Teachers learn to prevent bullying

http://www.northjersey.com/education/bullying022509.html

Teachers learn to prevent bullying
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
Bullying hasn't completely stopped in West Milford's Macopin Middle School, but students are more aware of what it is and when it's happening thanks to a bullying prevention program now in its second year.

Recently, teachers attended an after-school workshop to find ways to build on that success. They looked at what is working and what isn't. They talked about ways to get students to understand the ramifications of cyber-bullying. And they discussed how to get bystanders in bullying incidents more involved.

"Kids now understand what bullying is," Louise Zielinski, a seventh-grade math teacher, said to a small group of teachers reviewing the positives and negatives of the program. "They just need the guts to step in."

With the help of two $5,000 grants, the school started the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, which includes materials for teacher workshops and classroom and schoolwide assemblies explaining the intricacies of bullying.

Students are shown options they can use in bullying situations and specific ways to defuse the situation, such as distracting the bully or walking away with the bullied student....


E-mail: williamsb@northjersey.com