Bully+Busters

Our definition :
Bulling is a form of aggression, a kind of behavior that deliberately sets out to intimidate or hurt another person by causing them physical or psychological distress.It occurs when the bully is more powerful than the victim- either physically or psychologically. Bullying can take place between children, between adults.

__VERBAL BULLYING__ Some bullies uses hurtful words like calling people fat or stupid or smelly, example "she said I was ugly and looked like pig. She made oinking noises whenever I passed by. The other kids laughed. I wanted to fall through the floor."

__PHYSICAL BULLYING__ Bullying can be physical, like pushing, hiting, shoving, kicking or punching. Example, "There was this one boy who always followed me home from school. He would comeup behind me and push me over or try to trip me up. He shoved me into bushes and once punched me right in the face. I hardly knew him and just tried to stay out of his way. It upset me so much that I pretended to be ill so I wouldn't have to go to school."

SILENT TREATMENT Sometimes bullying means ignoring someone, or making sure they are never included in anything. The bully might walk away or turn their back on you  AC_Voki_Embed(200,267,"f84d8150b89dd80c1e6adf157cd92a8e",169955, 1, "", 0); Get a Voki now!

__TASK 1 (BRAINSTORM):__

Our group has done the brainstorm together (as shown above), and now we are deciding on which community issue we can approach. In order to choose the topic, we have thought up some factors in doing so. It must be realistic and manageable, so we can try our very best to help make a difference to our community. We have tried to eliminate the ones that we do not really agree on. This final brainstorm is what we think we might be able to do.

__TASK 2 (CHOOSING OF TOPIC):__ We have finally made an agreement to one of the topics being brainstormed. The topic is, “bullying in schools”. We all believe that this is an issue not just only in the community we are living in but plenty of students in our whole nation seem to be facing the same problem. Students these days in schools can get very violent and there have been lots of cases of crime due to what people believe as a small issue, bullying. Bullying might not only be violence, it can also be an emotional issue. One of the examples is text bullying. Stopping bullying might not be an easy task, but sooner or later, we have to stop it. It is getting overboard. We are going to raise awareness to this bullying issue using lots of ways.

__TASK 3 (GROUP NAME):__ Picking a group name for our group was in fact quite easy. Garima suggested on the name, The Bully Busters. We all agreed with it and settled with that name. Then, we changed the navigation link to our group.

__TASK 4 (TITLE):__ Our group has made a title to put onto our page. With the help of a heading-maker website, [|www.flamingtext.com], it turned out really well.

__TASK 5 (PICTURES):__ The pictures that are used on this webpage contain short but very powerful messages or images. It is a simple yet effective way of really making people think and understand this issue that tons of people are facing, even while you are reading the page. We are also thinking of uploading some videos to show the seriousness of the problem. I’ve (Clare) looked up some of the videos on YouTube ([|http://www.youtube.com/)] and I seriously found them shocking and very upsetting. There were lots of videos on people committing suicide to all sorts of bullying.

TASK 6 (QUESTIONS) The guys did the questions and some of the hypothesis. Garima and I

=**Head Technician NATHAN BUCKLEY - Photographer Voice over-JACK BYATTE Garima -Head Supervisor And Co-writer Clare- Head writer*and Voice over

QUESTIONS!

1) HOW COMMON IS BULLYING AT SCHOOL?

2) WHAT MAY CAUSE A BULLY TO BULLY?

3) HOW MANY ASSPECTS OF BULLYING ARE THERE?

4) HOW DOES BULLYING AFFECT A VICTIM’S FUTURE?

5) WHAT AGE GROUP IS MOST COMMON FOR BULLYING TO OCCUR?

6) IS THERAPY AND COUNSELLING A GOOD WAY TO HELP A BULLY VICTIM?

7) WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT ADULT AND CHILDREN BULLYING?

8) CAN PARENTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN BULLYING?

HYPOTHESIS

1) BULLYING IS SO COMMON THAT AT LEAST EVERY CHILD IS BULLIED ONCE, UNFORTUNATELY SOME MORE THAN OTHERS.

2) BULLIES START BULLYING BECAUSE THEY USALLY HAVE SOMETHING ELSE GOING ON AT HOME SO THEY PICK ON SOMEONE ELSE TO PUT THEM SELF UP AND PUT THE WEAKER VICTIM DOWN.

3) THERE IS MENTAL BULLYING, SEXUAL BULLYING AND PHYSICAL AND THE MOST COMMON IS VERBAL BULLYING

4) BULLYING AFFECTS THE VICTIMS FUTURE BECAUSE IT COULD LEAVE UNWANTED MEMORIES OR PHYSICAL DISABILITIES.

5) MOSTLY FROM 12-15 YEARS OF AGE.

