Growing a better me... Healing the hurt that causes bullying and being bullied
Follow a simple and effective process that will help you:
- Understand that change is possible when you accept that you are valuable and worthy, no matter what.
- Learn how to change the way you feel and behave by changing the way you think.
- Apply the tools and exercises to feel better now.
The hopeful emphasis in this book/workbook is on empowering young people, as they look at themselves and their life experiences, to recapture a loving core, rather than to continue in self-defeating relationships. It is an emphasis that is lacking in other material. I would highly recommend it.
In the fall of 2013, our entire World Studies course team used Ms. Hawkins book and curriculum in the beginning of the school year with 9th graders at Benito Juarez Community Academy to introduce our overarching course question: “Why do people do what they do?” It was a great way to introduce human motivation, but also a great way to get to know our kids and introduce the social emotional learning standards. The book and curriculum especially emphasize the importance of self-awareness, self-management, and interpersonal skills. It was very helpful to use this unit throughout the year any time we wanted to talk about motivation for action or social emotional skills. We have used it two years and will continue to use it in the future. After winter break we officially touched base with the kids to see if they were still using the strategies from the unit. We got an overwhelmingly positive response, and the student feedback was really encouraging!
Here is what some of the students had to say:
- “I like how we learned how to help people out” “I like that we get to talk about our feelings”
- “I liked the bullying unit since it told us about both sides of the story”
- “I felt ashamed of myself when I was reading the story and I had a friend that I used to bully him a lot and I felt bad. I apologized to my friend because now I know how he feels.”
- “I liked the fact that we should always love ourselves first.”
- “I liked the fact that bullying was being referred to as something that someone does because of a problem.”
- “You can find new ways to control yourself.”
- “It taught me many things. I learned how to handle things better like with my emotions.”
- “I like how we went to more detail how people that get bullied feel.”
- “I liked that I got to realize that I can be a bully even if I don’t know it. Like if I tell my friend, in a joke, that she looks ugly she’ll probably get sad.”
- “I really learned more about bullying and I can control what I say to other people.”
- “I like that it teaches us different types of bullying”
- “I liked that they said we are all special.”
- “It kind of inspired me to say something when someone is being bullied.”
- “What I like was that it made me think of who I am and what I do, do I make the right decisions?”
- “I like that it’s very positive.”
- “One thing that I like about [the unit] is that it explains how to resolve when you are mad and also it explains how to stop being bullied.”
- “I like how it keeps me open-minded, and more caring.”
- “What I like about this unit is that it gave advice on how to control myself.”
- “I liked this unit because it helped me recognize a bully when I see one and what I can do to avoid them. It also helped me put other people’s feelings into consideration.”
- “I liked how this made me realize that I can sometimes be a bully and how badly it affects others.”
- “I learned that making fun of somebody’s voice, laugh, or shoes or clothes is part of bullying and that’s interesting.”