Featured Stories
Featured Story
Every few months I will feature a new story that speaks to one or several of the themes of character development and bullying prevention. Following the story you will find suggestions for classroom follow-up to help your students or family further explore and connect to the ideas in the story. If you link to my Wisdomtales "Stories Page" (see blue part of this screen), site you will also find a story there on the trait of honesty, and previous stories covering many topics including Respect. Previous character Ed stories are listed here below the current story with follow-up activities. The structure of the follow-up activities were inspired in part by the writing of Kevin Ryan and Karen E. Bohlin in their excellent book "Building Character in Schools" Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, l999. They talk about practical wisdom as involving the "Head, heart and hand." I interpret this as meaning that in order for persons of any age to develop positive character traits they must understand them intellectually, must make a personal heart felt connection to them, and must practice them in daily life. These suggestions help to make that happen.
There are currently four stories on this page:
The Wise Master's Test - Honesty, self-mastery, integrity, wise choices.
How Beetle Got Her Colors - Respect, bullying, non-judgment, self-esteem.
The Bundle of Sticks - Cooperation, and many others.
The Stork and the Cranes - Friendship, bullying, wise choices, responsibility and peer pressure.
The Wise Master's Test: A Jataka Tale from India
Character Traits emphasized: Honesty, self-mastery, making wise choices.
Once upon a time, in an old temple on the outskirts of a big city, a Buddhist Master decided to teach his young students a lesson. “My dears,” he said looking at them through sad eyes. “As you can see, I am getting on in years. My eyes are dim, and this old back does not allow me to walk far. The time has come where I can no longer provide for all of the needs of our temple. I know that I have not taught you to work for money, and so there is only one thing that I can think of that can keep our school together.” The students listened with wide eyes.
“As you know, the nearby city is full of wealthy people, and shops that do a good business. I need you to go into the city several days a week, and to steal the things that we need from the shops. That way we can keep our school together.”
The students looked at their master in disbelief. “But Master. You have taught us that is wrong to steal!” One young boy stammered.
“Indeed I have,” the old man replied, “And it would be wrong to steal if it was not absolutely necessary. You must only take what we need. That way no one will suffer. And there is one more thing. You must not be seen! If anyone sees you, you must not bring the stolen object, or yourself back to the temple. It would ruin our reputation. Do you understand?”
The students looked nervously from one to the other, and then at their Master whose eyes shone back with intensity of purpose. They shook their heads. “Good”, he said. “Now go into the city and get the things that I have written on these lists. Just remember, you must not be seen!”
The students took the lists with lowered heads, and began to shuffle out of the temple. The old master walked slowly to the door and watched them go out of the gate. When he turned back inside, there was one student still standing quietly in the corner of the room.
“Why did you not go with the others?” The old man asked. “Don't you want our school to continue?” “I do, Master.” The boy said quietly. “But you said, that we had to steal without being seen, and I know that there is no place that I would not be seen, for I would always see myself.”
“Aha!” cried the Master in delight. “That was the lesson that I wanted to teach, and only you have seen it. Run and tell your friends to return to the temple before they get us into trouble.”
The boy ran and got his friends. When students returned, the Master told them of the words the boy had spoken, and they all understood the lesson.
Sources:
Conover, Sarah, Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents,
(Spokane, WA: Eastern Washington Univ. Press, 2001).
Forest, Heather Wisdom Tales from Around the World, (Little Rock, AK: August House, Publishers, l996.)
Inayat Kahn, Noor, Twenty Jataka Tales (London: George G. Harrap and Co., 1939).
Jataka tales (of which there are hundreds,) are described as the stories of the Buddha's former lives, during which, in his process of attaining full enlightenment, he reincarnated as many beings, including; animals, people, and gods. The Buddha would often tell these stories to his students to help them to solve problems of daily living, and spiritual growth.
Follow-up activities:
(See general follow-up activities following this section that apply to any story offered on this site.)
This story can feel a little bit risky, as a teacher is pretending to urge his students to steal. I would not tell it if I could not engage in a good discussion afterwards, and I would not tell it to children under the third grade, who might have a harder time grasping the concept. One thing that I often tell the children is that like the Christians, and Jews, who follow the "Ten Commandments," Buddhists have a list of Precepts which originated with Gautama Buddha, which include: Do no harm, and Take nothing that is not your own. I also talk to them about how tests, and riddles are often a part of the teaching process.
Questions that students commonly raise after hearing this story:
Did the old Master really think that it was OK to steal? (No doubt your students will want to discuss this!)
