Bullying in Today’s Classrooms 1

Bullying in Today’s Classrooms

Abbie Beard

Dr. Mark

Coastal Carolina University

Bullying in Today’s Classrooms 2

Abstract

After reading the four journal articles I have learned a lot about the many different types of

bullying that happens in a classroom throughout the day. I also gathered information on how to

deal with bullying that is taking place in my classroom. From one of the journal articles that I

read I realized that relational aggression is the most prominent type of bullying that shows up in

most classrooms. I also learned that you have to be very careful with how to punish some bullies

according to what type of mental problems they have going on. Making these types of bullies

even more mad than they were before could cause an outrage of anger and make the situation

worse on the child that was being bullied. If teachers and administration do not try to eliminate

bullying at a early age, it can carry right on until the child is even an adult. Bullies do not have a

certain gender or race of any type. The stereotype of a bully would easily be noted a girl, but just

as girls are mean in their own certain way boys also have their ways of being mean also. There

are just different ways to handle punishment for both genders, because what may work for a girl

may not work for a boy.

Bullying in Today’s Classrooms 3

Introduction

For my Trade Publication paper I chose to cover the topic of bullying. The reason I chose

this topic is because my little sister was bullied all through middle school and nothing was done

about it. I feel that in most schools the administration tends to think that they have taken care of

the bullying problem so they push it away to the side and bullying does not actually get taken

care of the way it should. All through middle school my sister was being bullied by her so called

“friends” and the teachers and administration did not even realize it because they were not

paying close enough attention. My mom would have never known that my sister was being

bullied at school if it was not for a substitute teacher who happened to know my family really

well. That teacher called my mom and told her what she had seen that day at school and my mom

sat down and talked to my sister about it. That was when my sister told her it had been going on

for a while. In situations like these I want to be the teacher who notices what is going on and

does something about it. I wanted to do my paper on bullying so I could better educate myself on

what to look for in my classroom and how to prevent it from happening again.

“I Won’t Be Your Friend If You Don’t”

After reading the journal article “I Won’t Be Your Friend If You Don’t” I have learned that

there are many reasons that cause children to bully other children. Some children have been

known to bully other children and not even realize what they are doing because at that age

their brains are not fully developed and they can not completely comprehend how are they are

making another child feel. If you are ever around a group of young kids more times than none

you will hear one of them tell the other “If you don’t give me that toy I won’t be your friend

anymore”. That is an example of relational aggression. Relational aggression is one of the ones

that stuck out most to me because it is the one that is used most of the time. Children use this
Bullying in Today’s Classrooms 4

type of aggression to ruin friendships or to make another child feel like they are not welcome in

a certain friend group. Children who are relationally bullied often feel left out and get

depressed. “Specifically, research has shown that targets of relational aggression are

significantly more likely to be rejected by peers, have poor peer relationships, have significantly

fewer prosocial problem-solving skills, and exhibit significantly more problems with depression

and anxiety than other children (Murray-Close & Ostrov 2009).” As a teacher you do not want

to see any of your students getting bullied, and if you do you want to help them as much as

possible. It can be difficult to punish a child with relational aggression because they run off of

aggression therefore when you punish them they are going to get mad and that aggression is

going to increase and cause more problems in your classroom. You have to be really careful

how you punish bullies because it could end up hurting the person they bullied more in the end.

“Guidance Strategies to Prevent and Address Preschool Bullying”

In the article “Guidance Strategies to Prevent and Address Preschool Bullying” many

different ideas of how to prevent bullying were brought to my attention. When children start

bullying in the classroom it is very important for the teacher to bring it to the child’s attention as

well as let the parents/ caregivers of the parent know as well. If the child does not get punished

for it early on in school it is most likely to be a trait that follows him through his childhood.

Being a teacher one of your major responsibilities is to be the role model of the class. Each one

of your students are looking up to you, they watch every move you make and want to be just like

you. One of the strategies to try to prevent bullying would be role- play. You can demonstrate to

your students how they should act and treat their other classmates and they will think that if you

as the teacher is doing it then it must be cool to do. Another way that they talked about in this

article is to make sure that your students know that bullying is unacceptable and that there will
Bullying in Today’s Classrooms 5

be consequences if they are caught doing it. Most kids will not purposefully do something when

they know that they will get in trouble for doing it. Your average student will usually not like

being the center of attention when it comes to punishment therefore they will make sure they will

not do anything to make them the center attention. Another thing this article talked about was

strategies for children who have already been bullied. Most of the time you can always pick out

the students who have been bullied, they are usually the ones who are really quiet and keep to

themselves. They are like this because they are afraid of making the wrong move and getting

picked on. When you have students like this in your class you want them to know that your

classroom is a safe environment for them and that they can talk to you. We as educators can also

help them learn how to stand up for themselves by teaching them key phrases of what to say

back when they are being bullied.

