Module 1 Bullying Awareness Lesson Plan – For Grades 7-12

Estimated Time of Completion: Two to three classroom periods, or stretched out throughout the school
year. Each activity will take between 15-30 minutes. Bullying is a topic that needs to be discussed on an
ongoing basis.

I. Summary:

The purpose of these activities is to teach students in Grades 7-12 how to respond to bullying/gender
harassment they see or experience. Through practicing responses and discussion situations students
will build confidence and skills for preventing and intervening in bullying and gender harassment.

II. Objectives:

• Students will learn how to identify bullying and sexual harassment situations.
• Students will learn how to respond to bullying and sexual harassment situations.

III. Activities
 Activity 1:

Identifying Bullying

A. Materials Needed:

• Prior to the day of the activity have students find stories on the internet about bullying, or news
stories with examples and bring them to class.

B. Procedure:

1. Review with students the definition of bullying. (This is review from Module 1)

Bullying is…

• Hurtful behavior
• Deliberate
• Repeated over time
• Characterized by a power imbalance (so it is hard to make it stop)

A. Put the students into groups and have them choose one of the stories.

B. Instruct each group to do the following:

1. Read the story they chose.

2. Identify what the bullying behavior is.

3. Identify who the person bullying, the person being bullied, and bystanders are.

C. Have the groups report back to the class. Have someone from each group read their situation
aloud and then answer the above questions. For each situation ask the class to brainstorm
possible responses/strategies for dealing with bullying. For example:

Remain Calm

Act and look confident

Walk away

Be assertive about situation (not aggressive)

 Tell a teacher/staff member

Join a group of other students

D. Have groups put together a role play/performance where they show the situation and effective
ways in which it could be handled – should have different scenarios. One where the person
being bullied is solving the situation and one where bystanders or the person doing the bullied is
the one to end it. Each group should:

a. Assign players to the characters in the scene.

b. Decide on a positive strategy for each character to take to reduce the bullying.

c. They should rehearse how they are going to present it in front of the class.

E. After each role play consider with the class the following questions:

a. Do you feel this is an effective solution? Why or why not.

b. Do you think you could use this strategy in real life? Why or why not?

c. What might happen if everyone involved in the incident took positive action to reduce
the bullying?
 Activity 2:

Interviewing Adults about Bullying

A. Materials Needed:

• Piece of paper to write down interview questions.

B. Procedure:

1. Review with students the definition of bullying. (This is review from Module 1)

Bullying is…

• Hurtful behavior
• Deliberate
• Repeated over time
• Characterized by a power imbalance (so it is hard to make it stop)

2. Ask students to interview an adult about their experiences with being bullied or witnessing
bullying. Explain that they will be comparing the adult’s experiences with their own knowledge
about bullying.
3. Have each student identify someone they would like to interview. This could be a parent,
caregiver, family member (e.g. aunt/uncle or grandparent), neighbor, community member,
family friend, teacher, coach, or older sibling.
4. As a class identify a list of interview questions that would include the following topics:
a. Types of bullying experiences or witnessed.
b. How they felt about it.
c. How they feel it effected them right then (short term effects).
d. How they feel it has effected them over time (long term effects).
e. What did they do about it?
f. How was the bullying resolved.
Students will need to write down the questions and take them with them to their
interview.

5. Students interview their chosen person, write down answers and bring it back to class.
6. After due date for interview, get students to meet in groups of 5-6 and put the information
together. Have them draw summary/conclusions across the answers for their individual
interviews in the following areas:
• Types of Bullying
• Feelings About Bullying
• Short-term Effects
• Long-term Effects
• Strategies for Handling Bullying

7. Have groups report back to the class. Then ask the following questions:
g. How are the bullying incidents the same or different from what you see at this
school?
h. How are people affected by bullying (short term/long term)? Do you think this
is the same today, why or why not?
i. What strategies were identified? Do you think these could be useful strategies
for you to use?

If you want to get creative you can summarize the findings into a newsletter for the school or to
go home to parents to educate them on bullying and what to do about it.

List of Common Strategies:

Be assertive:
o “Stop it! I don’t like when you say that.”
o “Cut it out!”
o “Leave me alone!”
o Possibly use “I” statements about what is happening (“I don’t like what you are doing”).

Use Humor:
o “Well I guess I should work on that.”

Vague Statements:
o “That’s your opinion.”
o “Well, I guess we just have to agree to disagree.”

Ask bully questions:

o “Why do you think that is so?”
 Activity 3:
Changing the School Environment
Addressing Bullying & Sexual Harassment

A. Materials Needed:

• Prior to the day of the activity have students find stories on the internet about bullying, or news
stories with examples and bring them to class.