What was the old Master trying to teach his students?
Why did most of the students obey the Master when he told them to do something that they knew was wrong?
What would have happened if none of the students got the answer?
What would you do in that situation?
Drama in Action
The “Hot seat,” game.
Pretend that you are the old Master and let the students ask you questions. (Or let a student volunteer take the hot seat.)
Pretend that you (or one of your students,) are the boy who knew the right answer and let the students ask you questions.
Pretend that you (or a number of your students) are one, or several of the other children.
Let your students take turns in the "hot seat".
Create a drama in which the students pretend to be the boys who did not get the answer. Imagine that they have stopped just outside of the temple gates, and they are trying to decide what to do, knowing that stealing is wrong.
Have your students act this story out, ad-libbing to suit their own needs.
Have your students tell the story from the point of view of one of the characters.
Have the students imagine what would have happened if none of the students had guessed the right answer to the Master's test.
Brainstorm a list of other examples of situations in which even if nobody else sees us, we still see ourselves. These might include; deciding whether to cheat on schoolwork, breaking something and wondering if we should tell or not, considering telling the truth or lying, taking more than our share of a tasty treat.
Have the students make up modern day versions of this story using some of the situations that you brainstormed.
As a teacher can you think of a personal story in which you knew that no one else would know if you did something, but you had to decide if it was OK to do anyway? Tell this story to the kids and ask them to think of stories from their experience.
Talk about what it means to have a “conscience.”
Talk about the meaning of the word "integrity."
This idea of only being seen by ourselves can be turned on its head, and we can ask ourselves whether we do good things because we know or hope that others will recognize us, or because we know that we should. Put this quote on the board and let the students think about, and then write or share their answers for homework.
"The measure of a person's real character is what he, or she, would do, even if they knew they would never be found out."
(Adapted from a quote by Lord Macaulay.)
Other stories relating to the topic of honesty and integrity:
See Truth in a Peach Seed story on my wisdom tales site www.wisdomtales.com
The Empty Pot by Demi, in this story the Emperor devises a test to see which child should succeed him. He gives each child a seed, and tells them to come back in one year's time with the plant that they have grown. Ping, a young boy who loves to grow plants, takes his seed home, but no matter how hard he tries, he is unable to get the seed to grow. As the time to return to the Emperor approaches, many of Ping's friends come around to show off their fabulous flower plants. Ping is ashamed to return with an empty pot, but his father reminds him that he has done his best, and that that is good enough. In the end it turns out that the Emperor had given the children cooked seeds, and only Ping was honest enough to bring an empty pot, so he is crowned the next leader.
Water Not Wine - from Doorways to the Soul: Fifty-two Wisdom Tales from around the World, Elisa Pearmain
In this tale the chief of a village tells his councilmen to each bring a jug of their best wine to a feast that he is giving for the villagers. When they arrive, each is to empty their jug into the Chief's big jug. Each man decides that they don't want to use up their wine, and so they each decide to bring a jug of water, thinking that a little water will not be noticed in so much wine. When the villagers are all settled at the feast, and they all tip their glasses to drink they get only water. (You can substitute lemon aide if you wish.)
The Magical Ax - A Chinese folk tale in which a woodsman looses his ax in a forest pool. A mermaid rises from the pool and offers him a silver ax, but he says that his was wooden. She disappears and returns with a golden ax for his honesty. When his greedy brother learns of his brother's good fortune, he goes to the pool and drops his ax in. When the mermaid returns with the silver one, he takes it, but the mermaid grabs it back, and he ends up losing his wooden ax as well.
What other stories would you add?
How Beetle Got Her Colors - A tale from Brazil
Character traits emphasized: Respect, anti-bullying, non-judgment, self-esteem. Whatever else you and your students draw from the story.
Long ago in the Amazon rain forest there lived a rat that used to tease and bully the other small animals and insects that lived there. Best of all she liked to torment the beetle. Most of the animals in the forest tried to stay away from Rat, but a few thought they would be safer being her friend, and there were even some who thought that her bullying was cool. Soon Rat had a gang of other small animals who followed her around, laughing at her mean jokes, and sometimes even joining in on the bullying.
One day Rat and her gang spied a little brown beetle coming down the path. “Well, what do we have here?” Rat said laughing. " I almost stepped on you, because I didn't even see you.” Rat's gang laughed.
