Picture it. A group of fourth-graders are chatting on a school bus, when one kid starts teasing another about her fancy clothes. That child endures the taunts and some name-calling.
But then the other kids, rather than just watching or joining in, suddenly come to her rescue. They tell the agitator to stop it and advise the girl to tell a teacher about the bully.
It may not always happen this way, but Christine Caron, founder of the anti-bullying nonprofit Talk Works, hopes that by teaching children how to recognize bullying, stopping a potential aggressor will become the norm.
Caron, a former North Kingstown educator, started the Providence-based organization six years ago, partnering with Looking Glass Theater, also in Providence, to show students, through skits, various forms of bullying teasing, intimidation, spreading hurtful rumors, to name a few and how to safely defuse those situations. The program also uses classroom activities and family homework assignments to teach anti-bullying techniques.
Since it began, Talk Works has brought its anti-bullying campaign into 58 Rhode Island schools.
This year, Talk Works has launched a three-year pilot program for third- or fourth-graders in 10 schools, so it can track those children to see how they are progressing. We try to give them the language, tools and strategies, Caron said. I want to get the kids talking and the teachers talking and the parents talking and figuring out what we can do to be kinder to each other.
Last week students at James Eldredge Elementary School did some role-playing and performed a few skits, with Looking Glass actors Sharon Carpentier, Danielle Scholle and Steven Lynch, to get a sense of what can be considered bullying and what to do when someone is in trouble.
We are here to teach you how to handle the bullies, Caron told a group of about 120 fourth-graders during the presentation. Who are the bystanders?
You are. If you see people being bullied, how many of you have the courage to stand up for that person?
The actors continued to play out little scenes, centered in places in which bullying festers: the playground, the school bus, during recess, any place where there are no teachers.
Afterward, Caron tested their knowledge and asked why they thought, for example, that spreading a vicious rumor about a new child at school can be a form of bullying.
If you say bad stuff that s not true, it s not really funny and it s really hurtful, said Sam Salinger, a fourth grader who participated in that skit.
The launch of the three-year program at Eldredge and nine schools in Cranston, Middletown, Wakefield, Newport, Pawtucket and North Kingstown is an evolution of the original program which has been brought to at least 125,000 students in dozens of Rhode Island schools.
Talk Works provides resource materials, a textbook of sorts about bullies called Bullies Are a Pain in the Brain and homework assignments to do with parents.
At the end of each school year, the teachers will record how students used the lessons in their lives.
It requires a little more of the teacher involvement and a written report on what they are going to do to sustain the program in the classroom, Caron said.
Fourth-grade teacher Christine Marcotte already has begun to incorporate those activities in classroom work.
I ve asked my kids to look up words about teasing and then I have them come up with an antonym for it, said Marcotte.
Her colleague at Eldredge, fourth-grade teacher Renee Hadfield, said school bullying has no specific demographic.
I think it s something that always needs to be addressed. Some people believe because it s East Greenwich that we are not an inner city, it doesn t need to be addressed here, but there is bullying going on all levels, Hadfield said.
Caron said her daughter was the object of a bully s attention throughout her middle school years.
Ironically, years later, when Caron began work as an educational consultant, after her daughter grew up, she was asked by many schools to create a program to address bullying.
Talk Works is now funded with grants from the Carol A. Peterson Foundation.
Peterson, of Cranston, is a retired senior executive of FM Global who wanted to do something in the schools to make a difference.
Caron believes it s important for children to understand that they should not be afraid to speak up if they see someone being bullied.
The difference between tattle-telling and telling on someone is that tattle-telling on someone is to get them in trouble, telling on someone is to get yourself out of trouble or someone else out of trouble, Caron said.
Every school we go to said this is needed. If you practice these situations just like you practice your spelling and math problems you can get good at this, so you will know immediately what to do.
Who are the bystanders?
You are. If you see people being bullied, how many of you have the courage to stand up for that person?
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