Thursday, March 14, 2013

New Approach to Combat Bullying: Love is Louder Always!

This week Randy Cazell,  the author of "Love is Louder Always" came to speak to my 3rd and 4th grade guidance classes.  Randy is a retired Elementary School Counselor and she wrote this book as a tool for teaching about bullying for her guidance classes, and later decieded to publish it.  I fully buy in to her approach for combating bullying.

 She suggests teaching students to treat others with love always.  If you are a bystander to bullying, it is your duty to DO SOMETHING.  You can stand up to the bully or report the behavior to a teacher.  But, most importantly you need to show love to the victim.  We need to teach students to "pull the victim away from the bully," or include the victim in order to get them away from the bully and show them they are cared for.  Kids need to learn to side with the victim vs laughing or supporting the bully EVERY time!  This is the perfect book to read to your students to start spreading the love at your school!