Anti-bullying

All three grade 6 classes have had the pleasure of welcoming our school counselor, Herman Stahl, into our classrooms for two anti-bullying sessions this week. Herman is incredibly skilled about helping students become aware of the impact our words and actions can have on others, especially in middle school. He was in our class for about an hour on Monday and then again today, and the students were very engaged. It seems that they really do understand the importance of discussing the issues around bullying and what they can do to prevent it.

Herman's goal throughout these discussions is to show the necessity of making sure all students are meeting their physical, emotional, and social needs at school, and that everyone feels like they belong. To encourage this sense of belonging, he had students create a "chain of belonging" in class. Students received strips of paper and wrote a sentence or two about how someone has made them feel they belong at school and we will hang it up in as a reminder somewhere in our classroom.

On Monday Herman involved students in an activity that helped them see how everyone perceives situations differently and therefore respond with different emotions. He emphasized the importance of understanding that even though we may say and do things that seem innocent, our peers may perceive it very differently.





He will come for one more session next Monday.