• bullying behavior: repeated negative behavior with a desire to harm someone with less power (size, strength, or other perceived imbalance of power); The aggressor appears to enjoy the interaction, and the victim feels oppressed.
• bully: a person who habitually acts with the intention of threatening, intimidating, or harming others, particularly people who appear weaker
• discrimination: unfair treatment based on prejudice or preconceived opinion

Day One

Anticipatory Set

Start a discussion about bullying behavior by sharing a video, cartoon, or story about the topic.

Examples:

• Groundspark film clip "Pushed to the Limit" http://groundspark.org/movies/letsgetreal/jasperpushed_dsl.mov
• Cartoons by Kevin Spear http://kevinspear.com/tag/bullying
• Pacer's National Bullying Prevention http://www.pacer.org/bullying/stories/

• Discuss the facts and myths that confirmed students' thinking or surprised them. 
  
• Explain that bullying can be based on discrimination, or treating people unfairly based on groups they belong to or how a person looks, dresses, or acts.  
• Ask the students to recall occurrences in history where whole groups of people were bullied or victimized by a dominant culture (e.g., Jews in Europe; protesters in African dictatorships). Discuss examples in history of groups who were denied their rights and how people reacted to the unfair situation. Provide students with background information on aggressors in history. These might include Idi Amin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein. What leaders emerged to stand up to the injustice and what did they do to help the victims?
• Discuss what they can learn from history about how a community responds to injustice. You may need to review the definition of civil rights (rights belonging to individuals as part of citizenship; equal protection, freedom from discrimination). Discuss the attributes of someone who helps others by standing up to injustice.
• Ask students if they think there is a positive sense of community at school. Do they think bullying is an issue at the school and do they know what kinds of bullying are occurring? Tell the students that for this class they are going to go out and collect data to get an accurate picture of the status of bullying.
• Encourage the students to come up with ideas for collecting data about the status of bullying at the school and then reporting it clearly. Some ideas follow:

1. Assign students responsibilities for creating a survey and collecting data from students, school staff, and families. You may need to give them a review lesson on sampling, creating a survey, and how to collect and record data in a graph or chart.
   • Define survey and explain to the learners its purpose.  Discuss characteristics of an effective survey question using a few examples. Divide the learners into teams of three. Each team will design a survey about bullying in the school and possible solutions to bullying. Each team will target a specific group for their survey: 6th graders, 7th graders, 8th graders, family, administrators, and teachers. Tell students that their survey questions must be appropriate for their target group. As an example, the family survey might ask, “Has your child ever been bullied, either verbally or physically, in middle school?” A 6th grade survey might have a question that asks, “Have you ever been the target of teasing or hitting by one of your classmates or a 7th or 8th grader?” Any of the audiences may respond to the question, "Without using anyone's name, have you ever observed an incident of bullying behavior at our school?"
   • Tell students that each survey must have at least five questions. The questions should be clear and answerable by short answers. They should include a question that asks for possible solutions to the problem of bullying.
   • Discuss ways they can get objective and accurate answers without putting people at risk.
      
2. Students have the task of finding out if other students in their school have experienced being bullied, teased, or excluded based on their clothes or looks. Encourage them to ask fellow students what they experienced, how they felt, and how they responded. They record their results in a concise and meaningful format.
3. Challenge students to talk to at least three students that they would never ordinarily talk to. They should reach out to unfamiliar clubs or social groups and start a conversation about bullying.

• Note: Allow sufficient time between Day Two and Day Three for students to distribute and collect the surveys.

Day Three

• Students present the collected data through graphs and charts and share the summarized results with the class.
• Facilitate a discussion. Ask: 
  • Is there bullying behavior in your school? What is the evidence? Given the evidence cited, what might have been the catalyst?
  • Are people responding effectively to bullying behavior?
  • What could your class do to make the situation better?
• Exit card: In the last few minutes of class, have students write an exit card explaining why bullying behavior violates our civil or human rights.

Students bring their surveys home to question family members about their perceptions of bullying.