Bullied to Death
If you’ve read this blog before you know that I’ve had more than a few stories about bullying, bystander behavior, acts of violence and agression toward a particular person or group. It seems, though, that there is no dearth of news about this at its core, and I feel that advisory should be a place to discuss many of these issues. It has the power to provide a safe space from this kind of behavior.
A couple of weeks ago, bullying led to a suicide. Phoebe Prince, a 14 year old high school student new to the school, committed the crime of being new, different, and threatening to social life of an older girl. She was chased in the hall and called and “Irish Slut”; phone messages, texts, and Facebook pages haunted her. (Even after she died, bullies posted terrible messages on her page). It is another chance to learn something, to change what is sadly a common response to fear and jealousy.
Activities: With any of these activities, you will probably want to have students understand what happened in South Hadley to Phoebe (using the articles below and the news piece), and allow them to ask questions to learn more about it.
- Read the poem: “What do we do with a Variation?”
- What are the different ways that poet James Berry says that we (humans) deal with difference?
- Which seems to have been in place for the bullies at South Hadley High School? Why?
- What is your favorite metaphor in the poem? Why?
- Berry shows us the range of responses we have – some of us have all these responses in different settings – what response to dealing with difference represents how you respond most often? Give a couple examples.
- Read the editorial by Kevin Cullen “The Untouchable Mean Girls“.
- Talk with students about what an editorial is and how the rules of journalistic objectivity do not apply. This might be a good time to review fact vs. opinion with them. (You can use a T-Chart graphic organizer to have them write words and phrases that are facts from the stories and then opinions he derives from those facts). Have students discuss what the tone of his editorial is. How can you tell? Do you find his editorial persuasive? Why?
- Discuss as a group, based on what you know, where does the responsibility of this type of death lie? (I would only do this activity if you have built a group with strong norms to listen and respect one another and the topic. This could be trivialized in an immature setting. We do not have all the information and it would be irresponsible to dole out blame in this case. Encourage them to think more abstractly.) Have students discuss where the responsibility lies in these cases. (One way to frame this could be – if we were going to make changes so this didn’t happen in the future, where would we have to spend most of the energy). Have them in small groups discuss:
- What is the responsibility of the School?
- What is the responsibility of the (the bullies’) Parents?
- What is the responsibility of the bullies?
- What is the responsibility of the bullied?
- Other: ______________
- The using the Pie Chart graphic organizer have each student dole out the responsibility for this event to any or all of the four groups/people above – it must add up to 100%. On the back or in the margins explain the “why” you have given the percent of responsibility (not blame) to. If you have time, have each group member present to the small group and, if possible, come to some agreement on a group pie chart. After looking at it, discuss, what does this assignment of responsibility suggest about how we should move forward to impact the future?
- Have students respond in quiet journaling: Does learning about these stories cause you to think differently about acting with others? What did you learn from Phoebe’s situation and her choice? What is it that can and should be done about these incidents? Why?
Resources:
- Boston Globe Article
- “The Untouchable Mean Girls”
- News Story- Television Clip
- Gazzettnet.com Story
- Video: three other girls choose to leave South Hadley HS Because of Bullying
- “What do we do with a Variation?” by Wendell Berry
- Update; February 5: Press Release of South Hadley Public Schools
- Updated February 15th: Story Picked Up in People
- Updated February 15th: Family of a Girl Falsely Accused of Bullying Prince has to Leave Home.
- Updated: 3.29: Town Awaits DA Speech + Bullying bill headed to the Governor
- Updated 3.30: 9 Teens charged with bullying.
Extensions:
- Research the increasing incidents and any current thinking about how to combat Cyber Bullying. How is it different from bullying in person? Is it more pervasive or less? How do bullies experience this?
- Is there a difference between when and how boys bully and when and how girls bully? Look into research to see if gender plays a role in this.
- You might choose to have students create an ad, write a persuasive essay, or creatively express their feelings on and solutions to this chronic bullying.
Enciendalo! Please People, Light that Spark!
