Why is this topic important in schools today?

Discuss the dynamics of bullying and

cyber bullying. Describe how understanding the dynamics of bullying could aid in
the prevention of bullying. How is cyber bullying the same as and different from face
to face bullying.

Bullying is everywhere in schools today. I am a 2nd year teacher

and a 1st grade teacher and I see it in my classroom on a weekly basis. It
breaks my heart to see kids picking on and bullying other kids. My
biggest concern is that the bullying has gone from straight physical to
more of a mental/emotional bullying. Which is a lot harder to detect and
treat. When you have 7 and 8 year olds bullying each other you know
that you need a fundamental ideological shift in how we approach and
handle bullying in schools. Again, from what I have seen in my own
classroom I have kids who are being affected academically, socially, and
physical by bullying. This is not ok. Kids are not being kids, they are
going through problems that a lot of adults face at an age where they are
not developed enough to understand what is happening, or how to cope
with it.

Bullying and cyber-bullying is basically the same thing, just done

through two different avenues, I will discuss that in detail later in the
paper. But as I said they both have the same underlying core: one
person exerting dominance over another. Whether that is through
physical force, mental abuse, or emotional abuse. It always involves
some sort of power that one person has over another, (perceived or
otherwise).
 The bully wants to show dominance and or control over
something or someone. They will use any means necessary to do that.
Anything they can do to get the upper hand or feel like they are
superior, they will do. What is important for me, as a teacher is to
recognize the signs of bullying and make sure I act accordingly. I also
need to get a head of the problem by pre-teaching expectations on
bullying, how to prevent and handle bullies, and how bullying affects
everyone, not just those being bullied.

If I am able to understand what bullying looks like and how it

affects people, I can use that to try and prevent bullying. For example,
looking for signs like not being around certain people, nervousness,
“aches or pains” I can truly prevent a situation from escalating. I love the
idea of doing a meeting 1x every 2 weeks to discuss bullying and bring
everyone together. It would provide a great way for me to keep my
pulse on the classroom and how kids are doing. Also teaching kids how
bullying affects even people watching would be a great thing for my
kids, they do a great job of empathizing with each other, this would
enable them to speak up, and teach them that they are witnessing
someone get hurt and that is not ok.

As I mentioned earlier, bullying and cyber-bullying are basically

the same thing just done through different avenues. Bullying is done
more in a face-to-face in person manner, while cyber bullying is done
online, or through anonymous messages. However, each one tries to do
the same thing: intimidate someone who they perceive to be weaker
than them. Face-to-face bullying allows the bully to experience and feel
the fear/frustrations of their victim because they see it in person. While
cyber bullying I feel is much scarier because it removes the human
element. You have no idea where this person is, who this person is, what
they might do next. It adds much more fear in my opinion. Also for the
bully it can be taken too far because you do not see the immediate
reaction/results of your actions.

Bullying is something that exists in classrooms of every level. Our

goal as educators needs to be to create a safe, friendly environment
where children can learn and grow without fear of being bullied.