Bullying Prevention: Rise of the UPstander
When it comes to bullying prevention, being an upstander is one of the best positions to take. Through the years, I’ve really made it a point to teach my students about this position and why it’s such an important one. With Bullying Prevention Month beginning in just a few days, I want to talk about ways to encourage kids to be upstanders.
When your students are learning what a bystander is, use that time to differentiate the bystander from the upstander.
- A bystander sees or hears what is happening in a bullying situation. They don’t typically do or say anything. A small percentage may even laugh at what is happening.
- An upstander sees bullying occur, realizes something isn’t right, and does something about it. The upstander may tell the bully to stop, tell an adult, and/or show support for the targeted person.
Upstander Resources
A great book you should consider using to support the importance of being an upstander is * Nobody! by Erin Frankel.
Erin Frankel is also the author of The Weird Series. I’ve written about the series previously which features the titles Weird, Dare, and Tough. I still love the series to this day! I was excited to discover Nobody! a few years ago. It is definitely a great book to incorporate into your lessons for Bullying Prevention Month.
If you are familiar with The Weird Series already, one of the first things you may notice in Nobody is that all three of the characters from that series appear in this book. The main character of this story is Thomas, and he is a bullying target of Kyle. Just about everything Thomas does, Kyle says “Nobody” does it. “Nobody plays as bad as him.” “Nobody sits with girls.” “See ya, Nobody!” Poor Thomas begins to really feel like a nobody.
I love that Thomas eventually concludes that maybe nobody is like him and that’s a good thing. He begins to remember positive statements spoken to him like “Nobody draws the way you do,” and ” Nobody understands but you.” And, later in the book, we see other children around Thomas being upstanders. We see children telling Kyle to leave Thomas alone, and when Kyle says, “Nobody wears glass like those,” we see those upstanders telling Thomas how cool his glasses are and how much they like them. Thomas also speaks up for himself, and he goes on to say that it feels really good when others speak up with him.
You can download A Leader’s Guide to Nobody! for free from Free Spirit Publishing.
Another great book that’s been around for a while is called * Say Something by Peggy Moss. It has a great message of what being a bystander looks like and realizing the difference it could make if you have upstanders standing with you.
In Say Something, a young girl talks about a kid she knows who is picked on at school. She goes on to say that she doesn’t pick on him but she does feel bad for him. She sees and hears the bullying take place, but she doesn’t say anything. One day after she ends up being on the receiving end of bullying, she thinks about how no one did or said anything, and she realizes she has been guilty of never doing or saying anything as well. It’s a quick read with a strong message. I’ve used it to conclude bullying prevention lessons with upper grades.
Another “oldie but goodie” is * One by Kathryn Otoshi. I wrote about it years ago in a post called Who’s Made a Difference in Your Life? This is absolutely one of my favorite children’s books about bullying and another great book to use when driving home the discussion of being an upstander instead of a bystander. I’ve had students act out this book for school-wide pep rallies during bullying prevention month. This book is simple enough for younger elementary children and powerful enough to keep the attention of your 5th graders.
The NED Show is “a character education program designed to help kids become champions at school and in life.” You can sign up on The NED Show website to access all of their free resources for bullying prevention and much more. Here is a short 4-minute video from their YouTube channel that you can use to help young children understand the difference between being a bystander and being an upstander.
The Upstander Files Subscriber FREEBIE
I created The Upstander Files as a FREEBIE to support your lessons for Bullying Prevention Month. It comes with file sets and pamphlets for both lower and upper elementary grades. This resource is a subscriber only freebie and will not be available in my store. You can use the button below to access the form to get your FREE copy.
School-wide Bullying Prevention Recognition
Next Monday, October 3 is World Day of Bullying Prevention. It is also known as Blue Shirt Day. Encourage your students and staff to participate by asking everyone to wear a blue shirt to school.
Wednesday, October 19 is Unity Day. Encourage your students and staff to participate by asking everyone to wear orange to school.
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