Two Great Math Blogs
Ok, so I hate to be too postmodern – a blog about blogs, but I found two resources that would be good subscriptions for advisors who are looking to help students expand their critical thinking skills. These resources are for you – the adult – to keep creative and focusing on interesing
The Opinionat0r – Steve Strogatz
The “Opinionator” Blog at the New York times provides a lot of interesting info an mathematical thinking. He writes about interesting and challenging topics – and just reading a few has helped me connect ideas for investigations for student projects (when I can follow it).
The Math Mom has a great way of framing experience through the lens of math. Her site is filled with reflections and activities from looking at the world daily as a quantitative mind.
There are also activities to use that are framed around daily life experience. They are divided into “easy”, “medium”, and “hard”. Give them a try and sign up for the newsletter.
Enciendalo! (x2)
Pi Day
As if you needed a reason to celebrate a mathematical concept, today is Pi Day (3/14 – get it?). So why is this important? (I have to use the Greek Pi, as opposed to the symbol in the blog). There aren’t many activities here, but mostly a shout out to Pi (and those who shout out for it).
- Pi shows the relationship between diameter and circumference of a circle.
- Pi is a constant – no matter what size the circle, as a ratio, its value remains the same.
- Pi is known mostly as 3.14, but it has been calculated out to over a trillion digits.
- Pi has a long history: it comes from the Greek letters and the Egyptians used the equivalent of Pi/2 for their proportions of the pyramids – this seems to have been a good choice, if longevity plays into architecture….
- It is central in equations for area of a circle and volume of a cylinder (central to those of us who like curling and cans of soup).
- Is Pi a normal number?
- Are people who wear a Pi t-shirt normal? Lots to think about.
- Are there any other constants that have (or should have) a day?
Resources:
- Pi Day Website – Learn about Pi
- Wikipedia explanation with cool animation that actually makes the concept understandable! (This would be a great experiment to recreate. Give students four or five circles (lids, etc) of different diameters. Measure the diameter of each, mark a spot on the circle and roll it out, then measure the circumference (or use measuring tape). Is the circumference 3.14 x the diameter? Have them record their findings on a chart.
Enciendalo!
All Summer in a Day
“A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again. And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus, and this was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives.”
“All Summer in a Day” is one of my favorite short stories that I had a chance to teach recently. It is short (less than four pages), has 9 years olds as the central characters, creates vivid characters and a poignant scene, and a deals with issues of group membership, how groups deal with difference, prejudice, and bullying. The characters, setting and theme create an safe topic for conversations of behaviors that may be common to students.
Activities:
- Have students do a quickwrite activity framed in the discussion you want to explore: (This one is to look at how groups treat difference.) “Have you ever been in the company of a group of which you were clearly not a member? What was the circumstance? How did you act? How were you treated?” Pair share, then report out.
- Read aloud with students – check for understanding and have students pick out words they are not familiar with.
- There are many activities to do with this story (and a few guiding sheets in the resources section). One interesting discussion might be to have students discuss who should be held responsible for Margot’s treatment and then discuss what those people might have chosen to do which would have led to a positive outcome.
Resources:
- Text to the Story “All Summer in a Day”
- Resources to go with the story including: a Do Now writing prompt, sketch and important scene with quote, create a pie chart of responsibility, identify setting and figurative language, identify the characterization techniques of the protagonist, Margot.
- You Tube Video Version of the Story
- Bradbury’s Illustrated Man
- “What Do We Do with a Variation” – James Berry Poem. A great text for students to use to think about the different ways people deal with difference.
Enciendalo!
Obama Supports the Met
GradNation
In a speech about education policy today President Barak Obama talked about what he would like to see in educational practice – and mentioned the Met school in Providence specifically! (See the link to the video and the speech below). He says,
That’s why we’ll follow the example of places like the Met Center in Rhode Island that give students that individual attention, while also preparing them through real-world, hands-on training the possibility of succeeding in a career…That’s how we can curb dropout rates and boost graduating rates. I have to point out, in the 21st century, high schools shouldn’t just make sure students graduate — they should make sure students graduate ready for college, ready for a career, and ready for life. And that’s why we’ll foster what are called early college high schools that allow students to earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree or college credit at the same time. We want to learn from successful charter schools where students can take advanced and college-level courses…So government has a responsibility. Government can help educate students to succeed in college and a career. Government can help provide the resources to engage dropouts and those at risk of dropping out. And when necessary, government has to be critically involved in turning around lowest performing schools.
