Bullying at School
Research Project
The Assignment
• This research project will help you
prepare for the kinds of research and
writing you will do in college for many of
your classes
• You will be reading several different
kinds of articles and essays on bullying in
schools
• The articles in your reading packet
provide enough material for you to fulfill
the assignment
Activity 1: introducing key
concepts
• Write a list of words that you associate
with bully or bullying in your notes
• Which words have formal connotations
and which are informal?
• In which situations would you use certain
words over others?
• Why put one word in a category and not
the other?
Activity 2: Getting Ready to
Read
• Write in your journal
• Have you ever been bullied or witnessed bullying?
How would you define the bullying that happened?
How did you deal with it? What were the
consequences?
• Have you ever bullied anyone? What did you do?
Why did you do it? What did the person you bullied do
in response? What happened afterwards?
• You do not have to share these answers with anyone, but
you may choose to do so.
Activity 4: Making Predictions and
Asking Questions
• Survey the text and choose one of the articles that seems
interesting.
• What do you think this is going to be about?
• What are the major issues about bullying your article seems to
address?
• What do you think is the purpose of the author?
• Does the author seem trustworthy and qualified to write about
the topic?
• Who is the intended audience for this piece? How do you
know?
Article 1. Ron Banks,
“Bullying in School”
• Banks talk about how bullying is international in
scope and how to deal with it so that students
will be safe in school
• The author wants us to know how widespread
the problem is and that it exists in schools
throughout the world
• The audience might be educators, since he
seems to be worried about school climate
Article 2. Tara Kuther,
“Understanding Bullying”
• Kuther talks about all kinds of bullying in school,
including those that are not easy to identify.
• She wants us to know more about bullying, and
she offers advice about how to prevent it or deal
with it.
• The article is from the PTA magazine, so her
audience is teachers and parents.
Connecting Words
Review/Quiz
• Please get out any work that relates to
Connecting Words
• Coordinating
• Subordinating
• Transition
Create a Vocabulary selfassessment chart
Word
Harassment
Empathy
Definition
Article
Know Have
it well Heard
of it
Don’t
know
it
Activity 5: Introducing Key
Vocabulary
• Write down the following vocabulary for Article 1
in your vocabulary section:
• Harassment (paragraph 2 and 9)
• Empathy (paragraph 4)
• Perpetrators (paragraph 10)
• Intervention (paragraph 11)
• Correlated or Correlation (paragraph 5 and 6)
Article 2 - vocabulary
continued…
• Exert (paragraph 2)
• Externalize (paragraph 8)
• Curriculum (paragraph 9)
• Antagonizing (paragraph 6)
• Implementing (paragraph 9)
• Manipulating (paragraph 12)
• Exclusion (paragraph 2)
• Retaliate (paragraph 6)
Article 1 - Vocabulary
• Harassment: To irritate or torment persistently
• Empathy: Identification with and understanding of
another’s situation, feelings, and motives
• Perpetrators: To be responsible for; commit:
perpetrate a crime
• Intervention: Interference so as to modify a process
or situation
• Correlated or Correlation: To put or bring into casual,
complementary, parallel, or reciprocal relation
Article 2 - vocabulary
• Exert: To bring to bear; exercise; for example, “exert
influence.”
• Externalize: To invent an explanation for…by
attributing to causes outside of the self
• Curriculum: All the courses of study offered by an
educational institution
• Antagonizing: To incur the dislike of; provoke hostility
or enmity in.
• Implementing: To put into practical effect; carry out
Article 2 - vocabulary
• Manipulating: To influence or manage
shrewdly or deviously
• Exclusion: A deliberate act of omission.
• Retaliate: To return like for like,
especially evil for evil. To pay back (an
injury) in kind.
Activity 6: First Reading
• Because you will be using information from
these texts when you write your proposals, you
will find annotating particularly helpful
• In small groups in class take turns reading the
text out loud
• Have a sheet of loose-leaf for each member of
the group
Article Annotation
What does the article say?
What do I think?
Quote/Example from each
paragraph
About each quote/example
from each paragraph
Paragraph 1:
Paragraph 1:
“Each day…”
I did not realize that…
Paragraph 2:
Paragraph 2:
Complete 10
Quotes/Examples for
Paragraphs 1-11
Activity 6 continued…
• Answer the following questions in regards to
Article 2 in your notes:
• What is the problem the author is addressing?
• What evidence is provided to confirm that the
problem exists?
• Why does the author think something needs
to be done?
• What does the author think needs to be
done?
2010-2011 Agenda and Handbook
• Harassment, Bullying and Hazing Policy Definitions pg. 38-39
• Harassment
• Bullying
• Hazing
Article 3 Vocabulary
• Peer Mediation (P12): A process for
settling a dispute. A third party – a
person of equal rank, in this case a
student – attempts to find common
ground that will resolve the dispute
• Crusade (P5): A vigorous, concerted
movement for a cause or against an
abuse
Article 4 Vocabulary
• Enormity (P2): The quality of passing all
moral bounds; excessive wickedness or
outrageousness; a monstrous offense or
evil; an outrage
• Emphatically (P7): Without question and
beyond doubt
Activity 12 – Summarizing and
Responding
Summarize the article.
• What are the main points of each
paragraph or section?
• Summarize an article from online (3-11)
that we have not used as a class. Read
the descriptions first to find an article you
are interested in.