“Understanding Bullying Behavior”

The article “Understanding Bullying Behavior” was written to better help educators

understand the correct behavior of the word “bullying”. Bullying is a word that can be

misinterpreted by educators as well as students. Not every sense of verbal or physical “abuse” is

bullying. There is a difference in bullying and fighting. When a child is being bullied most of the

time they have not done anything wrong to bring being bullied on to themselves. A child that is

being bullied usually does not have a steady friend group or does not fit in a friend group at all

and that is what gives the bully or bullies the satisfaction to bully the child. They know that he or

she does not have any one to back them up or take up for them so they are going to try to run

he/she into the ground because they have nothing to be threatened by. Fighting on the other hand

is caused by two individuals. The two individuals that are fighting have said or done something

that the other did not agree with which has lead to the children getting physically angry. As an
Bullying in Today’s Classrooms 6

educator you should be able to pick out what is fighting and what is bullying. Most bullies are

only bullies because it gives them a sense of power. They are breaking down kids that lack the

amount of confidence that they have. Most children today gain power through bullying the

LGBTQ and special needs students because they are vulnerable. Most LGBTQ children already

feel that they are being judged or that they feel out of place before anyone says anything to them.

Bullies recognize this and target those kids to make them feel even worse about themselves. In

the article they talked about a nine second way to target a gateway response so that your students

know what you expect from them. Step one was to notice gateway behaviors. This means that

you as an educator need to be noticing the small things such as an eye roll. Those are the small

things that could possibly lead to bullying. Step two was to own the impact. You as an educator

have the power to discuss the topic of bullying and how you are going to handle it if it becomes a

problem in your classroom. Within nine seconds you can display all of these steps if you notice

bullying in your class. Understanding the behavior of a bully can not be hard, you have to be the

teacher that pays close attention to your students actions.

“Guidance With Girls”

As the title of the journal article “Guidance With Girls” in this article I read about how

you as an educator can make sure that gender equality in the classroom is done right and no one

kid of a specific gender gets bullied. At the beginning of the article there was a story about a

group of little boys who were playing fireman and a girl from their class came over and wanted

to play with them. The boys told her that she could not play because she was a girl and girls

could not be firemen. The teacher saw that the little girl was upset and took her over to the boys

and explained to them that girls could be firemen too. The little girl played with the boys the rest

of class and at the end the teacher pulled both of them to the side and complimented the girl for
Bullying in Today’s Classrooms 7

saving a baby in the game and reminded the boys that girls could be firemen just like boys and to

make sure they included both genders next time. The point in this story is that the boys did not

realize they were bullying the girl by telling her she could not play with them. In their mind they

thought that being a fireman was a males job. When the teacher intervened she explained to them

that what they were doing was wrong that all of them could play. By her explaining to the

children the way she did she was trying to prevent further gender specific bullying from

occurring. When you handle these situations as a lesson the children most of the time do not

catch on that you are trying to teach them bullying is wrong. They just realize that what they did

was wrong and that they are not suppose to do it again. This is a positive way of reinforcement.

The way the teacher handled it was in a positive attitude that way she did not hurt anyone’s

feelings. In these types of situations that will be how you are expected to handle it.

Conclusion

After reading these four journal articles I have learned that there are many right and

wrong ways to handle bullying and there are also many different forms of bullying. Being a

student you see things differently, especially bullying. When you are a student it is easier to

confront certain bullies than it is being the teacher. When you are the teacher you have to be

careful as to what you say and how you handle things. These articles have given me more

information on what to look for in my classroom when I get one to prevent bullying from

happening. I also learned that bullying is not specific to one gender or sex. Most people will say

that girls are more mean than boys and have a bigger tendency of bullying but that is not

necessarily true. Boys have their ways just like girls do. These trade journals were very helpful

and I see myself as a future educator using them in the future for reference.
Bullying in Today’s Classrooms 8

References

Smith-Bonahue, T., Smith-Adcock, S., & Harman Ehrentraut, J. (2015). “I Won’t Be Your

Friend If You Don’t!” YC: Young Children, 70(1), 76–83. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.login.library.coastal.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eh

h&AN=101352366&site=ehost-live

Raisor, J. M., & Thompson, S. D. (2014). Guidance Strategies to Prevent and Address Preschool

Bullying. YC: Young Children, 69(2), 70–75. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.login.library.coastal.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eh

h&AN=95762314&site=ehost-live

Kandel Englander, E. (2016). Understanding Bullying Behavior. American Educator, 40(4), 24–

44. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.login.library.coastal.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eh

h&AN=120562780&site=eds-live

Cole, L., & Gartrell, D. (2014). Guidance With Girls. YC: Young Children, 69(5), 94–95.

Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.login.library.coastal.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eh

h&AN=99682734&site=ehost-live