6) DEPENDS ON THE PERSONALITY OF THE VICTIM AND THE TYPE OF BULLYING THEY EXPERIENCED. IN SOME CASES WE THINK IT CAN HELP

7) ADULT BULLYING MAY BE CAUSED BY THE FEAR OF LOOSING JOBS OR BUSINESSES OR THEY MIGHT BE FORCED TO DO SOMETHING THEY WOULD NOT USUALLY DO.

8) YES, WE THINK PARENTS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE BECAUSE PARENTS CAN INFORM TEACHERS OR EVEN THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL.

ANSWERS: 1) IN AMERICA, ALMOST 1 OUT OF 7 STUDENT HAS BEEN BULLIED AT LEAST ONCE. AMERICAN SCHOOLS HARBOURS APPROXIMATELY 2.1 MILLION BULLIES AND 2.7 MILLION OF THEIR VICTIMS. 2) A BULLY CAN ONLY BE CALLED A BULLY WHEN HE/SHE IS AWARE OF WHAT KIND OF HARM THEY ARE DOING. E.G. A CHILD OF FIVE CAN CARRY OUT ACTIONS TO HARM OTHERS BUT HE DOESN’T KNOW HE IS HARMING SOMEONE. BUT IT CAN START AT AN EARLY AGE WHEN THEY LEARN DOMINATE OVER OTHER PEOPLE. SOME CHILDREN BULLY BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW ANY GOOD WAYS OF GETTING ON WITH OTHER PEOPLE. 3) SCHOOL, WORKPLACE, CYBER-BULLYING, POLITICAL, 4) BULLYING WILL CAUSE EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS FOR VICTIMS EVEN TO AN OLD AGE. THEY MIGHT ALSO CAUSE SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLNESSES AND THEY TEND TO SHUN AWAY FROM PEOPLE A LOT. THIS IS NOT ONLY COMMON FOR CHILDREN BUT EVEN AMONG ADULTS. 5) THE MOST COMMON AGE GROUP THAT GETS BULLIED AT SCHOOL IS AROUND THE AGE OF 11-13 YEARS OLD. DESPITE THAT, PEOPLE OF ALL AGES CAN ACTUALLY GET BULLIED. 6) YES, BECAUSE IT REDUCES THE TRAUMA OF BEING BULLIED. MANY PEOPLE END UP HAVING MENTAL PROBLEMS IF THEY HAVE HAD A VERY HORRENDOUS EXPERIENCE, IF THEY DON’T GET THERAPY. IF THE VICTIMS DON’T GET HELP, THEY ARE A THREAT TO THEMSELVES AND OTHERS. 7) ADULT BULLYING IS FAR LESS PHYSICAL COMPARED TO SCHOOLYARD BULLYING. ADULT BULLYING ARE BASED ON FINANCIAL AND JEALOUSY. IT CAN ALSO BE DUE TO GAINING A HIGHER POSITION OR RANK IN A COMPANY. 8) YES, DEFINITELY. ADULTS SHOULD BE AWARE AND INVOLVED WITH THE STUDENTS. WHENEVER BULLIES ARE AROUND ADULTS, THEY TEND TO NOT BULLY. THERE SHOULD BE MORE ADULT SUPERVISION IN SCHOOLS.**

= = Narritive -As he walked into the unfamiliar classroom, eyes followed him as if he was an alien from a distant planet. He felt uneasy in his own skin.

“Class, this is the new addition to our class, Nathaniel!” announced Mr Roper.

He walked straight to the back of the class with his head low. He could hear the row of people in front of him turning their heads and whispering to each other. But, it couldn’t be heard clearly. The only few words that he heard were, “brownie” and “sucker”. Nathaniel swallowed down the tears and he knew it wouldn’t survive in this school.

Nathaniel had high hopes before coming into this school; he thought it would be way better than his old school. This school had a good reputation for academic students. His head was bursting with questions as he walked back home. Why did those people looked at him with that look, as if he was not even human?

When he went home, his mother was already standing on the driveway waving to him with a huge smile on her face. “How was your day at school, pumpkins?”, asked his dear mother. He opened his mouth but closed it again. He couldn’t bear to tell his smiling mother that had high hopes for him in New Zealand. His mother was already worrying so much so all he answered was, “Yeah, good. There is a nice guy at school who was pretty good to me, his name’s Jackson.” With a fake, thinly smile on his face. That night, he couldn’t catch a wink at all, he just couldn’t make himself go back to school.

He walked slowly into the school cafeteria and saw the same group of people staring and pointing at him. He turned and walked in another direction. But, it was too late, the people started approaching him. He didn’t like the way they were walking towards him.

“ Hey, brown dude come here. What’ya got for lunc’h?”, asked the big, muscular boy from his class. Nathaniel timidly stood there with anger but fear. “You gonna talk or not, oi Jerry this guy must be dumb.” “Get his lunch from his bag!”, ordered the big guy.

