Staff Writer
Students at Zippel Elementary are serious about bullying … putting an end to it, that is. For the second consecutive year, Leslee Mahon’s gifted and talented class put together a presentation for students in grades 3-5. The 45 minute long session uses various activities to address aspects of bullying that students face in school.
Mahon has led this program for two years, and explained how the idea was initially developed. “Joseph Renzulli has a theory about including emotional support for students in the curriculum throughout school-wide environments,” she said, referencing the man who put together their curriculum. “I decided to put that component in the class along with the academic side of things and offer it to a small group of students.”
But even in the two-year span, the presentation has changed. Last year, Mahon and her students presented an interactive theater on shunning as well as a human video called “Don’t Laugh at Me” to a few classes in Zippel. This year, the interactive theater focused on name calling, and students presented three human videos that portrayed the negative effects of bullying, racism and culture sensitive issues and each class in grades 3-5 was able to observe and interact in the presentation.
But before the presentation even begins, Mahon creates an open and inviting atmosphere, asking students and teachers where bullying happens and how it makes people feel. The most common answers are on the playground and bus and in the cafeteria and bathroom. Though the presentation begins on a negative note (students in Mahon’s class start out by name-calling audience members and each other) it ends very positively, with compliments and high-fives going out to everyone in the room.
The majority of the presentation was spent doing human videos to the songs “Don’t Laugh at Me”, “Make Them Go Away” and “A Voice Within”. “Human videos are physical movements to a song,” explained Mahon. “It’s not choreography but movement to the music in order to tell a story. Music is very powerful because you don’t have to say anything to get your point across. Just your story through the music can say enough.”
Students in Mahon’s class selected stories based on their own experiences and applied them to human videos and interactive theater, which is slightly different. “The interactive theatre piece presents a situation, makes it real through students re-enacting it and then has the students stay in character while a facilitator takes questions from the audience.” In this instance, one group of students acted like bullies and another group played the part of the victim, with both groups responding to questions as either a bully or a victim until Mahon asked them to “de-role”. “I liked the interactive theater because we were able to show how we were put down and how that made us feel,” said Shaye McHatten, a fifth-grader at Mapleton Elementary.
Mahon had not originally planned to show the presentation to the entire school, but once word got out, teachers were asking to bring their student to see it. Mahon and her class were not necessarily prepared for the responses their presentation would bring. “I was very surprised by the reactions. A lot of students cried and students who may have been considered bullies were very moved, as well as student who have been bullied in the past. My class reacted very well towards how their classmates responded.” Fifth-grader Parker Lambert observed his peers reactions. “The audience really got to interact with us and feel what [bullying] is and I think it taught them a great lesson,” Lambert remarked.
Mahon’s class also had to deal with their own responses to the presentation, especially since many of them were asked to take part in re-enacting situations that had happened to them. “It’s very difficult for students, or anyone. To present something that is an emotional topic in front of their peers,” said Mahon. “It takes a lot of courage, and this group of kids is very heartfelt. The first few times we practiced, it was very emotional for them and we weren’t quite sure we could do some of the name-calling. We had to debrief as a class and decide if we could go ahead with this. It’s very emotional and exhausting but they all stuck with it and you would never have known this was the first time they were doing it. They worked hard every day and were committed to the task of making school a safe environment.”
Mahon hopes to make this presentation a reoccurring part of the school’s annual curriculum. “My hope is to have this program one day be a component of all the classrooms and make it a school-wide enrichment program.” Until then, Mahon and her students are dedicated to getting the word out about bullying and doing their part to create an enjoyable and safe educational environment.
Mahon’s gifted and talented class is comprised of the following students from Zippel and Mapleton Elementary: in grade three, Christina Skidgel, Dora Wang and Everett Zuras; grade four, Emma Beaulieu, Gina ElNser, Page Kidney, Sarah Morneault, Abigail Shaw and Dennis Young; and grade five, Michelle Cawley, Sam Gray, Olivia Hudson, Parker Lambert, Shaye McHatten and Alyssa Trombley.
Staff photo/Abigail Hunt
IN A HUMAN VIDEO entitled “A Voice Within”, students held up signs to go with the song’s words about following your conscience and doing the right thing. Pictured from left are Abigail Shaw, Sora Wang, Shaye McHatten, Gina ElNesr, Christina Skidgel, Page Kidney, Dennis Young and Parker Lambert.
ENDING POSITIVELY, Sarah Morneault, left, and Emma Beaulieu give each other high-fives and compliments as they exemplify to students at Zippel School how to treat one another.