One of the battles he is proposing to fight is help stem the tide of high school drop outs. He has worked with Colin Powell’s group, America’s promise who has created an initiative called GRADNation.
Some statistics from the America’s Promis Website:
- Every 26 seconds, another student drops out of school in America – more than 1.3 million students per year.
- Today, more than one in three students fails to graduate from high school. As a result, we lose an entire graduating class every three years.
- Among minority students, less than 50 percent of Native American and a little more than half of African American and Hispanic students completing high school on time.
- Young people who drop out are twice as likely as likely as graduates to be unemployed; three times as likely to live in poverty; eight times more likely to wind up in prison; and twice as likely to become the parent of a child who drops out.
- Of those who do graduate, only about one-third have the skills they need to succeed in college and the 21stcentury workforce.
Activity:
- Watch the video and or read selections from the text. What are Obama’s main points? do you agree or disagree?
- If you are in a Big Picture School, what does it mean to you to have the President to praise your type of school? What do you know about the Big Picture network.
- Write a journal entry about your own journey in school. What keeps you dedicated to finish? Why do you persevere?
- What do the stats about mean to you?
- Do a little QR – based on these stats, how many people drop out each quarter? From each state? (How many from your state)?
Resources:
Enciendalo!
What do you see?
Activity:
Choose a photo or bring in a photo for the students to choose from to write. Give guidelines (how long they have, how long the writing should be. you have done this before, think about the writing skills, styles or techniques that you might want to highlight or practice. You could have students write in dialogue, or use metaphor, or create a compare and contrast descriptions, or try to persuade the reader about something having to do with the picture. It could be a free write where you ask them to make a list of what they see, describe what might be happening, just happened, or will happen based on what they see, tell a story about the place or characters, or just describe in detail everything you see.
You might have students look up a compelling photo on one of these sites (below) and choose one to write further about or one that they could swap with another student.
You can also vary with historical photographs, landscapes, portraits, etc.
Resources:
- National Geographic Photography
- Life Searchable Photo Archive
- Photo.net
- Ansel Adams – Japanese Internment Photographs
- Golden Age of Jazz
Enciendalo!
This is not a….
This is square. Well, that is one way to look at it. It could be the overhead outline of a bedroom chamber or the heart of a robot. It could be the close up of a brick or a patch on a John Deere hat. It could be a mosaic tile from the ruins in Pompeii or part of a Chinese watercolor scroll. There are so many things this “square” could be, if only it had a chance…
Activities:
For this advisory activity, collect colored pencils, charcoal, or crayons for the students to use. You might also have some old magazines around for students to use as inspiration or to use as material for this project. This is an opportunity for the students to visualize and be creative. You might introduce this as an activity in
Give students a shape, like a square, and tell them they can use this as part of whatever drawing they like. You can use a form with a square already drawn on it. (Like this one) if you like. They should incorportate the original shape in whatever picture they would like. Give them a set amount of time (20 – 30 minutes) and encourage them to be detailed and spend time creating the look they would like.
You might think about having them write a few sentences on the back detailing what they drew and why they chose this as the object. (If there is time, have people share as a large group). This is not a square, it is a…._________________.
Depending on your advisory culture, you could have soft music on in the background to set the mood.
You can use this with many objects glued to a piece of paper (popsicle sticks, straws, coins, buttons, etc) or shapes drawn on the Paper.
Enciendalo!
Graph It
There is something clean and simple and wonderful about a graph. Add humor, and you’ve got a great advisory activity.
Activity:
- Have students work together in pairs to choose one of the graphs above and discuss what does this graph say and how it says it. You might encourage students to look at the title, the x and y axis or the segments from the bar graph or the categories on a pie graph. What is being compared? Is the picture a story over time? What do the amounts on the charts represent? Does it show amounts in relation to one another?
- As a whole group, brainstorm some topics for a graph of your own. What experiences have you seen that would be fun to show in a graph. How would you represent it – a pie chart? A line graph? A Bar graph? Why? Choose one of these, brainstorm numbers and percentages and draw the graph.
