QUEST 6: the Utimate Bad Guy (Bullying) INFLUENCES – Friends

INFLUENCES – Friends

QUEST 6: The utimate bad guy (bullying)

Teacher notes

Curriculum links: PSHE (Respect and manners, Relationships, Personal well-being), Literacy Zone relevance: Influences

Description: In this lesson students will decide what characteristics can make up a bully and what actions could be considered bullying. Questions and discussion can follow on the effects of bullying and strategies to deal with bullying, including your school’s anti bullying policy and reporting process. Students will start in the Star Wars realm and then can extend into their own lives.

Background: There are many different definitions for bullying today. This can be a hard subject to discuss with young people so you may wish use the Star Wars world as a starting point. Bullying can be defined as: the activity of repeated, aggressive behaviour intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterised by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person. Severe bullying can lead to a feeling of terror on the part of the person being bullied. It can be verbal (name- calling, put-downs, threats), social (exclusion, gossip, ganging up), physical (hitting, damaging property) or cyberbullying (using the computer or phone to harass or threaten). It can occur within a peer group or between groups. Bullying behaviours can range from: hitting, shoving, name-calling, threats, and mocking to extorting money and treasured possessions. Some kids bully by shunning others and spreading rumours about them. Others use email, chat rooms, instant messages, social networking websites, and text messages to taunt others or hurt their feelings.

Bullying involves: • repeated and consistent negative actions against another. • an imbalance of power between the bully and the target. • a contrast of feelings between the bully and the target as a result of the bullying episode (the child who bullies may feel excited, powerful or amused, while the target feels afraid, embarrassed or hurt).

EDUCATOR’S RESOURCE GUIDE 13 Student worksheet 1: Write the name of any Star Wars characters from the list below that you would consider to be a bully and give reasons for your decisions.

a. Emperor Palpatine b. Chewbacca c. Padmé Amidala d. Yoda e. Jar Jar Binks f. Tusken Raiders g. Jabba the Hutt h. Boba Fett i. Darth Vader j. Leia Organa

Bully list

Reasons you think this character Name is a bully

EDUCATOR’S RESOURCE GUIDE 14 Student worksheet 2:

1. What character traits do you think a bully has?

2. Place a tick next to any of the following you think are the actions of a bully.

a. Not allowing someone to join your game in the playground. b. Repeatedly phoning someone at home and hanging up the phone for a joke. c. Pushing someone over for no reason. d. Taking somebody’s lunch money. e. Asking to borrow a book from someone and forgetting to return it. f. Celebrating a goal against another team in a game of football. g. Sending an email to someone in your class saying how much you dislike them. h. Sending an embarrassing picture of a classmate from your phone to other students. i. Repeatedly making jokes about a member of somebody’s family in front of them.

3. Make a list of some of the effects you think bullying has on the victim.

EDUCATOR’S RESOURCE GUIDE 15 Activity 1: Using the list of Star Wars characters on Student worksheet 1, task your class with placing the ones they consider to be bullies in the ‘bully list’. They should give reasons for their decisions. The list of characters are: • Chewbacca • Emperor Palpatine • Padmé Amidala • Yoda • Jar Jar Binks • Tusken Raiders • Jabba the Hutt • Boba Fett • Darth Vader • Leia Organa

Activity 2: Your students should then work through the questions on Student worksheet 2 which has been designed to help them recognise bullying behaviours and character traits. Once completed these can be discussed as a class.

Extension activity: In small groups, students can be encouraged to create an anti-bullying campaign. This can be designed as a poster, TV or radio advert and set as a school-wide competition to find the most effective execution.

EDUCATOR’S RESOURCE GUIDE 16