Now in that part of the rain forest there lived a wise and magical parrot that had been listening to rat's meanness for long enough. “Rat" said Parrot, "you're always bragging and putting the little creatures down as if you were better than they were. Why don't we have a contest and settle things once and for all. Whoever wins will get to choose a new coat, of any color or texture. I will choose the contest. You and beetle shall race, from this tree, to the big tree at the center of the forest.”
Rat could hardly believe her ears. This would be so easy. She had big strong legs, and could move quickly, while the beetle could only creep along on her little skinny legs.
Parrot gave the signal and the race began. Off went rat. She turned and looked back. “I don't even see that little bug.” She said, and ran along, fantasizing about how she was going to look in her new coat, and which colors she should choose. Whenever she looked back beetle was nowhere in sight.
But when Rat reached the finish line, there was beetle, on the other side doing a delicate bow.
“How'd you get here? How could you win, you plain little thing?” She shouted.
“I flew”, Beetle said quietly.
“I didn't know you could fly”. Rat said dumbfounded.
Parrot flew to a branch just above the ground. “There's a lot you don't know about beetle, or any of the other animals that you tease Rat,” said Parrot. “You don't know, because you don't ask. You judge others by their appearance, but you don't get to know them. Even plain animals have powers that you don't know about.”
Beetle chose a coat of blue and gold and green, and she wears those colors to this day. And Rat, she goes about the jungle more carefully now, getting to know the other animals, and treating them with respect.
Tips for telling the story:
When I tell this story, I add in at least four examples of ways that Rat bullies before he even gets to the beetle. These include, name calling and other put downs, physical abuse, stealing, ostracizing, and threats . I do this so as to draw out the learning from this story. It has great potential for helping kids to identify bullying behaviors. This is one of the first steps to preventing bullying.
Try to tell it rather than reading it. You will see a marked difference in the level of your student's attention and interest. You will also find that you are able to give the kids your full attention because you do not have to look at the book. Your students are much more likely to want to retell this story after experiencing you telling it.
To prepare to tell it without the book, try the following steps in order: Note - Do not try to memorize it. Tell it in your own words and make it your own.
1) First write a brief outline of the story in bullet form. This happened, then this, then this...
2) Next close your eyes and picture the setting as vividly as you can engaging all of your senses. Walk through it as though observing the story unfold like a fly on the wall. See the characters and listen to their voices.
3) Now tell the story to someone without trying to embellish it. Try sitting on your outline so that you are not tempted to lean on it.
4) Now retell it including the sense of place, and trying to recreate the characters that you saw in your visualization using your voice and body language.
5) Practice the story in your car or while out walking. Practice projecting your voice and letting your facial expressions convey the feelings in the story.
6) Think about what you most like about the story and be sure that you convey that.
7) Change the story and its language to be in your own words as I have done above, adding and changing setting and details as you see fit.
Follow-up Activities
This story is about bullying, teasing and making judgments about people without taking the time to get to know them. Every person on earth has been on one or both sides of this experience. By telling a story in which animals are the main characters, and by showing that rat can learn from the experience and be OK, you minimize defensiveness and shame in your audience, while maximizing their ability to look honestly at their own behavior. You may get students wanting to tell you stories that happen in the school yard and they may pertain to students in your own class. You will want to think about how to handle this. Asking questions such as, "Why did rat tease others?", and "How do you think beetle felt being teased?", can help to create empathy in all students. The follow-up exercises below suggest ways for first helping the students to internalize and remember the story, and then to personalize it and make connections to their own lives. Finally they offer suggestions for helping the students to put the ideas into practice.
Follow-up activities 
Tips for increasing story retention
Reviewing and Retelling the Stories
Studies have shown that when students are given the chance to retell a story soon after hearing it, their retention, and comprehension increase. When students are encouraged to mimic the expressive storytelling style of the storyteller, they internalize a number of effective oral communication skills.
Fun options for student retelling
1) The class can retell a story in the “round robin” fashion in which each student adds a small part to retell the story. Small groups can choose a favorite story, retell it together and then act it out for the whole group. Partners can retell their favorite story to one another. Encourage individual students to volunteer to come up front and retell a story for the class. Teachers can retell, mixing up the sequence and getting student feedback. Have students pretend to be newscasters and interview other students who are acting as characters from a story. Have them tell the stories to their reading buddy. Assign the kids to tell their favorite story to a parent, and to ask the parent if they ever experienced the story dilemma. Ask the parents to sign a letter stating that they have heard the story, and have given positive feedback to their child for their telling technique. Play guessing pantomime games using story scenes.
