In one GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) study of school climate, elementary school students and teachers reported constant use of disparaging remarks like "retard" and "that's so gay" in their schools and classrooms. Research conducted by GLSEN continues to highlight the prevalence of biased language, name-calling and bullying in U.S. schools.
GLSEN'S No Name-Calling Week is an annual week of educational activities that takes place in schools across the nation. No Name-Calling Week seeks to resolve the problem of name-calling and bullying in schools and provide students and teachers with the tools to create a more positive classroom environment. NIOS is proud to be one of over 40 national partner organizations of No Name-Calling Week, and we hope to inspire schools to create a more tolerant and accepting atmosphere for all students.
No Name-Calling Week
It's Day 4 of No Name-Calling Week. Today we are sharing one of our most popular Not In Our School videos, "Students Teach Students to Stand Up to Bullying," filmed at Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio.
Students in Lori Urogody-Eiler's Facing History and Ourselves class mentor younger students in how to be an upstander, not a bystander, when faced with bullying and intolerant acts. This version was included in our MLK-inspired collection, Embracing the Dream: Lessons from the Not In Our Town Movement, and is preceded by a short clip featuring Not In Our Town Billings chair Eran Thompson.
For more information, our education partners at Facing History and Ourselves offer classroom resources on Bullying and Ostracism.
On this third day of No Name-Calling Week, we showcase two videos of middle school students who use skits to stand up against bullying and promote acceptance in their schools. The first is a Not In Our Town video from Rockford, Illinois where student council members organized a Not In Our School campaign and a school wide assembly with student-produced skits challenging stereotypes and other intolerant behavior.
Like the students at West Middle School, these students from Tom Harpool Middle School in Argyle, Texas created this video to stand up against bullying as a part of their Destination Imagination program.