Alanna's Post
My group decide to do our service learning project at The Bright Horizons Preschool where Jenn works. I though the experience overall was great. All the students eagerly participated and seemed to learn a lot from the lesson.We split the students into groups and each had a basic plan of talking about what bullying is, preventing it and recognizing it as well as reading "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud.
For my group I decided to have the students to tell me something a bully would do. Most students said simple child actions that are considered bullying but are most likely common at this age; my brother stole my lunch, I got tripped, somebody called me stupid.I asked the students how they felt and did they think it was right for somebody to do this and act like this, of course they all said no.
We then read the children's book and talked about nice things we could do for each other, and how we could help stop bullying if we saw it or were apart of it. The one concept I kept stressing was to always tell an adult, to never try and take action on your own especially because some situations can get out of hand. I had the students list on a white board the names of people in their lives they could talk to if they had an issue, were being bullied, or witnessed bullying.
I loved working with Jenn's students, they were all so adorable and I think this lesson was great for them but like Melissa said it would be better with an older group of students but I think overall the concepts behind bullying and preventing it were good.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Melissa's Service Learning Reflection
For our project, our group decided to do a presentation on bullying with the preschoolers at Bright Horizons. Jenn, Alanna and I decided to break the students up into groups to have a more personal discussion with the kids. To start the discussion with my group I asked the children what or who a bully is. My students came up with the following thoughts: someone who is mean, someone who doesn't like you, someone who makes you cry. After we discussed what a bully was, I read the book "Have you filled a bucket today?" After reading the story I asked the students to all go around in a circle and say something nice about the person sitting next to them so that everyone was complimented. I then discussed with my group the importance of being nice to people and 'filling buckets.' I then decided to ask the children what they should do if they are being bullied or see someone being bullied. My group decided that the best ideas would be to tell a teacher, tell your parents or ask the bully to stop.
It felt to do this project with the young children. I think that it is so sad that bullying happens this young, but it does and it is important for young children to know what to do if they or someone is being bullied and also the importance of being nice and caring to their peers. I think that the book was a great addition to this lesson because the children were very engaged with the book. It felt great because I feel like I really got through to the children because they were discussing and engaged in the lesson.
I would definitely do this lesson again with my future students. I think that bullying is something that unfortunately is going to be around for a while, and our students need to be educated on this topic. Depending on the age of the students I would change the discussion questions and the book that I read, but keep the same overall concept for the lesson. I think that I would do this project in the early years of my teaching and continue on with it throughout my career. Like I said, bullying is always going to be an issue and even if it isn't, children should always be taught to be caring to their peers and how to react to bullying.
I think that service learning would fit better into the methods course if the topics were more designed for young students. Personally, my topic was one that could be taught to students quite easily but i know some other groups might have a had a hard time turning their topic into a lesson for elementary aged students.
Jenn's Service Learning Project Reflection
My group decided to do our service learning project at Bright Horizons Preschool (my work). We were in a classroom with 19 children and 2 teachers. When we got there, we separated into groups of 6 or 7. Each group had either Melissa, Alanna, or I to have a discussion with. In my group, we began by using a white board to discuss what it means to be a bully. The children came up with the following answers.
1 A mean boy or girl
2. Someone who kicks you
3. They make you cry
4. A strong boy
5. They make you sad
6. When someone pushes me down on the playground
After they finished discussing what a bullying is, we talked about different ways to stop bullying from happening. Some of the children were unsure about how to stop it, so I wrote down some ideas on the white board and asked them which ones they liked best.
1. Asking the bully to stop
2. Talking with a teacher
3. Talking with your parents
4. Staying away from that person
Many of the children liked the idea of talking with their parents. They said that if they tell their moms and dads, then the bullies moms and dads would tell them to stop. After discussing different strategies, we began reading the book, Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? I told them that this was a book about making people feel good. As we began reading, one child said, lets make our own buckets. I told them that when the story was over, we were going to say something nice about each child in the group like the boy does in the story.