All the other bullies attacked him like a swarm of locusts. One grabbed his shirt and the other two pushed him onto the ground. The big guy just stood there laughing. He took his lunchbox and marvelled, “Pasta, guys just damn, cheap pasta. I guess this’ll have to do.” They left poor Nathaniel, squirming on the ground with no lunch. He slowly got up and realised that life was no longer how it used to be.

When he went home that following day, he was practically starved to death, he felt like he could eat a whole cow by himself. Nathaniel went straight into the kitchen and spooned down the chicken salad his mother had left in the refrigerator. His mother heard his slurping and went down to take a look. “Gosh, son what’s wrong with you? You are not the kind that eats overnight food and look at the way you are gulping down the salad. It doesn’t take a genius to know that you are extremely hungry.” “I am fine, mum, I am just a little hungry. I am going upstairs to do my homework.”

He had no idea why, but when he reached his room he started sobbing. He felt so horrible. What’s wrong with him? H e never cries. Well, almost never. After a little while, he started doing his homework because he needed to keep his mind off the bullying. He seriously concentrated to keep matters off.

“Today, we are going to do a pop quiz on the maths homework you guys did yesterday to make sure you guys paid attention to your homework.” The class was filled with groans and mumbles but Nathaniel didn’t even make a single sound as he wasn’t afraid. He worked his heart out on the Maths homework yesterday.

After a while of settling down, the class was silent and the test begun. Shuffling of papers and sighs could be heard. Nathaniel flipped through the test and immediately started it. Within 10 minutes, he was done and had checked it twice. He felt very confident and even felt like the old Nathaniel for once. Well, old Nathaniel would soon be shattered.

“Oi, smartypants let me see your answers.”, whispered someone from behind. Nathaniel recognised the voice. It was the burly bully who was whispering. Nathaniel’s heart gave a leap. Should he give him the answers but he knew it wasn’t right to do so. It was a situation like the angel and devil talking to him to choose a side.

“Time’s up! Pencils down!” ordered the teacher. “Hey, that includes you Troy!” The class burst into talking and chatting once again. “Ring…” “Pack up and you can go home as soon as you have grabbed you homework!” Nathaniel quickly snatched a sheet from Mr. Roper and ran the fastest he had ever done. He was usually one of the last in cross-country. But, he couldn’t stop, he knew he was in big trouble when he didn’t hand the sheet to let Alan, the big bully to copy his answers. It was too late, “The Gang” was faster. “Running away, eh? No one disobeys us. You are in for something boy. Guys…” Before he could run, the bully grabbed his shirt and the other grabbed his arm and pushed him towards rhe wall. Held his hair and his right side on the wall. “Would you give us the answers next time?” Nathaniel felt like his cheek was burning, he touched his face and shuddered with pain. But, he just couldn’t make himself lose his dignity and he knew the right from wrong well. He actually shook his head. The bullies were outraged, they scraped him extremely badly this time. He could feel some blood trickling down his cheek now. Another bully said, “Leave the weasel alone, he probably wouldn’t even get the answers right.” He was left whimpering into ground once again. The tears that rolled down his cheeks were stinging his scar. He couldn’t go home in this condition.

But, his mother would be worried because they were new to town. He would just have to lie to his mother again.

“My oh my, son you are all dirty and yikes you are bleeding!” Nathaniel’s mother shrieked. “Did you get into a fight with someone?” Her voice has gone stern and her brows narrowed. “Mum, it’s nothing. I was just playing soccer with some guys after school and we were, you know like boys.”

‘Oh… but son you sure are changing. I mean you use to not eat overnight food and now soccer. My son is sure growing. Come over to the kitchen and I’ll help you clean up and stop that bleeding. He was glad his mother did not ask more, but actually believe him.

After cleaning up and putting a plaster on his scar, he went up to his room. He couldn’t believe something like that would actually happen to him. He thought situations like that only happened in stories. He did not know what he was feeling.

The next day a new kid from England joined their class. His name was Jonathan and he seemed a little nervous but on the outside he was extremely friendly. Nathaniel liked how the boy acts but he was too shy to befriend him.

“Hi, I’m Jonathan, what’s your name?”, said Jonathan.

Nathaniel turned around and realised Jonathan was talking to him. Wow! No one has spoken to him since he joined this new school.

“I’m… um… Nathaniel or… Nathan for short. Hi!” Nathaniel muttered.

“You free at lunch?”

And that was the start of a fabulous and never-ending friendship…

That evening, when they were walking home, something terrible happened.

“Hey, look that’s brownie and whity!”

Nathaniel was rooted to the ground. When will they stop? He turned around and dragged Jonathan with him and walked as fast as they can. ‘Why are we running away from them, Nathan, who are those guys?” asked Jonathan. Nathaniel didn’t answer till they were a block away from his house. He believed in their friendship so he told him what he was supposed to say to his mother. Jonathan’s jaw dropped.

