Preventing Bullying in My Classroom

Bullying is a huge problem in the classroom. It can have detrimental effects on students and negatively impact the learning environment. Students need to know they are in a safe, supportive learning environment. I strive to provide this for students and keep them safe. To do this, one focus of my classroom is on bullying prevention.

To help prevent bullying, my first step will be to create a positive classroom community. At the beginning of the year, I will take time for students to get to know each other and me as well. I had a professor once say that it is harder to bully someone you know, and I fully believe that. This is a statement that I am going to carry with me and utilize in bullying prevention in my classroom.

I am also going to be sure to let students know what bullying is, and that it will not be acceptable behavior in my classroom. Time will be taken to explicitly explain to my students what bullying is and consequences that will be put into place for bullying. We will discuss that it is not acceptable to bully other students, to be bullied, or to just watch other kids be bullied.

I also am sure to implement district policies in my classroom to strive toward a school community. I will take district policy into consideration while teaching my students about bullying and include incorporate those policies to support the school structure, and so my students will be held to the same expectations throughout the whole building and be provided with consistency.

Kindness will be promoted in my room, and I will model this for students. To do this, I will be kind to all students as well as staff and anyone else who enters my room by treating them with respect. I will also give out compliments to individuals and encourage my students to do the same.

Bullying prevention activities will be provided for my students. This will go along with my explicit teaching of bullying and help students realize the negative impact bullying can have. I will do this through using books and videos. I will also do activities for students to have the chance to be kind to each other and build relationships.

In a perfect world there would be no bullying. However, I know this is something that will arise in my classroom. I am going to put as much effort as I can into bullying prevention through explicitly teaching, providing activities, and modeling. I will be aware of bullying in my classroom and let students know that they can come to me if there are any problems. I want to provide students with a learning environment where they feel safe.