According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, approximately 1 in 3 students in the United States say they have been bullied at school, with verbal and social bullying being the most pervasive. Because bullying impacts such a large part of the country’s youth, October is recognized as Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. The purpose of this month is twofold: to acknowledge that bullying has a lasting impact and to educate people about bullying prevention.

Teaching Students to Prevent Bullying

Bullying prevention lesson plans, activities, games, and additional resources are available on the National Education Association’s website. The lesson plans are conveniently organized by grade level, and the activities include both electronic and paper-pencil ideas so that every school can use them regardless of technological capabilities. The site also includes audio and video files and background resources to help further the anti-bullying discussions in your classroom!

The End of Bullying Begins with You

The PACER Center (Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights) has a National Bullying Prevention Center website that includes a section just for educators. The section includes educator toolkits and activities that provide a wealth of information for teaching bullying prevention both in the classroom and the community. The kits break down how to plan an event, create a visual statement, introduce bullying prevention conversations, and lesson plans. PACER has worked hard to provide accessibility to a well-rounded bullying prevention program.

Social & Emotional Issues

TeacherVision has dedicated an entire section to teacher resources surrounding bullying. The site includes articles with varying topics like bully-proofing your classroom and dealing with bullying as it relates to technology. Additionally, teachers have access to teaching guides for literature that takes a stand against bullying. TeacherVision also has resources that address different aspects of social and emotional development.  

Personal & Social Development

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s website provides helpful information about teaching social and emotional development to school age children. All of the lesson plans are organized by grade level and are available as PDFs and Word documents. The topics on this site range from peer pressure and making safe choices to respecting differences in others.

Character Education

Bullying is a multi-faceted problem, and character.org’s website works to address each facet across all grade levels. The easy-to-use website has lesson plans that are arranged by grade-level. Each lesson plan includes a brief synopsis so that teachers can quickly determine what the lesson is teaching students. Character.org has given us over a hundred lesson plans that include guided questions, details about the work session, and all of the necessary resources.

Bullying impacts students in ways that we can’t even see. As adults, we understand the lasting effects that bullying can have on children. The way to prevent bullying from happening is to talk about it and educate our students on what it is; by educating them, we are empowering them to make a stand against bullying.

Please share any other bullying prevention resources that you have used in your classroom!