“I just can’t believe you can tolerate them. What’s with you,” said Jonathan, “we have to tell the teacher or even the principal.”

“Please, No, firstly the bullying will get worse and second of all, I don’t want to worry my mother.” said Nathaniel. “ Ok, but I still think that you should tell someone.” Said Jonathan, “ are we still going to our house”. “ Off course, why do you think I bought you here ” said Nathaniel.

Jonathan invited Nathaniel to his house.

But what if, it didn’t work. Wouldn’t his mother get really upset and his life would be ruined forever. He felt like Michelle was that kind of person that you can trust. She has that kind of look and smile that reassures people.

“Nathan, Nathan! Hey, daydreamer. You want to bet or not? $100 bet?” Michelle almost shouted in his ear.

“Okay. I will but I’ve got a bad feeling about it.” Nathaniel answered reluctantly.

His legs were wobbling in his pants and his hands were icy cold. Nathaniel was standing in front of the staff room. Wild thoughts were running through his mind. What if this won’t go right? What if the bullies treat him even worse? What if his mother gets even more worried? Not even the fact that his best friend was standing beside him was cheering him up.

“C’mon, trust Michelle’s instinct. At least, trust your best friend. I’ll be beside you all the while.” Jonathan encouraged.

Nathaniel took in an extremely deep breath and knocked on the staffroom door. It felt like a thousand light years before someone answered the door.

“What’s the matter, boys?” Mrs. Davis, the fiercest teacher answered the door but that didn’t help calm Nathaniel’s nerves.

“I… I… would like to find… um… Mr Roper.” Nathaniel replied frantically.

“What’s the matter, Nathan?” Mr. Roper asked.

The moment he feared most came. But, even before he could tell it, Jonathan let the whole situation unfold.

EXPELLED! Expelled! He couldn’t believe his ears. They were having assembly on a regular Monday morning and the school had made a shocking announcement. The bullies were expelled. This is totally unbelievable. Nathaniel had been worrying for this whole week about what had happened. His mother has been informed by the principal and they had a huge discussion after school one day. His mother couldn’t believe that Nathaniel hadn’t spoken a single thing about it. When, Nathaniel explained his reasons, his mother told him that from now onwards it should be her responsibility to worry about him. Nathaniel should never be worried about his mother.

Suddenly, he smiled to himself. The $100 bet! Looks like, Michelle was right. Another announcement struck his ears. The school prom! Well, seems like there might be something else to talk to Michelle about…

media type="youtube" key="Ui0WJybZgoI" width="425" height="350" Teacher Comment: Your brainstorm looks great, you have used some good inspiration skills to put this together so well done. Your next steps are to get your 8 questions on your page and then hypothesise what you think the answers will be. Once you have done that you need to actually find the answers. Keep up the good work.

Date Name Reflection Wed 24-10-07 Clare Created a title and brainstorm for our web page Wed 24-10-07 Garima Changed topic and started editing our web page Wed 24-10-07 Nathan Typed out and got answers for the questions. Wed 24-10-07 Jack AWAY Thurs 25-10-07 Clare Lost brainstorm so I had to redo it Thurs 25-10-07 Garima Lost brainstorm and helped Clare with it and checked on the rest of the group Thurs 25-10-07 Nathan Tried to help Garima and Clare recover the brainstorm and got info and images of the net. Thurs 25-10-07 Jack Helped Nathan Fri 26-10-07 Clare Lost the brainstorm again and got really angry so we did it again and triple saved it Fri 26-10-07 Garima I was so angry, I tried every single way to find it and then I saved it myself when we redid it. Fri 26-10-07 Nathan Got info of the net as well as getting reasonable and relevant images. Fri 26-10-07 Jack AWAY Mon 29-10-07 Clare The work was finally saved properly and we managed to get it on the page, we also started doing the reflections Mon 29-10-07 Garima Helped Clare with the reflections Mon 29-10-07 Nathan Predicted answers for the questions then got the answers. Mon 29-10-07 Jack Helped Mon 5-11-07 Clare Research books and answered some of the questions. Mon 5-11-07 Garima Made 3 more questions and hypothesise and found some good books. Mon 5-11-07 Nathan Same as Garima &Clare Mon 5-11-07 Jack Same as Garima &Clare & Nathan Tue 6-11-07 Clare Uploaded and reflected on Questions. Tue 6-11-07 Garima Uploaded and reflected on Questions. Tue 6-11-07 Nathan Did reflection table and sorted it out propaly and then went on utube and searched for bullying videos that we could show as examples or base our story on. Tue 6-11-07 Jack Helped Garima & Clare Frday7-11-07 -7-12 Nathan Did Photos and podcast with iphoto and did question. Garima Supervized voice over Jack Did Voice over Clare Typed up script and selected actors for podcast