Harassment, Labels and Rumors - Oh My!

This past week both the 6th and 8th grade students have met for Wellness lessons.  7th graders met with the counselor during their Advisory rotation.  Here's a quick look into what we did together.

6th grade
The 6th graders are nearing the end of their 6 week series regarding bullying and social relationships.  The boys worked together to create videos about the impact of labels and stereotypes.  We will present the videos to each other on Monday and use them as a spring board for further conversation.  Ask your child: How are stereotypes a part of your school day?  How are you careful not to put hurtful or harmful labels on others?  For further reading: Tips for Battling Stereotypes

The 6th grade girls spent their lesson focused on gossip.  We used glitter to get our point across.  The girls were asked to pass glitter from their hands to the hands of the person next to them - they were told to get all the glitter off of their hands, but not to let any fall on the floor or tables.  Then they described the glitter - "shiny, fun, messy, sticky, little, colorful, seemed fun until I couldn't get it off me."  Earlier in the lesson we had worked to define gossip, so at this point the girls were asked how glitter is like gossip.  They said "It gets everywhere, you lose control of it, it looks fun but it gets messy, it sticks to you."  So we talked about how to respond to gossip.  One of the most common things I see is that kids think their friend has a right to know when other people are talking about them, but almost always that makes the situation worse.  So instead, the girls were encouraged to respond by saying "Don't tell me, I don't want to know, I don't want to be involved."  Additionally, they were encouraged not to spread the rumor, or not to spend time talking to multiple people trying to figure out where it started as that just gives more life to the rumor.  This is difficult for kids - they want to know who started it, yet the success rate of this sort of investigation is extremely low.  (Not too many kids are willing to admit they started a rumor!)  Talk about it at home: Use this link: Have You Ever Had a Rumor Spread About You? to read real life scenarios and talk them through.  What would you do?  Why do people spread rumors like this?  Have you ever heard a similar rumor about someone?

8th Grade
Our 8th graders spent their lesson talking about sexual harassment with a speaker from MOCSA.  Students shared that they have seen physical, verbal, written and non-verbal harassment at school by responding as to whether or not they had seen the examples the presenter shared.  Students learned that sexual harassment is UNWANTED sexual behavior and that the person receiving the behavior decides whether or not it is unwanted.   They left with a handout that looked like this:

The handout describes the different types of sexual harassment and details why sexting is actual illegal for minors.  On the back the handout outlines what to do if you are being harassed.  Ask your child: How would you respond if someone was harassing you?  Who would you tell?  Do you think harassment is a big deal?  Why or why not?

7th Grade

As mentioned above, I briefly saw the 7th grade students on Thursday of this week during our bi-weekly advisory rotation.  During this time I shared with the students that MOCSA had come to see our 8th graders and I thought they should hear the same information that our 8th graders did.  Together we read our school harassment policy and dissected the definition of harassment.  It was emphasized to students that the person any comment, action, or behavior is directed toward gets to decide if it is unwanted.  Additionally, that the person receiving the interaction has a responsibility to make it clear when something is unwanted.  We discussed why we think harassment is important to understand and what to do if you are being harassed.  This session was not interactive, so further discussion at home could be very helpful.  To talk about at home: Why do you think it's important for schools to have a harassment policy?  How should schools respond to harassment?  Have you seen harassment happening at school?  How would you respond if you were being harassed?

And lastly - a reminder for you that on Thursday November 19 in the evening, Josh Ochs will be talking with parents about all things social media as it relates to teenagers.  He will then speak with our students on Friday morning.  This event is hosted by our Parents Association.  Many thanks to all those who worked to put together this great event!