After we finished reading the book, I began by saying, “You boys and girls did a great job listening. I can see how smart you all are.” Then I asked each child one by one to say something nice about the child sitting next to them. Once they did this, they were all smiling and saying nice things to everyone else in the classroom.
After completing this service learning project, I felt like I made a difference. Many of the children knew what bullying was, but they were unsure on ways to stop it. After reading the story, I think they really understood the concept I was trying to emphasize. It is important for teachers to discuss bullying with their classrooms and really make sure they understand it. When I become an elementary school teacher, I will discuss bullying on a weekly basis. I think that it is important to do service learning projects with students (depending upon the age) so they can really understand a specific topic. As I previously stated, completing this service learning project made me feel like I had an impact on those children. I was able to communicate with them about bullying and hopefully prevent them from bullying others children or becoming victims of bullying. Within the past couple of years, students have committed suicide because of being bullied. I think that if teachers continue to discuss bullying with students, they will feel more comfortable and safe coming to school everyday. As future teachers, we need to be the ones to stop bullying. Realistically, bullying will never stop, but the drastic measures students are taking because of it needs to be prevented. Children should feel safe coming to school everyday. There is no need for other students to feel that they have the right to bully another child.
In my opinion, I feel that service learning projects should be integrated into the classroom. The more hands on experience students, the more understanding they will have. Teacher can discuss certain topics with their students, but physically getting up and doing something for other people is what makes a difference. We can not just say we want to stop bullying. In order to stop bullying, people need to do projects such as this and really leave an impact on the children. I think that projects such as these can really help get people involved in the community. I think if anything could do anything differently, I would love to have more guest speakers and see the techniques and strategies they use with college students.
1 A mean boy or girl
2. Someone who kicks you
3. They make you cry
4. A strong boy
5. They make you sad
6. When someone pushes me down on the playground
After they finished discussing what a bullying is, we talked about different ways to stop bullying from happening. Some of the children were unsure about how to stop it, so I wrote down some ideas on the white board and asked them which ones they liked best.
1. Asking the bully to stop
2. Talking with a teacher
3. Talking with your parents
4. Staying away from that person
Many of the children liked the idea of talking with their parents. They said that if they tell their moms and dads, then the bullies moms and dads would tell them to stop. After discussing different strategies, we began reading the book, Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? I told them that this was a book about making people feel good. As we began reading, one child said, lets make our own buckets. I told them that when the story was over, we were going to say something nice about each child in the group like the boy does in the story.
After we finished reading the book, I began by saying, “You boys and girls did a great job listening. I can see how smart you all are.” Then I asked each child one by one to say something nice about the child sitting next to them. Once they did this, they were all smiling and saying nice things to everyone else in the classroom.
After completing this service learning project, I felt like I made a difference. Many of the children knew what bullying was, but they were unsure on ways to stop it. After reading the story, I think they really understood the concept I was trying to emphasize. It is important for teachers to discuss bullying with their classrooms and really make sure they understand it. When I become an elementary school teacher, I will discuss bullying on a weekly basis. I think that it is important to do service learning projects with students (depending upon the age) so they can really understand a specific topic. As I previously stated, completing this service learning project made me feel like I had an impact on those children. I was able to communicate with them about bullying and hopefully prevent them from bullying others children or becoming victims of bullying. Within the past couple of years, students have committed suicide because of being bullied. I think that if teachers continue to discuss bullying with students, they will feel more comfortable and safe coming to school everyday. As future teachers, we need to be the ones to stop bullying. Realistically, bullying will never stop, but the drastic measures students are taking because of it needs to be prevented. Children should feel safe coming to school everyday. There is no need for other students to feel that they have the right to bully another child.
In my opinion, I feel that service learning projects should be integrated into the classroom. The more hands on experience students, the more understanding they will have. Teacher can discuss certain topics with their students, but physically getting up and doing something for other people is what makes a difference. We can not just say we want to stop bullying. In order to stop bullying, people need to do projects such as this and really leave an impact on the children. I think that projects such as these can really help get people involved in the community. I think if anything could do anything differently, I would love to have more guest speakers and see the techniques and strategies they use with college students.
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