B. Procedure:

1. Review with students the definitions of bullying and sexual harassment:

Bullying is…

• Hurtful behavior
• Deliberate
• Repeated over time
• Characterized by a power imbalance (so it is hard to make it stop)

Sexual harassment is…

• any unwanted physical or verbal advances that have sexual overtones.

1. Explain to the students that this is their opportunity to design changes that could help make
the school safer, free from bullying and sexual harassment.
2. Brainstorm as a class some problems or threats to safety and write them on the board.
Examples might be: Bullying occurring in the lunch room, Harassment occurs in the
bathrooms between classrooms, older students are bullying others right after school.
3. Teachers can have students work individually, in pairs, or in groups to complete this
assignment. Assign each group/student one or two of the problems and have them come
up with changes that could be made to address the problem. For example,
a. Problem: Bullying occurring in the lunch room. Solution: Increase supervision in the
cafeteria during lunch.
b. Problem: Harassment occurs in the bathrooms between classrooms. Solution: Don’t
let people go to the bathroom between classes, shorten breaks and let students go
during class time.
c. Problem: Older students are bullying others right after school. Solution: Have
younger students get out 10 minutes earlier than older students.
4. The class should come together and share solutions and come up with the ones they want
to put forward.
5. The problems/solutions should be typed up and submitted to the Bullying/School Safety
Committee at your school.
 Activity 4:
Cyber bullying

A. Materials Needed:

• There have been a lot of stories in the news about cyber bullying. Pick a news story and provide
copies for the students.

B. Procedure:

2. Review with students the definition of bullying. (This is review from Module 1)

Bullying is…

• Hurtful behavior
• Deliberate
• Repeated over time
• Characterized by a power imbalance (so it is hard to make it stop)

3. Define cyber bullying:

Cyber bullying is bullying others through the use of technology. Being deliberately
hurtful using the internet or cell phones is a form of bullying and is wrong.

4. Ask students to brain storm what types of behaviors are cyber bullying. For example:
• Sending mean text-messages
• Spreading rumors using text-messages, emails, or blogs/websites.
• Playing an online game and ruining the game for others on purpose.
• Calling names or sending putdowns through technology.
• Creating web pages or blogs to post lies, rumors, or mean statements about
another.
• Creating web pages or blogs to humiliate or embarrass someone.
• Pretending to be someone else to send mean messages or to like someone
when you don’t.
• Tell others about others personal information. Either directly or through
forwarding phone numbers, emails, or personal messages/texts.
• Leaving someone out of the group communication.
• Using phone picture or video capability to take secret pictures/videos and then
distributing them.
• Sending threats or hate messages.
5. Handout the news story about cyber bullying and have the students read it.

6. Have students identify either individually or in a group what some strategies might be to
respond to the situation described in the scenario. Write these on the board, under the heading
“What we can do about cyber bullying” and then open it up, “What are other things we can do
to address the other forms of cyber bullying?” List all the strategies on the board. Divide
strategies into “If I was being cyber bullied,” and “If someone I know is being cyber bullied.”

• Don’t respond/retaliate –if you respond when you are angry you are likely to
send a bullying message back and this will likely escalate the situation.
• Document – keep copies of the messages, web pages, etc. Keep a log if it is
happening often. This will be important if you need to use it to make them
stop.
• Investigate - try to find out who is doing it. If you know it will be easier to make
them stop.
• Report it – most cell phone and internet providers have rules about appropriate
use and will remove the offenders and offensive messages from the system.
You can report them. You can also report it to your parents or school officials for
assistance in handling the situation. If it includes threats you can also report to
the police.
V. Assessment –Class Assignments for Grades 7-12

For each activity you complete in class please take a copy and fill out the following form. These forms
should be submitted to your anti-bullying cohort team. Your feedback will help us improve the activities
and evaluate the program.

DATE:______________ ACTIVITY #_____________ GRADE:____________

Overall, how much did students enjoy the activity?

Not A Lot A Lot

1 2 3 4 5

Overall, how much did students learn about bullying/sexual harassment?

Not A Lot A Lot

1 2 3 4 5

How do you know students learned about bullying/sexual harassment? How did they demonstrate
this learning?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Tell us how much students knew about BEFORE AFTER

each of the following BEFORE you did
Module 5 and AFTER you have done this Not A Lot A Lot Not A Lot A Lot
activity.

1. Identifying bullying/sexual harassment… 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

2. What to do if they are being bullied. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

3. What to do if others are bullied. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

What could be done to improve this activity in the future:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Additional comments: