The Bully Project:
Drama as a Catalyst for Change
Presented by:
Lanny Sorenson, M.Ed.
Based upon:
Creating Social Change through Performance of
Student Reading, Writing, and Art
Created by:
Gregory Leavitt, M.Ed., M.S.
Eva L. Belliston, MFA
Brian Grimshaw, Ed.D.
Lanny Sorenson, M.Ed.
Table of Contents
1. Explanation of Projects
2. Black line, Harassment cards; Ambassador Program
3. Production outline for Bully Project
4. Student performance guide for Bully Project
5. Presenter Biography
Project Overview
These projects for social change began as a way to approach students about important issues in our school in a new and change-promoting way. Then vice principal, Greg Leavitt, approached the Crescent View Middle School theatre team with the challenge of “finding a way to touch students’ hearts” on the subject of bullying. After discussing and defining the project’s parameters, Eva Belliston and Lanny Sorenson involved their English and Theatre students in the process through discussion, written work, art projects, and role-play. Designer Brian Grimshaw developed the context and created properties, multimedia effects and iconography. Using these materials, a performance matrix was created. This matrix was then used to construct the school-wide performance.
The following pages are models and examples of the educational scaffolds and performance guides used to support these social change initiatives at Crescent View Middle School, Sunset Ridge Middle School, and others. They show the progression of the work and may help shape projects created by other interested schools.
Front of Card Back of Card
Harassment Cards
Harassment cards with a number hand written in the corner were issued to every student at Crescent View Middle School. The students were encouraged to keep the card all year long. Weekly, an administrator would randomly choose a number or two for a focus group meeting in the auditorium. Only by showing the card with the correct number to their teachers are the students allowed to leave and attend the focus group. Students who attended were encouraged to share with the administration difficulties and successes they were experiencing. Giving students who attended a small treat or assignment pass as they left the meetings helped with motivating them to keep the card throughout the school year.
Not in Our School
Guidance Counselor, Julie Scherzinger, leads the Falcons Against Bullying (FAB) committee at Sunset Ridge Middle School (SRMS). Julie introduced an ambassador program based upon her earlier work with bullied students and research into the area. Carefully selected ambassadors at SRMS use social networking and time spent together in a Teacher’s Advisory (TA) class to arrange public service announcements, create displays, write essays, and look out for bullying going on in the school. Ambassadors at SRMS make a difference. SRMS has a Bully Hotline where students can report bullying as well as acts of kindness. Over the past three years Ambassadors and students at SRMS have focused on Empathy, Respect, and Embracing Diversity. The program has been locally and internationally recognized through local news media and The Disney Channel.
The Bully Project:
An Outline for an Educational Process for Change
Overview
The Bully Project, interchangeable with any other issue, is used as a catalyst for social change. It can be conducted as a class, grade-level or department project, or integrated school or district wide. It is well suited for middle level learners.
Before
As with any educational process, background knowledge is important for successful, life-long learning to occur. Exercises conducted by administrators may begin the process that leads to inquiry, higher-order thinking and deeper understanding of the issue to be addressed.
Phase One: Research and Discussion
Learners are asked to research the issue through a structured assignment. To ensure a safe forum that will lead to honest and poignant student-products, open discussion about the topic is essential. These discussions should lead to defining the problem, such as how, when, and why it happens. In Socratic fashion, answers should lead to more questions. The discussions lead to a deeper understanding of the issue. Examining the scope and breadth of the problem sets the tone and creates the awareness that change is necessary or desirable. Categories of the problem should also be defined through discussion. For bullying, the three-part dialectic can be: bullies, those who are bullied, and witnesses to bullying (bystanders).
Phase Two: Writing
Learners, as well as learning community members, should be given the opportunity to write about biographical experiences. The writing products can be poetic, autobiographical, biographical, or dramatic. If graded, the written products should be changed to an anonymous state as quickly as possible. It is motivating to students to be offered choices throughout the project in genre, media and topic while creating products.
Phase Three: Presentation and Staging
Students should be given options in performing the now anonymous, learner created written works. In-class or in-school options can include reader’s theatre, choral theatre, dramatized scenes, monologues, and so on. Other student-devised options can involve audio/visual and other technological media. Next, selections should be made from all submitted products to create a performable, staged presentation. An adult with writing expertise devises a through line for the works and a script that incorporates the student/community contributions.
With board review (which can include students) and treatment(s) of the script by those qualified, a working draft should be cast via open audition. To meet middle level philosophical standards, all who audition should be included in the rehearsal and performance process.
