detrimental for subsets of certain racial and ethnic groups” (NEA, 2013). There are stereotypes that suggest that black or Hispanic students do poorly in school. These stereotypes will cause students to tease this particular minority group. As previously stated, minority students that are high academic achievers and who do not fit the stereotype are teased and that causes a group in their GPA (NEA, 2013).
Statistics
GPA Drop Rates Amongst Minority Students that are High Academic Achievers who suffered from Bullying
The ASA (2011) reported that 10th grade ESL students of mixed races from Asian, Black, and Hispanic, showed that after bullying, their GPA dropped .049 points in their 12th grade GPA. Studies show that 9th students that are black with high GPA who were teased in 10th grade experienced a .3 points decrease in their 12th grade GPAs (ASA, 2011). However, the high achieving Latino students were great affected by bullying. The Latino students that were bullied in 10th grade that started with a 3.5 GPA in 9th grade suffered a .5-point decrease in their GPA by their senior year (ASA, 2011).
Additional Statistics
According the Bullying Statistics (2009) sexual harassment rates are higher in for students who are of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. This is true to middle school students more than any other age group. Once it comes to gender, female are more likely to be called gender-based hate words. Males are more likely to be called hate-words that are ethnic and racially based (Bullying Statistics, 2009).
Recommendation on how the community can help
In the case of bullying within the school setting for minority students that possess either poor grades or those that are high academic achiever, the teachers and school staff should pay close attention. Teachers and/or health educator need to be fully aware of what is happening to their minority students. A health educator can develop intervention programs that will break down the racial stereotypes.
Community Organization Support
The NEA offers a great support website with multiple links to others. This particular sites and its link offer information and support for minorities and bullying. The site reaches out to the students, parents, and teachers.
PACERS National Bullying Prevention Center is another great site that promotes standing up against bullying. This site and organization offers information on bullying and for minority students as well. There are fundraisers for walks and other social events that support the anti-bullying cause.
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/?gclid=CNvI_trrurgCFSIV7Aod02cAyQ

References
American Sociological Association. (2011). Bullying Victims Often Suffer Academically, Particularly 
High Achieving Blacks and Latinos. Retrieved from http://www.asanet.org/press/bullying_victims_often_suffer_academically.cfm
National Education Association. (2013). Bullying Takes Toll on Minority Student Achievement. Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2011/09/07/bullying-takes-toll-on-minority-student-achievement/

Lesson Plan


Title: Let’s Stand Up Against Bullying!

This lesson plan will be intended for middle school students in grades 7 and 8th. This is a program that will allow students of understand the bullying paradigm. Within the bullying paradigm are bullies, bully-victims, victims and uninvolved parties. The students will first receive handouts on the bully paradigm. There will be a PowerPoint presentation at the start that will define the bullying paradigm, followed by a group discussion on the topic. The discussion is to reinforce the knowledge of the paradigm as well as determine if the students have a grasp on the topic. Students will then break into groups of 4 (the students will be broken up into group depending on where they sit in the classroom). The group of 4 will each be given a scenario and have to discuss act out (role-playing) that scenario each being given a role within the paradigm. At the end of the lesson there will be another open discussion on thoughts and feelings about the paradigm. The different scenarios will include real life conflicts at school.

Health Topic and Intended Audience

The audience will be middle school students at Briarhill Middle School in Highland Village, Texas. These students are 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, ages 11-13. Eighty sixty point twenty percent of the students are white, 4.22% are black, 6.18% are Hispanic, 31% are Asian and 0.21% are Native American (Movoto, 2013). Briarhill Middle School is in the Lewisville ISD. There will be 12 students for one session. The students will be picked at random from each grade level and class. The program will run through the entire school year and throughout the school day.

According to Bullying has been recognized as a major health issue (Klomeck, Sourander, & Gould, 2011). Studies show that bullying is associated with suicide depression, suicide attempts and ideations (Klomeck, Sourander, & Gould, 2011). Suicide is the third leading cause of death for youths, ages 10 and 24 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Recent number of suicides in youths have been linked to Cyber bullying (Klomeck, Sourander, & Gould, 2011). The type forms of bullying include verbal, physical, harassment via text or phone and cyber bullying. 

According to Chen & Schwartz (2012) bullying and victimization affect students’ quality of life at school. Social, emotional, and academic developments are crucial predictors (Chen & Schwartz, 2012). There are four types of individual involved in the bullying paradigm. This includes the bully, the victim, the bully-victim and the uninvolved parties. The bullies are the students that believe they have the “higher power” they often come from upper social class and/or popular in school and have a sense of entitlement. The bullies are the ones that are aggressive to the victims. The victims are the ones that being harassed by the bullies but do not fight back. The bully-victims are those that are victims to bullying and in turn are bullies themselves. The uninvolved party often observes the bullying and victimization without action. The results of this issue can be devastating with the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings. These two events were believed to be due to bullying. An estimated 30% to 40% of elementary, middle, and high school students in the United States (U.S.) reportedly experience bullying and victimization in school on a daily or weekly basis (Chen & Schwartz, 2012).