- Allow students to think about a graph they might create. (Their top 5 procrastination techniques, Ways their parents respond to a request for money, snack foods in a week…etc). and have them each do one that represents what is important/funny to them. Use good graphing techniques.
Resources:
Enciendalo!
Thanks Kari for the idea!
Valentine Type Love
- Give students some examples of love turned into mellifluous creativity. (If you’ve got that kind of group, help define sublimation for them and spark their interest in the unconscious.)
- Have students watch the “This Type of Love” above and do their own version - what type of love are they looking for (or have). What metaphors, similes, and other comparisons can they come up with to describe their experience? You might have students each write one of their own, or write a couple of lines that you could put together in an advisory poem (type love).
- Listen to (or watch) Love Songs: 311′s Version of “Love Song”; Alicia Keys “Falling”; Mary J. Blige “Love at First Sight”; Lady Gaga “I Want Your Love”; INXS “Never Tear Us Apart”; The Police “Every Breath You Take”; go through lots of older songs (“Oh Girl anyone”) 100 Greatest Love Songs (NYPost);
- Obviously – go wild with this one: You could have them take a song and break it down. What does love mean to the artist? Is it a song of longing? sadness? happiness? confusion? jealousy? ecstasy? Is it about falling in love? Unrequited love? rekindling love? The challenges of (You might try the You do, We do, they do method with this. Have them bring in one of their own for friday for the you do part to share with a partner in advisory. Try to pick a song that (unlike what I did earlier in the blog picking “In Your Eyes” doesn’t belie your age and dorkiness…)
- Have students create an advisory Valentine album – each person picks 10 love songs that should be on any album (an extra 10 points for any Prince song). You could then have people design a CD case or each choose one song and make an advisory cd. What would the theme of the CD be? Have students write liner notes – what does this song say about love? How does it fit the theme? - If you were ambitious, research with students how would you get permissions for the songs if you wanted to compile, package, and sell your product.
- An interested student may want to make this into an action research project. Have them make a survey of people’s favorite love songs. Go to a public place and ask people a couple of questions – maybe a scale of how romantic they think they are, how much the enjoy love songs, and which song is their favorite love song. They can interview 30-50 people, record the info and present the results ina graph. What did they learn? What was their hypothesis going into it?
Resources:
- Song Lyrics; Romantic Lyrics
- Love Songs: 100 Wedding Songs; 100 Greatest Love Songs (NYPost)
- Prince Resources
Enciendalo Lovers!
Energizer, Part 3
Two Truths and a Lie:
Step 1: The facilitator writes three statements on the board. Two statements are true, and one is a lie. Example:
I have been running 5 days a week for 7 years.
I have a pet fish called, “Abe Vagoda.”
I lived in Italy for a year.
Step 2: Encourage students to ask “lie detector” questions to get further information, in order to determine which statement is false.
- Training – Where have you run? What is the most important advice for a new runner? How do you prepare? What races have you run? How long do you go each day? What year did you start?
- Pet – How old is Abe Vagoda? What does it eat? How long have you had it? Is it male?
- Italy – Where did you live in Italy? What dialect of Italian is spoken there? What is the local delicacy?
Step 3: Advisory votes on which statement is a lie. The facilitator reveals which are truths and which are lies.
Place participants in small groups (3 or 4 works well). Small groups repeat steps 1 – 3. Have participants introduce each other to the large group. Remember, as a leader, don’t be afraid to be goofy (if you won’t, no one else will).
Resources:
Extensions:
- Variation: Two Truths and a Dream Wish. As an interesting variation to the classic Two Truths and a Lie icebreaker, people may also play a version called Two Truths and a Dream Wish. Instead of stating a lie, a person says something that is not true — yet something that they wish to be true. For example, someone that has never been to Hawaii might say: “I have visited Hawaii when I was young.” This interesting spin often leads to unexpected, fascinating results, as people often share touching wishes about their lives.
- Politifact - Go to this site to check the Truth-o-meter on current political discourse.
Enciendalo!






















