Pic 0: A screen with the title “A Teacher’s Responsibility” appears before changing to a visual of Jackie in front of a white background.
Jackie: Thank you, Ms. Dixon, for addressing Victoria’s behavior. Of course, every classroom is different, and what works for one group of students may not work in every situation, but it's always important to address biased or bullying language as soon as you hear it.
Generally, if a student is acting out just to get attention, you don't want to reward their bad conduct. But choosing to ignore mean or discriminatory behavior can leave the target of that behavior feeling helpless and abandoned, and other students confused about what's okay to say.
This is why it’s crucial to have consistent and immediate consequences for biased language in school.
Pic 1: Jackie disappears and is replaced by a visual of a group of students at their desks. One student has a red word bubble above their head with an exclamation point and an asterisk in it. After a moment, a red thought bubble appears above the head of another student with a frowning face in it. Then, that frowning face thought bubble appears above the heads of several more students.
Jackie: Hearing ethnic, gender, economic status, or sexuality based slurs in the classroom affects not only the immediate target, but all other students who share that background or fear they may be targeted too.
Pic 2: The thought bubbles disappear, and a report card appears over two students’ heads. One has a “D,” the other one has the letter “F.”
Jackie: If Ms. Dixon had ignored Victoria’s language, that could have negatively affected not just Gabriel, but all other potentially vulnerable students, damaging their ability to concentrate and feel comfortable participating, and potentially even impacting their performance on the exam.
Pic 3: The screen returns to Jackie.
Jackie: To quickly put a stop to Victoria's biased language, Ms. Dixon relied on the Community Agreements her students wrote and signed at the beginning of the year.
Pic 4: A piece of paper appears, pinned by two thumbtacks. It is titled “Community Agreements” and contains the following writing, with the first letter of each line being highlighted, spelling out “Respect”:
Responsible, Reliable
Empathy, Educate
Speak Up/Out, Step Forward/Back
Participate, Polite, Productive, Prepared
Eye Contact
Cooperate, Collaborate, Considerate
Tolerance, Truth.
Jackie: Community agreements are an important tool to get students to buy into a standard of behavior for themselves and their school community. Ideally, the agreements are designed by the students, who decide together what values are important for them in the classroom.
Pic 5: At the bottom of the paper, writing appears that reads “For more examples of Community Agreements, please see your Resources section.”
Jackie: As the teacher, you can guide them to make sure certain important things are included. But you want them to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for the agreements. Keeping the written agreements in a visible place in the classroom makes them easy to reference each time an incident occurs.
Pic 6: The visual changes to one of three figures. One figure is outlined in green and is standing with their hands on their hips. Next to them, a figure outlined in red is yelling at a student outlined in grey who is curled up. A word bubble in green with an ellipses appears above the green figure’s head, and writing appears at the bottom of the screen that reads “Upstander: A person who intervenes on behalf of a person being attacked or bullied.”
Jackie: Community agreements encourage students to show Upstander or Ally Behavior. They give students explicit permission to intervene if they see someone being mean or discriminatory. When possible, it can also benefit students to have lessons in the curriculum about standing up to discrimination. Hearing stories or real life examples of people who speak out can empower kids to become upstanders or allies themselves.
Pic 7: The visual returns to Jackie.
Jackie: So was what Victoria did today "bullying?" Biased language by itself doesn't necessarily constitute bullying, but it can easily be part of a pattern of bullying.
Pic 8: The screen changes to a visual of a red text box with the title “When is it Bullying?” Letters spell out “Pain” vertically.
Jackie: We can define bullying with the P.A.I.N., or Pain, mnemonic.
Pic 9: After a moment, these letters expand:
P stands for Power Differential
A stands for Aggression
I stands for Intentional
N stands for Numerous Times.
Jackie: Bullying happens when there is a Power Differential between the students involved, and when acts of Aggression are Intentional and happen Numerous Times. To determine if Victoria was bullying Gabriel, Ms. Dixon will need to Follow Up and learn what's happening between them outside of this one class.
Pic 10: This visual includes profile images of Victoria, Gabriel, and Sylvia. Victoria’s image is outlined in red, and the text “Aggressor” appears over her head. Gabriel is outlined in grey, and the word “Target” appears above his head. Sylvia is outlined in green and has the word “Upstander” above her head.
Jackie: Ms. Dixon should take a few minutes after class to talk individually with Victoria, Gabriel and Sylvia.
Pic 11: The visual returns to Jackie. A box appears next to her with Victoria’s image and text which reads “Talking to Aggressor.” Below appears two bullet points: One, reinforce community standards, and two, find out context.
Jackie: When talking to Victoria, Ms. Dixon can reinforce community behavior standards to address Victoria’s use of biased language. She can also take a moment to gather context on what might have provoked Victoria’s outburst. For example, if one of Gabriel’s friends had teased Victoria before class, that information could help inform what Ms. Dixon observed. It doesn’t excuse the biased language, but gathering context shows an effort on Ms. Dixon’s part to connect with Victoria.
Pic 12: The box with Sylvia disappears, and is replaced with one with an image of Gabriel, with the title “Talking to Target.” There are two bullet points underneath: “One, check how he’s feeling, and two, find out if there’s a pattern.”
Jackie: When talking to Gabriel after class, Ms. Dixon can check in to see how he’s feeling and find out, from him and from other students if needed, whether Victoria’s behavior is part of an ongoing pattern of bullying that needs to be reported.
Pic 13: The box with Gabriel’s image disappears and is replaced with one of Sylvia, with the title “Talking to Upstander.” The two bullet points underneath read “One, thank her for speaking up, and two, encourage her to be an upstander.”
Jackie: Lastly, by taking a minute to thank Sylvia for speaking up in class, Ms. Dixon can encourage her to continue being an upstander or ally, which helps other students feel empowered to speak out.
Now, let's take a look at what happens when we suspect that something may be going on out of our sight.