Anti-Bullying Week

Inuujaq School's Safe School Committee organized an Anti-Bullying Week from September 21 - 25.  The committee distributed a list of activities they prepared to teachers that focused on how to identify, stop, and prevent bullying in & outside of school.  Teachers were encouraged to complete the activities that applied to their respective classes.

            

Some of the activities included: Pink t-shirt Anti-Bullying Pledge, Elder & RCMP Visits to classrooms, and the "Caught you Caring" Campaign.  The school's main hallway became filled with coloured pink t-shirt posters with statements, such as, "I will take turns sharing toys," "I will stand nicely in line," and "I will tell a teacher is I see bullying happening."  Elders spoke to all students about the negative effects of bullying and how to stop &  prevent it.  The "Caught You Caring" Campaign saw teachers handing out "I Caught You Caring" cards to students who behaved in a thoughtful & caring manner towards teachers & peers.   

            

The main event was the Safe School Artistic Challenge.  Classes could prepare an anti-bullying short film, song, poster(s), or skit and present it at the assembly on the 25th.  The winning classes would receive $80.

            

My high school classes watched the 2011 documentary Bully.  The last time I played the movie was two years ago.  The film was controversial upon its release due to its shocking content.  We were all shocked by the types of bullying that were recorded on camera.  The film generated classroom discussions on what kind of bullying happens in the community. 

            

Bullying is a problem in Arctic Bay, like anywhere else in the world, and it occurs in & around the school.  Cyber bullying is a particular concern, especially with social networking sites like Facebook.  We talked about how to confront bullish behaviour using non-violent means, such as talking to a teacher, parent, elder, principal, and/or the RCMP.           

            

I also displayed an "Incident Reports by Province" pie chart from the Stop A Bully website.  Stop A Bully is "a registered national charity and Canada-wide anti-bullying program developed in 2009, [that] allows any student to safely report [incidences of bullying] to school officials."  Unfortunately, the pie chart did not provide statistics from the three territories.  This absence of information prompted many students to guess how many bullying incidences are reported in the north.  What was also emphasized to students was that there are many bullying situations that go unreported. 

            

My students were surprised to learn that I had six bullies in high school: 3 in Grade 9, 2 in Grade 10, and 1 in Grade 11.  I didn't go into details as to how I survived those three years in high school.  All I added was that I didn't use physical force of any kind.

            

Greg & Geela

Friday's assembly began at 1:30pm after lunch.  The gym was packed with teachers, students, elders, parents, and community members.  The chair of Safe School Committee, Greg, addressed the audience, welcoming them to the first anti-bullying assembly of the year.  The Inuktitut translations were done by Geela, a student support assistant.  The community's two RCMP officers were the first presenters, giving a talk about various types of bullying and how the RCMP can help victims of harassment.  What I liked was that the officers explained to everyone that bullying in Canada can lead to criminal charges if they fall into the following categories: threats, criminal harassment, distribution of images without consent, and assaults.

            

Safe School Committee.

The Safe School Committee was called up to the front of the gym to be thanked everyone for making Anti-Bullying Week possible and for organizing the assembly.

            

The best was saved for last: the Artistic Challenge.  Everyone was eager & excited to see what each class came up with. 

            

Kindergarten

Grade 3

Grade 4

The Kindergarten class made a music video about wanting a safe school.  The video was shown on one of the gym walls using a projector.  The Grade 1 & 2 classes made posters and had them pasted all around the gym.  The Grade 3 class did a live performance, singing an Inuktitut song.  The Grade 4 students did a mix of a live performance with the use of Inuktitut posters.  The posters explained the three types of bullying: emotional, verbal, and physical.  The Grade 5 students did live skits of situations where bullying may occur - such as the recess playground - how to cease the unwanted behaviours, and how to be more inclusive with peers.         

            

Grade 5

Greg's Grade 6 class took the artistic challenge to the "next level" when they debuted their video that showed how bullied kids feel isolated and excluded.  However, the video ends with the positive message that help is never too far away.  The video uses the song "True Colors," covered by Artists Against Bullying, as the soundtrack.  The Grade 6s spent many days planning, prepping, filming, and editing all the footage.  Greg and his students received an enthusiastic "two thumbs up" response from the audience at the end of the video. 

            

John talking about what his Grade 7 & 8
students did for the artistic challenge.

It was easy to see that the Grade 7 class was shy in presenting their anti-bullying posters because they had to follow the popular Grade 6 video.  Despite this unintentional feeling of intimidation, they went ahead with their presentation and received a warm reception.  The Grade 8s also made a video showing where bullying may occur at school, such as the washroom and at recess.

            

High school video

The last two videos to be shown at the assembly were from the Grade 9 and high school media classes.  Sarah teaches the Grade 9s and Ryan teaches high school media.  The Grade 9 video centered on name calling & labelling in Inuktitut and English.  The main message is to only use positive comments & labels, and to get along with everyone.  The high school video focused on cyber bullying through Facebook & bullying in the high school section.  The video encourages students who have been bullied to speak to a teacher and/or principal.    

            

Anti-bullying posters

The winners of the Artistic Challenge were the Grade 6 & 9 classes.  The announcement was made the following week.  Both classes decided to spend their $80 prizes on pizza parties.  Greg & Sarah were encouraged by everyone to post the videos on YouTube and send links to various media outlets.  The last I heard, both teachers were talking with CBC North, Nunatsiaq News, and APTN.  Greg also sent his video to Global National, Kids Help Phone Line, and even to Jacob Hoggard, the lead singer of Hedley.  Hoggard is one of the artists featured in the song "True Colors".  Overall, Anti-Bullying Week was a success.  The student body created many useful resources using various mediums.  I'm sure they will be used for future anti-bullying campaigns. 

            

Update: Greg's Grade 6 class was featured in a CBC North article on October 2, 2015.  The article contains a link to the video on YouTube.  Greg's students are enjoying their time as local celebrities.