According to Berkley University (2012) seventh graders (middle school students) have typically entered what may be the most disorienting time of life. During this disorienting time in their lives, middle school students can be more sensitive to bullying and stress. The goal is to create a healthy environment for these students or to help them cope with the environment they are already in. A healthy environment consists of both physical and social aspects. Cyber-bullying is now considered one of the major forms of bullying within the young adult community. A part of creating a healthy environment would be to prevent cyber-bullying.

            In recent news, young adults have committed suicide due to bullying. Also, past school shootings have been related to bullying. As previously stated, middle school students are entering a disorienting time in their lives.  A student’s mental status can greatly affect their actions including the ones that may be erratic during times of despair. The second goal is to improve mental status for the students. 

            Berkley University developed a guide to health teachers implement science to middle school students. The guide titled “Know your student: nature of the middle school student” helps teachers develop different types of techniques for their students by understanding how this certain age group operates. This guide is not considered a program but as a health educator this is an important tool to plan an intervention program.

Setting

The setting will be in a classroom in a middle school during school hours, Monday-Friday.  The classroom should consist of 20 seats and room for students to break into groups. The classrooms much allow students to be able to get out of their seats and able to have space to work. The environment outside this setting must cater to the program because there will be group activities that include role-play and discussion.

Estimated Time

The estimated time for the program would be 4.5 hours.

0800-08:15: Introduction to program. Explain to the students the purpose of the program

08:15-09:30: Presenting the PowerPoint on bullying-paradigm and showing the Standup Against Bullying Blog, which includes the Brochure and PSA for the Program.

09:30-10:45: Break into group and discuss the group discussion assignment.

10:45-11:15: End groups and discussion on their scenarios, thoughts and feelings about the bully paradigm

11:15-12:00: End of lesson questionnaire

12:00-12:30: Evaluation

Materials Needed

Paper, pencils, note cards, projector, PowerPoint, computer, and, chairs

Guiding Health Education Theory or Model

There are several different intervention strategies that exist, for this particular program the environmental and community organization strategies will be considered. The environmental strategy places attention on the physical and social environment. According to Healey and Zimmerman (2010), environmental strategy includes efforts that are supportive to health but discourage the actions that are not supportive to health. The community-based health promotion intervention involves the community working together. Schools are one of the multiple settings in a community-based intervention strategy.  The community-based health promotion intervention will involve the support of the entire school district, it’s teachers and the principal.

Goal

The overall goal of the program is to help students identify the bully paradigm and how it affects each of them. The students are to recognize the difference between each and the important roles they each play.

Objectives

         By the end of the lesson, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students will identify who makes up bullying paradigm by completely the questions on the worksheet with 90% accuracy. (Cognitive)

         During the lesson, the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students will demonstrate their understanding of the bully paradigm by acting out scenarios and playing different roles. (Psychomotor)

         Following the discussion of the bully paradigm, the students as a group will verbally justify how each of the role in the paradigm. (Affective)

Learning Domains

Cognitive, psychomotor, and affective

Procedures

The instructors will first introduce themselves to the 12 students. There will be a total of 3 running the lesson, with one main instructor and two assistants. The assistants are Health Studies master’s students at Texas Woman’s University. The instructor will give state their credentials, why they developed the program and their background in educations.

Following the introduction the instructor will ask the students what they know about bullying and explain step by step about the lesson plan. The students are first shown a blog that is created by the instructor. This blog is for the “Standup Against Bullying” movement, which includes an electronic brochure (which the students will get a paper copy of the brochure to take home).




            After the blog is shown and explain to the students, they will then view a PowerPoint that goes into more detail about the Bully Paradigm, which will be the main lesson. They will be a question and answer portion to get the students to engage with their fellow students and the instructors. This ensures that the student have somewhat of an understanding before they break up into groups for the scenarios.

            The students will break up into 3 groups of 4. The instructor and assistants will chose the groups at random. Each group will be given one scenario each. The scenario will be different for each group but the main lesson is bullying. The students will spend time discussion and even acting out some of the scenario amongst themselves. The assistants will help motivate and encourage them if needed.

            After the group is completed with their discussion, each group will discuss out loud with the support of an instructor or assistant to the other groups. They will be asked the questions at the end of the questionnaire and do an open discussion. Other groups can chime in as well if needed. Each group has a different scenario so it is important that the other groups are exposed to those scenarios too.

            After the scenarios discussion the students are to take a end of lesson questionnaire about what they have learned. It is not a quiz so the students don’t feel threatened. Following the questionnaire the students will complete an evaluation for the course. 

Evaluation

Throughout the lesson, the lead instructor will evaluate the students through visual observation. The assistant about how each student interacts and is able to grasp the idea of the program will take notes and it’s goal. The students will be given 30 minutes to fill out the evaluation.

Anticipated Problem(s) and Solution(s)

Problem: Too little time to execute program.

Solution: Make sure to communicate to the teachers and principal understand that the program could run over. Allow 30 minutes of extra time.

Problem: The material is not appropriate for that specific age group

Solution: Keep the scenarios flexible and be willing to work with the students on the “real life” bullying situation that they witness.