The theatrical production should be staged for the community. Special care needs to be taken that the symbolism and iconography generated from common themes in the student-created written and artistic works is used and honored.
After: Just the Beginning
Reflection is the key to effecting genuine change. All those involved, whether educators, initial writers, classroom and/or theatrical performers, or audience members should be challenged to note any difference in their attitudes and in the climate of the learning community itself. All should be given ample opportunities to reflect on their additional understanding of the symbolism, growth, and goals for future change.
Bully Project Check List
1. Do both of the following (for a “3” below):
____ A response to assigned article on the topic of bullying.
____ A summary of assigned article.
1 / 2 / 3 / 4I can state the difference between a response and a summary. / I can effectively summarize an article about bullying in my own words. / I can analyze what an article about bullying is saying and respond to it in my own words. / I can evaluate what an article about bullying is saying by carefully summarizing it with extra related details and thoughtfully responding to it through my own voice.
2. Write TWO of the following three options (for a “3”):
____ A poem based upon one or more of the three categories of bullying: being bullied, being the bully, witnessing bullying. (about ½ to 1 page)
____ A biography or autobiography about one or more of the three categories of bullying above. (about 1 to 3 pages)
____ A theatrical scene based upon real events that contains one or more of the three categories. (about 1 page)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4I can recall what the three categories of bullying are. / I can put my own experiences with bullying into a form of writing from the list above. / I can write about two experiences with bullying through completing two forms of writing described above. / I can reflect on my own experiences and create a meaningful poem, biography or memoir with vivid imagery, AND a fully functioning theatrical scene based on bullying.
3. Choose TWO of the following for presentation to the class (3). (**project must be shown to the teacher for approval at least one day prior to class presentation)
____ A book cover design for a collection of student works about bullying.
____ A set design for a play based on student-written bullying poetry and biographies.
____ A full costume plan for the play (as above), including sketches and fabric swatches for four main characters.
____ One character sketch each (see worksheet to be provided) for the four main characters (as above).
____ Other: ______(must be pre-approved)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4I can recall basic information about what makes a written work dramatic. / I can make two of the products listed above. / I can create and present two of the products listed above to the full explanation of the product forms. / I can create and present three of the products listed above in a way that shows I have thought about the process of creating.
4. Write the final draft for ONE choice from Group B (3):
____ A poem. (about ½ to 1 page)
____ A biography or autobiography. (about 1 to 3 pages)
____ A theatrical scene. (about 1 page)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4I can recall revising and editing techniques. / I can edit a written product from the list above. / I can revise, edit, and publish one written experience from the list above. / I can write another poem, biography, or scene from the perspective of another character from the original work.
5. Choose TWO of the following presentations for the class. (3) (**project must be shown to the teacher for approval at least one day prior to class presentation):
____ Directing OR acting in one scene created from (anonymously written) biographies.
____ Participate in a reader’s theatre/group presentation of (anonymously written) scene, biography, or poem. (Be creative in your presentation.)
____ A monologue of at least 45 seconds from the anonymous selections.
____ Participation in a formal debate on the issue of bullying. (pro/con based on how it happens, why it happens, etc.)
____ Other: ______(must be pre-approved)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4I can recall basic information about what makes a written work dramatic. / I can participate in one of the activities listed above. / I can fully participate in two of the activities listed above. / I can reflect on my participation in three of the activities listed above by writing and sharing notes about each phase of each experience.
All Assignment Parameters are Subject to Change
Name ______Period ______
Bully Project Grade Sheet
Group A: ____|____Completion/Grade
Due Date: ______
Group B: ____|___ Completion/Grade
Due Date: ______
Group C: ______*optional pre-approval __|___ **Approval___|___ Presentation/Grade
Due Date: ______
Group D: ______Completion/Grade
Due Date: ______
Group E: ______*optional pre-approval __|___ **Approval___|___ Presentation/Grade
Due Date: ______
*=pre-approval required at least one day before first presentation (to the teacher)
**=Approvals are rough presentations to the teacher only, at least one day before class presentation
Presenter
National award winning writer and researcher, recognized language arts and theatre teacher, Lanny Sorenson directs The Bully Project at Sunset Ridge Middle School. He works alongside counselors and teachers as a member of an anti-bully committee, which oversees the “Not in Our School” Ambassador Program and Bully Hotline. His areas of expertise include student-generated theatre, simulations, brain research, active learning, high-quality teaching, students at risk, writing across the curriculum, and various others.