Cyber Bullying
• Wednesday: The LA County Sheriff’s
Department is giving a presentation on
cyber bullying.
• This is another resource that can be used
for your proposal.
• Please take any notes that will be helpful
for your paper. A direct quote for
example.
• If there are handouts that are provided,
these can also be helpful.
Cyber Bullying
• Write a response to the presentation on
internet privacy and cyber bullying. What
else do you know about internet
privacy/cyber bullying?
• How are the two related?
• How might you include this information in
your proposal?
Article 5 Vocabulary
• Coerce (P4): To force to act or think in a
certain way by use of pressure, threats,
or intimidation; compel.
• Disciplinarian (P24): Someone who
demands exact conformity to rules and
forms.
Article 6 - Vocabulary
• Vigorously: Marked by or done with force
and energy.
• Access: The ability to approach, enter,
exit, communicate with, or make use of.
Thinking Critically
• When you write your proposal you need
to provide evidence and support it.
Support can be found in facts, statistics,
and personal experience.
• You have already annotated and
summarized a few articles in class and
can use this information to answer the
following questions.
Questions about Logic
(Logos)
• Look closely at two of the articles
about bullying.
• See if you can find a claim that is
particularly well-supported.
• What kinds of support are provided?
• Can you think of counter-arguments
that the authors don’t consider?
Questions about the Writer
(Ethos)
• Take one article that provides
information about the author[s].
• Does this author have the appropriate
background to speak with authority on
this subject?
• Is this author knowledgeable? How
can you tell?
Questions about Emotions
(Pathos)
• Do these articles affect you emotionally?
What parts?
• Do you think the authors are trying to
manipulate your emotions? In what ways? At
what point?
• Do your emotions conflict with your logical
interpretation of the arguments?
• Do you think your own experience (or lack of
experience) with bullying makes a difference
in your view of the pathos of the articles?
Article 7 - Vocabulary
• Perpetrator (P2): The person responsible
for; commit; for example, “Perpetrate a
crime; perpetrate a practical joke.”
• Quelling (P7): To put down forcibly;
suppress; to pacify; quiet
• Magic bullet (P12): Something regarded
as a magical solution or cure.
Article 8 - Vocabulary
• Trivial (P3): Of little significance or value;
ordinary; commonplace
• Bigoted (P5): Blindly and obstinately
attached to some creed or opinion and
intolerant toward others. “Bigoted person”
or “Bigoted point of view”
• Vanity: (P14): Excessive pride in one’s
appearance or accomplishments; conceit.
Organizing Information
• You need to organize your information into the
categories you will be writing about. Collect and
organize your notes on the following:
• Defining Bullying
• Evidence that bullying is a problem in schools
• Information on why your school needs a code of
conduct
• Material that will go into the code
Defining Bullying
• Look through your materials and find any information
that relates to the definition of bullying.
• Use your article annotations, summaries, and notes
that define bullying.
• Come up with a working definition of bullying – giving
credit where credit is due.
• Remember that your definition should not just be a
simple sentence since bullying is a more complex
issue and will require more detail in order to define it
properly.
Secondary vs. Primary
• The articles we have been reading are
secondary resources. The writers have
found research and analyzed it.
• When writing a proposal it is important to
include secondary and primary research.
• Primary research can include research
done on bullying by others as well as
your own research done in school.
Taking a Questionnaire
• The questionnaire you will be receiving
will be anonymous.
• The responses will be compiled and the
overall information will be available for
you to use as a primary resource.
• Please answer honestly so that the
information collected reflects the reality of
the situation.
Making a questionnaire
• Make a list of questions about bullying in your
school to be answered by teachers and
administrators.
• The questionnaire should have questions that
are easy to understand and not “leading” (trying
to get a particular answer).
• Questions should be limited to “yes” or “no”
questions or scaled questions (1 to 5;
Never/Sometimes/Pretty Often/Very Often).
Article 9 - Vocabulary
• proactive (P5): Acting in advance to deal
with an expected difficulty; anticipatory;
for example, “proactive steps to prevent
terrorism”
• misconceptions (P10): A mistaken
thought, idea, or notion; a
misunderstanding
• restructuring (P12): To make a basic
change in (an organization or a system,
for example)
Article 10 - Vocabulary
• condone (P17): To overlook, forgive, or
disregard (an offense) without protest or censure
• multifaceted (P11): Having many aspects; for
example, “a many-sided subject,” “a multifaceted
undertaking”
• belittling (P4): To represent or speak of as
contemptibly small or unimportant; disparage; for
example, “That person belittled our efforts to do
the job right.”
Rubric Overview
• Get your rubrics out.
The Purdue OWL: MLA
• Are you ready?
• How to use online MLA resources!
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Article 11 - Vocabulary
• Transgressions (P2): The exceeding of
due bounds or limits
• Incendiary (P6): Tending to inflame;
inflammatory; for example, “an incendiary
speech”
• Rupturing (P10): The process or instance
of breaking open or bursting
Article 12 - Vocabulary
• Aggression (P3): Hostile or destructive
behavior or action
• Deviation (P12): The action of departing
from an established course or accepted
standard
• Demographic (P10): A statistic
characterizing human populations or
segments of human populations broken
down (by age, sex, or income, etc.)
Use Your Vocabulary
• We have acquired many vocabulary
words that can be used in your papers.
• Choose ten words from this unit and write
ten complete sentences utilizing these
words in an effective way.
• Look at your articles – write sentences
that you could put in your paper.