2) Let the kids draw a picture from their favorite scene of a story. Put the pictures out on the floor and sequence them as a group. Older students can draw scenes from the stories, and/or make a comic strip outline of their favorite story. This can then be turned into a flip book, or used to help in the initial retell. Make puppets and let the kids retell the stories with puppets at a drama center in your room.
3) Reflecting on the story wisdom.
After the story is told and the students have retold, let them explore their feelings and reactions to the story verbally and in journal writing. What was their favorite story and why? Did the stories remind them of experiences in their own lives? Ask the students to identify with a character from their favorite story and ask: How did that character feel? Play, “hot seat”, in which students sitting in the seat become a character from one of the stories and the other kids ask them questions. Storytelling builds emotional intelligence, and offers a common language with which to discuss the social dilemmas inevitable in the school experience.
Reflecting on Storytelling Technique
Have the students make a list of the techniques the storyteller used to make the stories effective. Be sure they include things like: Eye contact, use of voice, pacing, movement, character development, perspective changes, vivid descriptions, rich use of language, and relationship to the audience. Keep the list in the room to refer to when the kids tell their own stories. One fun way to teach this is to tell a story as well as you can, and then again as badly as you can, intentionally not doing the things mentioned above. Let the students tell you what made the first telling more effective.
Incorporating Story Wisdom in the Classroom and School Community
1) Have the kids make posters representing each story with a caption for school hallways or classroom walls, to remind everyone of the importance of behaviors. Have the kids make 3D posters or artworks that can be manipulated to allow them to identify when a theme needs to be talked about. An example from this story could be: A picture of beetle flying over rat's head, with a caption by Parrot: "Don't judge people, get to know them!"
2) Have the students write and tell original versions of the stories in which they change the setting, perhaps modernizing it, or changing the characters to animals. Have them make new endings. Have them tell the story from the perspective of one of the characters.
3) Have the kids write and tell about personal experiences related to the story themes. This works best if the teacher can share personal stories in which they grappled with the themes in the stories first. Casual story sharing on the part of the teacher builds safety and promotes student risk taking.
4) Have kids gather stories from their parents/grandparents in which they grappled with the themes in the stories. These tales can be shared in class, generating great discussions, and reflections.
Practicing the story wisdom in the school and community.
The best way to internalize positive traits is to practice them in everyday life situations. Brainstorm with your students how you might put the ideas in this story into practice in the classroom, in school, at home and in your community or the world. Examples of projects could be to have students go out in small groups and tell the story to all the other kids in the school. They could take a survey and find out where most bullying and teasing happens and work with teachers to find ways to stop it. One example of this is giving a short training to bus drivers and monitors on how to help with bullying prevention.
The Bundle of Sticks - An Aesop's fable.
Character traits emphasized: Cooperation, tolerance, creative conflict resolution, sacrificing for the greater good, loyalty, appreciating our similarities and differences, forgiveness, cultivating self-awareness to over come negative emotions such as envy, and anger. Whatever else you and your students draw from this story.
Once upon a time, an old man lived on a beautiful farm in the country. From his window the old man could see pasture lands, fields of grain, barns filled with animals, orchards and forest land. The farm was special to him because it has been his father's and grandfather's before him. He had raised his family there. Now his wife was dead, and he too was in the last days of his life. The old man should have been content after such a fortunate life, but he was not. He lay on his bed worrying about his children. They could not seem to get along. He heard them quarreling day and night, each one envious and angry with the other. Though he tried talking to them about forgiving and forgetting, they seemed to grow more bitter by the day. He felt sure that they would not be able to keep the family farm after he had died, because they could not seem to work together.
Then one night as his strength waned he had an idea. He called his six grown children to his bed side. "I have one last favor to ask of you my children." He said. "I would like each one of you to go to the forest and to find for me two sticks. Bring them here tomorrow and I will explain." The children did as he asked and came to his room the next day with two sticks each. "Thank you children," he said. "Now put one down, and see if you can break the other one in half." The children easily broke their sticks in half.
"Now, please gather the remaining sticks into a bundle." He requested. The children bundled the remaining sticks. "Please pass this bundle of sticks among you and tell me, is it as easy to break the bundle?" The six children passed the bundle between them but none of them could break the bundle of sticks.
"You my children," the old man said, "Are like these sticks. If you stick together, love one another and work together, nothing in life can break you. But if you quarrel and see yourselves as separate from one another, you will be easily broken by life. Find joy in one another's company, and you will live well."
The children took their father's lesson to heart, forgiving one another, and focusing on all they shared. The old man died peacefully.