 

 
Scenarios

Scenario 1

A fight breaks out between two students and this is a long on-going bullying issues. Everyone knows that Zach beats up on Frank and his friend Jack. It’s been seen at school. Other students have been noticing that Frank has become more withdrawn and Jack just tries his best to make the best of the situation. Frank started to become angry and his papers in creative writing class have become more morbid. Suzie is friends with Frank and Jack and doesn’t do anything when they are being bullied. She is sad for them but just walks away because she doesn’t want to get involved. The friends of Zach, the bully, don’t taunt the two victims but they also don’t help them.

Each group read this and spends about 30 minutes discussing it and even role-playing if needed. The group is to discuss what is happening and answered these questions.

1.      Identify each member of this paradigm.

2.      Discuss what is happening to Frank and Jack.

3.      Discuss the possible outcome of this whole event and how it has related to past events.

4.      Discuss the importance of the uninvolved players.

Scenario 2

Jared is a feminine male 8th grader who has an older brother who is gay. The students suspect Jared is gay and everyday he gets teased. Jared is blasted on Facebook for being gay. Students from his schools are “liking” the status that the bullies are putting on Facebook. Other students who are friends with Jared, just don’t want to be part of the cruel joke and de-friend the bullies from Facebook. Jared becomes very depressed and starts missing school. Some of his friends just don’t know what to do, so they don’t check on him. Others remain quiet as Jared speaks of wanting to kill himself. At home Jared starts to bully his younger sister and take it out on her by yelling at her and being aggressive.

1.      Which student is which of the roles in the paradigm?

2.      What type of bullying is involved?

3.      What are the uninvolved parties doing wrong?

4.      What is happening to Jared?

Scenario 3

Roman is one of the few students in his middle school that comes from a lower-middle class family. He gets assistance for lunch and bus fair. The students are starting to pick up on the fact that he is from a lower-middle class family. A few of the students start to make fun of him. They start to post on Facebook indirect comments dissing the welfare system and speaking indirectly about a certain student in school. Roman is greatly affected by this. He starts to become depressed and not eat at school. His friends don’t tell any parents or teachers about the Facebook post.

1.      Who plays which role?

2.      How do the school staff and teachers get involved?

3.      Describe the important role of the uninvolved students

 

 

  
End of Lesson Questionnaire

1)      Explain the bullying paradigm.

2)      Who is involved? Please list the four different types of individuals that are involved and the roles they play.

3)      Explain the importance of each role of the person in the paradigm.

4)      For each of the 4 roles in the paradigm, list 2 reasons how these individuals are affected

 

Evaluation of the Lesson (to be given at the end of the lesson)

1)      How did you feel about the course?

2)      Do you feel you understand the Bully Paradigm

3)      Did you feel the scenarios helped you understand the roles of each and how to identify the program?

4)      Do you feel you are able to identify the problems if it happens in reality and know how to handle it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Berkley University. (1999). Know your students: Nature of the middle school student. Retrieved from http://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/68_nature.php

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Suicide Briefs. Retrieved from             http://www.cdc/gov/features/suicidebriefs/index.html

Chen, P. & Schwartz, S. (2012) Bullying and Victimization Experiences of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Elementary School. A Journal of the Hammill Institute on Disabilities. 27(4). pp. 200-212.

Healey, B. J., & Zimmerman, R. S. (2010). The new world of health promotion: New program development, implementation, and evaluation. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Healthy People 2020. (2012). About Healthy People. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/default.aspx

Klomeck, A.,  Sourander, A., & Gould, M. (2011). Bullying and Suicide. Psychiatric Times. 28(2).

Movoto Real Estate. (2013). Briarhill Middle School. http://www.movoto.com/public-schools/tx/lewisville/middle/482730006977-briarhill-middle-school/2100-briarhill-blvd.htm

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Bullying: PSA


Did you know everyone at school is involved in bullying? 

“Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right." -Theodore Roosevelt

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your 
neutrality.” -Desmond Tutu

Listen to the wise men, for they point out the truth to what is going on behind bullying. Do we let the victims stand alone? Do you hear the popular saying, "I just don't want to get involve." Here is the truth...everyone in school (elementary, middle school, high school, and college) is part of the "bullying paradigm." What is the "bullying paradigm?" 

There are four types of individual (students) involved in the bullying paradigm

These individuals include:

-Bullies
-Bully-Victims
-Victims
-Uninvolved parties

How are each of these individuals involved? Let's take a look see, shall we?

Bullies
The bullies are the ones that are aggressive to the victims

Victims
-victims are the ones that being harassed by the bullies but do not fight back.
Bully-Victims
-are those that are victims to bullying and in turn are bullies themselves

Uninvolved Parties 

-often observes the bullying and victimization without action

Let's face the facts, everyone is involved. Don't let your friends suffer, or yourself! Don't bully others! Remember Columbine and Virginia Tech? So, let's stand up together. 


Reference:


Chen, P. & Schwartz, S. (2012) Bullying and Victimization Experiences of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Elementary School. A Journal of the Hammill Institute on Disabilities. 27(4). pp. 200-212.