Lesson 3 – How bullying feels and how best to respond

SPHE strand: Myself and others;
SPHE strand unit: My friends and other people – Explore and discuss how individuals can deal with being bullied, knowing that others are being bullied and being a bully.

SPHE strand: Myself and the wider world;
SPHE strand unit: Media education – Recognise the unequal treatment of sexual roles and other issues in literature, advertising, drama, magazines and other media.

Resources Needed:
– Webwise animation: The Match
– Equipment: Computers/tablets
– Worksheet 3.1: The emotions involved in cyber bullying
– Worksheet 3.2: My side of the story
– Worksheet 3.3: Crack the anti-cyber bullying code
– Worksheet 3.4: Your problems solved

Methodologies: – Video analysis, group work, personal letter writing, decoding.

STEP 1 – Have students watch the second anti-cyber bullying animation, The Match.
STEP 2 – As the students watch The Match for a second time, have them consider the emotions felt by Conor and Ryan by completing Worksheet 3.1: The emotions involved in cyber bullying.
STEP 3 – Have the students describe how they completed their worksheets and then ask the following questions to help students to understand what led Ryan to bully Conor:

Q. Both characters experience negative emotions during the animation. Have a look at your worksheet and explain what causes Ryan to be upset? What causes Conor to be upset?
Q. What emotions lead Ryan to bully Conor?
Q. In what way might Ryan have dealt with his negative emotions, that didn’t involve bullying Conor?

STEP 1 – In this exercise the students will write letters to an agony aunt looking for advice. When writing the letters the students will take on the roles of the different characters in The Match. These letters will help the students imagine what motivated each character to act the way that he did and will help them to understand the feelings that motivate bullying.

STEP 2 – Split the class so that half will write their letters from Ryan’s perspective and the other half will write their letters from Conor’s perspective.

STEP 3 – Have students complete their letters by filling in Worksheet 3.2 My side of the story.

STEP 4 – When the students have finished writing their letters, the letters should be folded up, as if for sending. Then the letters should be swapped so that everyone who wrote a letter from Ryan’s perspective gets one from Conor’s perspective and vice versa.

HOMEWORK – For homework, each student should then pretend to be Aunt-i Bullying and respond to the letters received by writing a response that contains advice (Worksheet 3.4: Your problems solved). Students should be encouraged to show the video to their parents and discuss the homework activity with their parents. The following activities will help prepare them to give advice on the topic of cyber bullying.

STEP 1 – Before leading this activity discuss with the students the steps they should take if they encounter cyber bullying. Refer to the FYI box with Key Advice for Children.
STEP 2 – In groups the students should work to crack the code on Worksheet 3.3: Crack the anti-cyber bullying code. This code gives the steps that Conor should take to address the cyber bullying.
STEP 3 – When each group has decoded the important message the groups should then discuss these steps and be able to explain how to complete each step.
STEP 4 – To crack the code: The number underneath the given letter indicates how many letter places you should go back in the alphabet to find the correct letter. For example, go back one space from E to get D, the first letter in the code. Go back 8 spaces from W to get O.
ANSWER – Don’t respond, keep the message, report online, tell someone.

STEP 1 – In order for students to record evidence of cyber bullying or “keep the message” they’ll need to be able to take screenshots on their phones, tablets and computers.

STEP 2 – Refer to this Webwise article for instructions on how to take screenshots and know how to take screenshots on the most relevant devices before beginning this activity.

STEP 3 – Demonstrate how to take a screenshot and then have the students work in pairs on computers and tablets to practise taking and saving screenshots.

STEP 4 – Also mention that another way of recording bullying messages and posts is to take a photo of the message using a camera or another phone or tablet.