CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

CriticalIssuesinEducationFieldExperience
JessicaLaFrancaPeterson
DoaneCollege

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

SchoolSetting
I teach 6th grade language arts at Park MiddleSchoolinLincoln,Nebraska.Wehad747
students in the 20132014 school year. 60% of the students were minority, while 72% of the
students qualified for free and reduced lunch. 13% of the students were ELL and18%qualified
for special educationservices.Ourschoolisconsideredtobeamajorhubforimmigrantstudents
in the area. Park reaches out to the community for help in supporting our diverse student
population. These agencies include, but are not limited to: Boys and Girls Club, Teammates,
Backpack Program, City Mission, and Matt Talbots Kitchen. Our school also has a clothes
closetthatanystudentinneedcanaccessforgentlyusedclothingatnocost.
SchoolData

Characteristics

MySchool:ParkMiddle
SchoolinLincoln,NE

OtherSchool:Wayne
ElementaryinWayne,NE

Location

Urban

Rural

NumberofStudents

747

451

Race/Ethnicity

Native:8
Asian:82
Black:93
Hispanic:197
White:302
TwoorMore:61

Native:6
Asian:2
Black:9
Hispanic:47
White:383
TwoorMore:0

PercentMinority

60%

15%

PercentonFree/Reduced

72%

33%

EnglishLanguageLearner

13%

4%

SpecialEducation

18%

13%

Mobility

19%

7%

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

NeSAProficiency

Reading:72%
Math:56%
Science:50%
Writing:63%

Reading:83%
Math:89%
Science:81%
Writing:93%

Programs

BoysandGirlsClub
BackpackProgram
Teammates
HomelessShelters

BackProgram
Teammates
HighAbilityLearner

DifferencesBetweenSchools
Differences between Park Middle School and Wayne Elementary can be seen in the
student populationandracialandethnicmakeupofthestudents.Parkservice747students,while
Wayne services 451 students. Looking at the data in the chart, itiseasytoseethatParkismade
up a variety of racialandethnicbackgrounds.ParkalsohasahigherELLpopulation. At Wayne,
ELL levels 15 receive approximately 15minuteseachdayoflanguageinstructioninadditionto
the language arts general education curriculum. In contrast, Park ELL studentslevels12havea
separate class and are not placed in general education language arts classes. It is not until
studentsreachELLlevels35thattheyareputintothegeneraledclassroom.
Wayne allowsforteacherstohavefreedomindevelopingtheircurriculum.Followingthe
state standards, teachers create lessons to fit their students. In my language arts class, however,
the curriculum is set by thedistrict.AnotherdifferenceisWaynesetsaside15minutestwiceper
week for character education. Park does not have anything similar. Looking at the NeSA
proficiencyscores,WaynehasbeenabletomeetAYP,whereasParkhasnot.

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

SimilaritiesBetweenSchools
Both Park and Wayne participate intheBackpackProgramtoprovidestudentswithfood
to take home each week. This program is critical in helping students and their families get a
nutritional meal. Another similarity is our need for extra support for students with learning
disabilities and for ELL students. If there were an increase of resource teachers and
paraprofessionalsintheclassroom,studentscouldbebetterserved.
ArticleReviews
WhiteHousereport/bullyingandthepowerofpeers
There are two distinct types of bullies: the socially marginalized bully and the socially
connected bully. The socially marginalized bully is unpopular with his/her peers. They are seen
as loners or as members of deviant, peripheral peer cliques (Rodkin, 2011).
Thebullyingmay
stemfromaninabilitytofitinwithothers,oraninabilitytocontrolimpulsivebehaviors.
The socially connected bully has a tendency to use physicalaggressiontocontrolothers,
and can be viewed by other students as popular. Their attributes may include making friends
easily, being athletic, or having physical attractiveness. They tend to be proactive and
goaldirectedintheiraggressionfocusinginononeparticularperson.
Bullies and victims often have a previously existing relationship. Socially connected
bullies,bothmaleorfemale,targetsamesexunpopularchildrenasasignofdominance.Socially
marginalized boystendtobullygirls.Bullyingisasocialeventthathappensintheclassroom,on
the playground, and through social media websites. 90% of the time it is observed by another
person. These people are what are considered bystanders, and are critical players in helping to
stopthecycleofbullying.

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

Bullying in schools: self reported anxiety, depression, and self esteem in secondary school
children
This article gave the findings of a survey that was completed in the United Kingdom
between two differentsecondaryschools.SchoolAwassetinanimpoverishedurbanarea,while
school B was in an area with a high proportion of high social class households. Looking at the
data, it was noted that the mostcommontypesofbullyingthatoccurredforstudentsgrades811
werenamecalling,beinghit,threatened,andhavingrumorsspread.
It was found that boys in grade 8 at school A who had high anxiety and lying scores,
were the most likely to be bullied. Boys in grade 10whohadlowanxietyandlyingscores,with
high depression scores were most likely to be the bullies. Girls in grade 8atschoolAwithhigh
anxiety and lying scores and low depression were least likely to be bullies. Girls in grade 9 at
school B who had low anxiety and lying scores, were least likely to be bullied. Their data
supported the idea that bullied children are more anxious, whereas bullies are equally or less
anxious. Relationships were seenbetweenhavingahighlyingscoreandbeingbullied,aswellas
havingahighdepressionscoreandbeingabully.
Thesecrettostoppingabully?
A 25 year study published in 2008 examined the effectiveness of bullying intervention
systems in the United States and Europe. It was found that there was improvement of students
attitudes about bullying and their feelings of social competence. There was not, however, a
decrease in bullying behavior. Cyberbullying has become one of themostpredominantformsof
bullying. This is thought to be due to ease of access. Bullying programs need to focus more on
howtocombatthisissue.