As an ending to the story I always tell the children a little bit about Aesop. He was a a Greek slave for the Roman rulers. He was able to avoid the most difficult forms of physical labor owing to his gift of telling stories which he did for his Roman masters. Aesop is thought to have created or gathered hundreds of fables in his lifetime. Many of which are preserved to this day.
I tell the students that I believe that Aesop, being as wise as he was, probably wasn't just thinking about kids in a family when he told this story. I imagine that he was thinking of the way kids in a classroom get along, people in a neighborhood or town, differing tribes or countries sharing a piece of land, and all of us sharing this earth and her resources.
Tips for telling the story:
Try to tell it rather than reading it. See story learning suggestions above under the story: How Beetle Got Her Colors.
Involving your students in the telling -
Get a bunch of popsicle sticks from your local craft shop, or have the kids go out behind the school and collect sticks. (If they bring their own they should be no thicker than their thumbs, and a foot or so long so that they can in fact break the individual sticks.) Give one stick to each child in the class as you get to that part in the story. Then have them break them when the children in the story do, and then bundle them with elastic bands as the story does. Let each kid try to break the bundle with a focus not on the act of seeing if they can break it, but on how much more difficult it is to break. I word it, "See how much more difficult it would be to break the bundle". (Middle school kids will make it their life's mission to break the bundle.) You can choose whether to tell the story first, and then to have the class try it, or to do the two simultaneously as described above. The real learning comes when they find that they can't break the bundle.
Tips for increasing story retention
Next I would suggest an activity that helps to cement the story into the kids' minds.
This can be as simple as retelling it in one big group with each child taking a turn adding a piece to the story, or doing this in smaller groups.
Have the kids do a visual arts activity in which the kids draw a picture of the story, or a short comic strip with before, during and after pictures, or more boxes depending on the age of the child. The pictures can then be put in sequential order around the room, retelling the story.
Kids can get into small groups and act it out together. They can even be the sticks and make it a dance.
You can lead them in a visualization of the story too.
I also strongly suggest that you have the kids go home and tell this story to their family members. You can provide extra sticks for them to do so.
When a person can retell a story correctly they are showing some mastery over the subject matter.
Personalizing the story ideas and making connections to the larger world
The next step can be to help the kids to make a personal connection to the ideas in the story.
They can talk or write about a time when they behaved more like a bundle or an individual stick.
As a group you can brainstorm different situations in our culture in which we behave more like sticks than bundles. Maybe there are examples in your school, town, local and national and international news. Start close to home and move outward. Ask the kids to bring in a story from the news in which someone acted more like a bundle or a stick.
Have the kids tell the story to family members, and ask parents to tell the children a story of a time when they acted in one way or another.
This story can be used to teach about the Pledge of Allegiance. Also you may wish to gather some dimes and distribute them among the students. If you look at a dime you will also see on one side, the sheaf of grain tied together and the Latin words, "E Pluribus Unum". Which translates to "Out of many one." This kind of connection can add meaning for the students as they experience ways in which our country already celebrates this principal.
Trying the ideas in the story on for size.
An important step in helping children to develop the character traits in the stories is to have them take actions in the world that promote those traits. This can be anything from a classroom project to raise money for a good cause, to a cleanup effort, to standing up together in support of someone or some group that is being picked on, to doing a project in the community such as rebuilding a garden, fixing up a park, helping to build affordable housing. It could also be a project in the classroom in which the students made a contract or pledge to all act in a certain way for the common good. An example of the latter would be to make posters to put up in the hall reminding everyone to stick together in various situations that the kids think up such as on the playground, or on the school bus.
Creative writing and creating original stories
When students can create story around a given theme, they are showing mastery over the ideas. This can flow from the first story in simple and highly structured exercises such as;
coming up with alternative endings to the story,
changing the time and place and characters in the story, such as to animals in the forest who couldn't get along, people in a town, tribes on two sides of a river who build a bridge...
Do this creative story brainstorming as a group initially, and then have the kids make them up individually, in small groups or pairs. I suggest having the kids brainstorm and tell their stories orally before committing them to paper. Most of us speak better than we write, at least until the 7th or 8th grade.
Lead them through a visualization so that their settings and characters can be well developed in their minds.
Telling their original stories
You have modeled storytelling using gestures, eye contact, expressive voice, and rich imagery. Now retell the story making it as dull as possible, without these things. Now talk about what made the first story fun to listen to, and the second one dull. Make a list of these storytelling techniques to refer to when the students are coaching one another. Practice these different qualities using little pieces of story. This exercise can transform oral reports from deathly dull to fun, and can be a self-esteem building experience for every child. It takes practice but in the process every multiple intelligence is engaged and strengthened, and lots of learning takes place.
