The Bystander
Bullying Prevention
Grade Level: 3-6
In bullying situations, there are almost always three types of students: the perpetrator, the victim, and the bystanders (students who watch and do nothing). According to one study, bystanders who do intervene stop bullying 57% of the time in less than 10 seconds. CLIMB's three new bullying and harassment plays inspire bystanders to intervene.
Things are already going horribly wrong. Vandy Van der Velden is the new kid in the neighborhood, and Wheels Wheeler, a girl who bullies, has befriended him. So has Wheels's target, Gusty Gustafson. Vandy is caught in a tight spot. Should he stand up to Wheels and run the risk of being targeted himself, or should he keep quiet?
Educational Objectives
- To provide examples of verbal, physical, and social bullying, as well as cyberbullying
- To demonstrate the roles of the perpetrator, the target, and the bystander in a bullying situation
- To demonstrate the ways by which bystander inaction can exacerbate a bullying situation
- To explore the reasons why bystanders frequently choose not to take action when they see another person being bullied
- To model positive bystander behavior and to demonstrate both the positive and the negative possible consequences of bystander intervention
- To show that a motivator for bystander intervention is positive self-identification
To read a summary of independent research done on CLIMB's bullying plays, click here
To view support products available for The Bystander, click here Space Requirements: 30x25 feet with 10 feet high ceiling
Audience Size: 350
Running Time: 40 minutes
Cost: Click here
Interested in booking?
“The day after CLIMB came, we had a third-grade girl come up to her teacher and ask her if the teacher would go with her while she talked to a girl that had been bullying her on the bus. The teacher went with the student and they met with the girl who was doing the bullying. The third grader used the strategies given to her by CLIMB to tell the girl who had been bullying her what she saw, how she felt, and what she wanted. The older girl that had been bullying her said she would stop…and she did.”
-Warren Buerkley, Principal, Afton-Lakeland Elementary, Lakeland, MN |
