The documentary Bully on Netflix truly paints a picture to the audience of the hardships and struggles that are faced by students. Even though this documentary is based in Oklahoma, bullying is a nationwide problem that affects all schools in America. Growing up I knew about bullying and what it was, but I was extremely lucky to have never truly faced it head-on. School is already a stressful environment for students, with the pressure of keeping up with their grades, I can't imagine the added stress that was put upon these children in the documentary. Although only a few stories were told in the documentary it was still a lot to take in. As a future educator, it was heartbreaking to see students afraid to come to school because of the cruel bullying going on. It was hard to watch these students suffer but it was even worse to see the teachers and counselors do absolutely nothing to help their students. One thing that vastly stuck out to me from the documentary was the scene when Tyler Long's family, a young man who committed suicide from bullying, held a conference meeting to discuss the problems at Murray County school district. As this scene progresses the camera pans to a young boy who shares his bullying experience at the school. He tells the crowd how he “stayed out of school purposely to try to stay away from them [the bullies].” Seeing the pain in this young boy's eyes as his voice trembled to speak, it baffles me how no teacher came to his aid even after he claimed that he went to the principal for help.
Teachers are the core root of creating a healthy environment for children in schools. It is essentially important for teachers to be aware of bullying and know how to properly handle the situation to maintain a healthy school environment. As we have seen in the film Bully, when schools do not have this safe space environment, it jeopardizes the students' love for school. The importance of children being present in school is to allow them to socialize and find their true colors before they graduate and attend college. Bullies are the ropes that tie students down and not allow them to progress in their educational experience. I think the film Bully is a great representation of what teachers should NOT do when their school faces extraordinary amounts of bullying. The documentary shows the audience the fatal damages that are done when teachers and school districts do not properly handle bullying. When I become an educator I know that my first priority as a teacher is to show my students that my classroom and the school I work at is a safe place. In the article, “Social-Emotional Learning and Bullying Prevention” the author explains how teachers can enforce a safe place environment for all students by being a strong “role model that is warm and caring to everyone, including aggressive and peer-rejected children”. A good way to enforce students to socialize with one another is to have many group projects in the classroom. By a teacher enforcing group projects and group study sessions this allows students to get to know one another and make sure that no one feels alone. Group projects allow students to work with other students that they may have not worked with before. This brings new relationships and new friendships to develop in the classroom. This is the type of teaching that creates a fun learning environment that all students feel welcomed.
References
Dolittle, R. (2011). [Picture of the cover art of the documentary Bully . [Coverart]. IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682181/mediaviewer/rm538554624/
Hirsch, L. (Director) (2012). Bully [video]. Cinereach
Ragozzino, K. & O'Brien, M.U. (2009). Social and Emotional Learning and Bullying Prevention. Prepared for the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the Social and Emotional Learning Research Group at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Hi Olivia,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post! I also chose to watch the documentary, "Bully." I was also upset and disgusted to see how the school handled these situations with bullying and harassment going on. You would think that the school officials would take these matters more seriously! The fact that they did very little about these situations only made the children involved more and more uncomfortable and fearful to go to school everyday. Seeing only a few different stories just from kids in Oklahoma was eye opening. Knowing that there are thousands of other kids going through similar situations across the U.S is heartbreaking. I like how you said that teachers are the core root for creating a healthy environment in schools. I agree with that! As educators, it is our responsibility to give our students a quality education. Bullying and harassment in the classroom would 1, make our students uncomfortable and fearful and 2, become a huge distraction from their work. As educators we have one of the best jobs! Everyday we are educating and watching after another persons child. We should be treating our students as if they were our own children. Teachers should be educated on how to handle these bullying situations in order to protect our students and make them feel safe.
-Jillian Guenther