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

Bystander training should be implemented. This can be an effective way to reduce

bullying because it encourages uninvolved parties to step in and protest when they see bullying
happening. As a result, the bully would lose his/her audience and would be more likely to pull
back from the situation.
Unfortunately, many students do not feel comfortable speakinguptoa
bullyduetofearofretribution.
Whole school assemblies to target bullying behavior have not been found to be overly
successful neither has talking to the bully directly. Mentoring students within thebullyssocial
circle, however, has shown to have the biggest effect. This is likely due to the bully seeking
acceptanceandencouragementfromhis/herpeers.
ActionPlanandGoals
After Kirk Smalley came to visit in the 20122013 school year, myself and another
teacher at Park Middle School decided to formourownchapterofStandfortheSilent.We have
a group of about 25 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders who meet biweekly. We have been
actively seeking ways in which we canbringawarenesstotheissueofbullyingandcreateasafe
environmentwhereallofourstudentsareappreciatedfortheiruniqueness.
At the beginning of the 20132014 year, our group developed a mission statement. It
revolves around three words: courage, acceptance, and hope. We want students to have the
courage to stand up for themselves and others, accept diversity in our school and community,
and be hopeful for a better tomorrow. The following action plan includes ways to get our
studentsmoreinvolvedasagroup,inourschool,andthroughoutthecommunity.
Group:
Quarterlyresearch.

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

I would like for our group to research bullying related topics and create educational
posters to put up around our school. This could be done in small groups, where
students work together to identify issues our school facesandfocusinononespecific
area per quarter. Possible topics include: peer conflict, hazing, harassment, stalking,
gangviolence,andteendating

(
http://www.stopbullying.gov/
)
Groupbuildingactivities.
I would like to create lessons using literature response groups. This would entail the
reading of an ageappropriate book, and having students reflect on similar situations
and emotions in their own lives. Student responses could be done as whole group
discussion,orarelatedwritingactivity.
(http://www.readwritethink.org/)
School:
Increasevisualpresencethroughoutthebuilding.
This wouldincludegettingprofessionalposters madeof ourmissionstatement,aswell
as the Stand for the Silent pledge. Having the visuals in all classrooms would help to
prompt teacher/student discussion on bullying related issues. Our group created a
survey that was presented to teachers at the March staff meeting to judge the
willingness of having the posters in classrooms. All teachers supported the visual aid
placement.Teachersalsogavevaluablefeedbacktohelpguideourgroup.
Oneparentengagementnightperquarter.
This year our group hosted2movienights. Thepurposeofshowingthemovieswasto

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

get students and their families to start having discussions about the issues that were
presented.Thisfirstmovie weshowedwas
Bully
. Wehadabout100studentsandtheir
family members join us and we held a short discussion afterwards.Thesecondmovie
weshowedwas
TheBlindSide
andwehadasimilarturnout.
The families and students who attended had an overall positive reaction. I would like
to continue this for next year hopefully increasing the numberofmoviesshownfrom
2,to4.
CollaboratewithPBIScommitteeandBoysandGirlsClub.
PBIS committee has started reteaching expectations (being responsible, safe,
respectful) on our PLC days. The lessons normally include the showing of a short
video, having a class discussion, and a student quick write. I would like to talk with
the members of our PBIS team to see if our group of students could help in the
creating of these lessons. Many of the topics addressed are related to bullying, so I
believethiswouldbeagoodfit.
This yearourgroupparticipatedintheHealthFairrunbytheBoysandGirlsClub.We
created a visual aid, provided information, and had students engage visitors with
thoughtprovokingbullyingscenarios.Wewouldliketodothiseventnextyear.

Community:
Interviewvariouspeopleinthecommunitytobefeaturedinourdailynews.
I would like for students to generate a list ofpeopletheybelieveothermiddleschool
students would find influential. Ideally, they could be people in our community that

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

students could identify with in some way. There was some discussion earlier in the
year about interviewing players from the Lincoln Starsand/orUNLsportsteams,but
itdidnotcometofruition.
Guestspeakers.
We will have studentsresearchpossibleguestspeakersforanassemblyatour school.
This speaker would have to be someone who would have a positiveinfluenceonour
student population sharing their experiences with bullying and answering student
questions. Members of our group would be in charge of making contact with the
personandfundraiserswouldbeheld,ifnecessary.
Gettingstudentsoutinthecommunitydoingcharitablethings.
I feel it is important for students to be involved in doing good things in the
community. Some ways we could get students to be more active is having them
volunteer at soup kitchens, package meals, ring bellsaroundtheholidays,andhotdog
standsatlocalgrocerystores.

CriticalIssuesFieldExperience

10

References
ABadCaseofBullying:UsingLiteratureResponseGroupsReadWriteThink.(n.d.).Retrieved
June05,2014,from
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroomresources/lessonplans/casebullyingusinglitera
ture377.html
Rodkin,P.C.WhiteHouseReport/BullyingAndthePowerofPeers.
Educational
Leadership
,
69
,1016.RetrievedJune5,2014,from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/sept11/vol69/num01/Bullying%E
2%80%94AndthePowerofPeers.aspx
Salmon,G.,James,A.,&Smith,D.M.(1998,01).Bullyinginschools:Selfreportedanxiety,
depression,andselfesteeminsecondaryschoolchildren.
Bmj,

317
(7163),924925.doi:
10.1136/bmj.317.7163.924
Swidey,N.(2010,May02).RetrievedJune05,2014,from
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/05/02/the_secret_to_stopping
_a_bully/?page=full
WhatisBullying.(n.d.).RetrievedJune04,2014,from
http://www.stopbullying.gov/whatisbullying/index.html