Our service-learning project was on bullying so we tried to find an activity that revolved around awareness or prevention of bullying. Bullying is a hot topic in the news media because of the overall consequences that it has on society. Massachusetts has passes a law against bullying to address the concerns of the public. With all the media and the public concern we expected to find detailed plans and activities pertaining to bullying. We were not able to find a detailed program related to bullying but we did find most organizations have detailed plans for dealing with bullying. The elementary schools we were observing in our block class have plans to deal with bullying but they do not have written lessons on bullying. The schools have to respond to bullying accusations the first time it is reported. The schools send letters to the parents involved in the bullying incident. Then meetings are set up with the principle to discuss the bullying incident with the student and the parents. At the YMCA whenever bullying is reported the staff discusses the issue with both parties and they teach them better ways to handle the issue. If bullying is reported for the second time letters are sent to the parents and meetings are set up with the parents and child to discuss the issue.
Having very little experience with children we watched the children in an after school program the YMCA has set up for children. In the Cape Ann YMCA there are 16 children in the program and their ages range from 5 to 14. There is no real teaching in the program just organized playtime. We wanted to watch the children interact between each other and see if there were any situations when bullying accrued. There were a few children who would not share a toy or would disagree on some rule of a game but the overall feeling was that of a bully free zone. So we started to ask the children what bullying was and they did not have an answer. To them bullying was just doing something wrong or not treating people nice. We discussed this topic with the YMCA staff and they allowed us some time to give some bullying training to the children.
We did some role-playing with the children and asked them what they would do in certain bullying situations. We played a bully and a victim and we asked the children for their feedback. Most of the children said they would tell the YMCA staff if they wittiness bullying. The children seemed interested in learning about bullying. The one the children liked the most was when we role-played a bully taking the toys away from the victim. They said they see that all of the time and they did not think it was bullying. We told them bullying is an action that someone does to a person who doses not like it. The first time you should ask for the toy back and let the bully know you did not like it and then if the problem persist then tell a grown up.
Amado Reflection.
This has been some experience for me I have been looking online for any program that dealt with bullying and it was hard to find. I could have interacted with the children more I felt like I was there quizzing the children.
Gina Sacco
Reflection on service learning project
Bullying is such a hot topic these days that it’s good to speak out about it and get kids to be more aware of it. Students need to be prepared in any given situation they may face in school or these after school programs. Going to the YMCA was a good experience. We were actively involved in teaching the children about bullying through a role-play situation. The role play we did was a good visual that got the children interested and they came up with a lot of questions. I believe all children should be aware of bullying whether it’s at the Y or anywhere else where a child will be. No child should have to be a victim of bullying. Bullying needs to be stopped and if teachers keep educating them on necessary precautions then it might be successful. This service-learning project had a great impact on the kids at the Y and on me. I probably wouldn’t do something like this again unless it was in my spare time or when I have more time to really get involved. Although I wouldn’t, it’ll be a great topic to bring up with my future students. This would be a good topic to get children involved in doing their own service-learning project on because it will teach them more about bullying and what they should do if it happened to them or if they were ever to witness it.
