Catherine P. Bradshaw - Preventing Bullying in Schools: A Social and Emotional Learning Approach to Prevention and Early Intervention

T HE N ORTON S ERIES ON
S OCIAL E MOTIONAL L EARNING S OLUTIONS
P ATRICIA A. J ENNINGS , S ERIES E DITOR

Mindfulness in the Secondary Classroom: A Guide for
Teaching Adolescents
Patricia C. Broderick

SEL Every Day: Integrating Social and Emotional Learning
with Instruction in Secondary Classrooms
Meena Srinivasan

Assessing Students Social and Emotional Learning:
A Guide to Meaningful Measurement
Clark McKown

Mindfulness in the PreK5 Classroom:
Helping Students Stress Less and Learn More
Patricia A. Jennings

Preventing Bullying in Schools:
A Social and Emotional Learning Approach to Early Intervention
Catherine P. Bradshaw and Tracy Evian Waasdorp

Preventing Bullying
in Schools

A Social and Emotional Approach
to Early Intervention

CATHERINE P. BRADSHAW and
TRACY EVIAN WAASDORP

W. W. Norton & Company

Independent Publishers Since 1923

New York | London

NORTON BOOKS INEDUCATION

CPB: To my daughter, Sophia Lucille McCaughey,
for being a great inspiration to my work and life.

TEW: To my Mom and Dad for always pushing me higher.
To Jon, Benji, and Alex for keeping me grounded.

The SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING SOLUTIONS (SEL SOLUTIONS) series features compact books for educators focused on recommended SEL practices from experts in the field. Cutting-edge research continues to confirm that teaching students social and emotional skills pays off in improved behavior and academic learning that continues into adulthood as success in life. The books are intended to provide school leaders and classroom teachers with SEL tools and strategies that are grounded in research yet highly accessible, so readers can confidently begin using them to transform school culture, improve student behavior, and foster learning with the proven benefits of SEL.

I am delighted to introduce this new book by Catherine Bradshaw and Tracy Waasdorp entitled Preventing Bullying in Schools: A Social and Emotional Learning Approach to Early Intervention As a former teacher and school leader, I recognized the value of allowing students to resolve their own conflicts. I understood that learning how to resolve peer conflict is an important part of school. However, it was often difficult to distinguish between normal peer conflicts and truly abusive behaviors. Furthermore, I wasnt sure how to successfully address these behaviors, and was afraid I might make things worse by interfering.

I recall watching one student act in an overbearing way towards a peer and asking myself, Is this bullying? Should I intervene, and how? I recognized the value of students learning to stand up for themselves and I was concerned that if I intervened in the wrong way, I would take the power away from the victim and possibly set her up for more abusive behavior in the future when I wasnt looking. If I didnt respond, the behavior might intensify, possibly reinforcing the victim and perpetrator roles. I knew that forcing the aggressor to apologize was not a productive strategy, but I wasnt sure what to do.

It can be challenging to sort through the research literature to find answers to such questions. In this book, Bradshaw and Waasdorp distill this research into effective and practical approaches you can use in your classroom to successfully prevent and address bullying behavior. Bullying is a complex problem that takes place in the context of schools, homes, media, and society. Social media presents a new venue for aggression that must be monitored by schools and families to ensure childrens safety.

Preventing Bullying in Schools provides educators with the knowledge and research-based strategies to proactively approach bullying in their schools. The book explains the underlying causes of bullying and the serious long-term effects bullying can have on development for both the child who experiences bullying and the child who engages in such behavior. The book presents the most current research on how to help children who bully and those who experience bullying develop the social and emotional skills they need to successfully interact with their peers. These skills include understanding their emotions and how to communicate their needs to others, understanding others perspectives, showing empathy, and resolving conflict successfully.

The book also provides important information about how to cultivate and maintain a supportive classroom climate that involves emotionally supportive relationships and interpersonal interactions that promote prosocial behavior. This valuable book delivers a sophisticated yet simple multicomponent approach to preventing bullying and skillfully intervening when it occurs. The book includes examples of successful strategies in the form of vignettes that are easy to quickly grasp and apply in your classroom. I am excited to present this useful book to the education community and am certain it will make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of children and their families by stemming the problematic behavior we call bullying.

Patricia A. Jennings, M.Ed., Ph.D.

Editor, Norton Series on Social and Emotional Learning Solutions

We would like to thank our colleagues, including Elise Pas, Steve Leff, Katrina Debnam, and many others on our research teams at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, the University of Virginia, and the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia who have supported and been a part of our research related to bullying and its prevention over the past 15 years. We would also like to thank Stephanie Tuman, Becca Seltzer, Christine Waanders, Brandy DeRosa, and Emily Solari for providing us with input that informed some of the vignettes included in the book.

Preventing Bullying in Schools

Jane, an elementary school teacher who has been working for four years, tells her class to break into groups of four to five students to work on a STEM project at their tables. The assignment she was giving her class had them sharing materials and working on an experiment together. Jane told her students to select partners to work with who are sitting near them. After giving them a minute to get organized, she walks around to see if they have figured out their groups. Jane overhears one girl telling a boy (who was overweight and beginning to have body odor/hygiene issues) that he cant join their group. The girl says, Ew, Thomasyou cant work with us. Go over there. The other students in the class laugh quietly to each other, and hold their noses or roll their eyes. Jane notices that Thomas is upsethe is clearly fighting back tears as he walks away and approaches a different group. Jane has noticed this type of interaction is becoming a pattern, with the kids in her class saying mean things about Thomas with increasing frequency. She is struggling with how to help him fit in better.

As educators, we spend most of our time with kids, and we see a lot of concerning peer behaviors firsthand. Sadly, bullying and other forms of aggressive behavior are a major distraction in our schools. In fact, nearly one-third of students in the United States report being involved with bullying on a regular basis. And by the time they graduate high school, nearly all students have had personal experience with bullyingas either a bully, a victim, or a witness to it.