ERWC Bullying Guide and Presentation Assignment
Bullying is a serious problem in schools, and cyber bullying has extended the reach of bullies into cyberspace. You have learned about definitions of bullying as well as considered various views of the causes and possible responses to bullying that can be made by schools, teachers, and students. You have also analyzed your own school’s bullying policy and talked to school personnel and students about the problem. For this project, you and the other members of your writing group will write a guide for new students at your school so that they understand what bullying is and how best to respond to it, either as a target or an observer. Your purpose is to persuade new students that bullying is unacceptable and that they need to take action to ensure that their school is a safe place.
You should base your advice on the research you have conducted and include a reference list of your sources. Your guide should be accessible and engaging for your audience of new students and should be revised and edited so that it is publishable. The body of your guide should be 4-5 pages long. Make it visually appealing and readable by using headings, bullet points, graphs, and illustrations as appropriate.
You may choose to structure your guide in the following way:
I. Cover (title, names of group members, eye-catching)
II. Introduction to the problem (purpose of this guide – what are you trying to accomplish with it?)
III. Definition of bullying – based on research and student viewpoints
IV. Your school’s bullying policy – what new students need to know
V. Examples that illustrate the nature of bullying in schools including your own (include the results of
your survey here, both in written form and in charts and/or graphs)
Survey – What do you want to ask people? What do you want to know?
5 questions minimum, 20 people respond to the same questions
(anonymous is fine; attach to guide)
VI. Advice for how to respond if you are bullied or you observe someone else being bullied
VII. Conclusion (what you hope the reader got from reading your guide)
VIII. Works cited (list every place that you included information from)
Once you have completed your guide, your writing group will make a presentation to share your findings with students in your class or others. This presentation should include either a video or a PowerPoint. If your group decides to make a video, it should be at least two minutes long and use sound, pictures, and movement. The video you will watch on Monday can be a model, but the purpose for your video is to persuade new students that bullying is unacceptable and that they need to take action to ensure that their school is a safe place. If your group creates a PowerPoint, you should have at least 15 slides. They should convey the main points of your guide in a visually engaging way, but you should provide the details to your audience as you make your presentation. Your presentation will be an important part of your grade for this project.
Your written guides will be due on Wednesday, May 18, and they will be worth 40 points in the journals and writing assignments category. Your presentations will be due on Thursday, May 26, and presented to the class the following week. The presentations will be worth 50 points in the classwork category.