Have the kids make comic books outlines of their original story, then have them tell it without the paper to a partner or small group. Remind the kids about using movements, changing their voices for different characters and making eye contact. Help them to be aware of speaking slowly and clearly, and loud enough to be heard. Refer back to the list of storytelling techniques to remind the kids how to give one another constructive feedback. Get a daring kid to tell their story in front of the class and model constructive feedback.
Once you've been through this step, have the kids tell their stories to book buddies, to larger groups in the classroom, to parents, and eventually to the whole class, and possibly to other classrooms and/or at a school assembly. You may choose to act out one or several of the stories using all the kids in the class.
Keeping the story wisdom as an ongoing presence
I would suggest keeping the bundle on your desk or displayed prominently somewhere in the room. That way when situations arise in which people are acting more like sticks than bundles someone can point to the bundle and ask them how they could change their behavior to reflect the wisdom of the fable. You could even make a big paper bundle of sticks with each kids name on one. If a child felt left out, they could take their stick out to make a statement that could then be discussed.
As you can see, this is a great start of the year kickoff for creating a safe and close knit classroom climate.
The Stork and the Cranes - An Aesop's fable Grades 3-8.
Themes: Wise choices, peer pressure, friendship, responsibility, bystanding.
A flock of cranes spotted a lone stork nesting in a tree. "Come with us," they called as they flew by.
"We're going to a field where there is tender grain to eat, as much as you can hold!"
Eagerly the stork flew with the cranes to the field. But before the birds has so much as taken a bite, a farmer crept up behind them and threw a heavy net over them all.
"Oh please" cried the Stork, "I'm a stork, you see, not a crane like the rest. I don't belong to this flock!"
"You may be innocent, "replied the farmer, "But you kept company with thieves, and now you will share their punishment as well."
Tips for the Telling:
This is a simple story for telling in such a manner. It might help to show your students pictures of storks and cranes so that they can tell the difference, or at least to describe them to them. I would suggest filling out the story a bit with details to bring the character of the stork to life, so that the listener can empathize with it at first.
Personalizing the story ideas through discussion:
This is a great story to talk about peer pressure, and bystander "join-in" bullying. All young people experience peer pressure on a regular basis. Telling stories about it can help them to be more aware of when it is happening to them, and the consequences of the way they respond. The stork in the story does not think that it should pay the price for the crime because it was not its idea to graze in the field, and it was not one of the gang. Do your students agree with the farmer's verdict? Have they ever been in a similar predicament?
This story can also help increase awareness of the bystanders role in bullying. Most people think that as long as they are not the actual ones bullying or teasing they are not responsible. But to the victim of bullying, anyone who laughs or stares, or even says nothing is in some way joining in. Students need to know that by witnessing bullying and saying nothing to the bully, they are giving them a green light to continue their behavior. They are also giving the victim the signal that they think the behavior is acceptable, thus further isolating the victim.
I suggest that you read the book The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander by Barbara Coloroso (New York: HarperCollins, 2003). In her book she includes an illustration of Dan Olweus' "Bullying Circle". This circle shows all of the characters involved in bullying, from the target, the bully, the active and passive supporters, to the passive observers, to those who would like to help but are too afraid, or don't know how, to those who actively try to help. By showing this cast of characters to your students you can help them to think about which roles they play, and the complex feelings involved at each level, and you can help them to find the courage and skills to move around this circle to take on more empowered roles.
Dramatic Reenactments: Let small groups retell this one together, or for the whole group. Have a courtroom trial for the stork and let the students debate both sides of the story.
Role-playing: Let your students stand in the above mentioned bullying circle, and role play some bullying scenarios that show each role. Read some of the reasons that students give for not standing up for targets, (see my section on Bullying Prevention for this list, as well as the Coloroso book,) and discuss this with your class. Invite your students to role-play situations in which someone is bullying an individual and the bystanders need to choose how not to join in and how to protect the target of bullying. Let the students stop the action and brainstorm things that the bystanders can do and say and what the challenges and benefits are to taking these actions.
Story Sharing: Everyone has a story about peer pressure both in positive and negative ways. Most children have also been witnesses to bullying. They also have a story about a time when they did or did not do anything about the bullying incident. Many will have a story about being in a group when one person did something wrong, and everyone got into trouble, or about getting into trouble for what someone else did.
Exploration of the story ideas:
Creative Adaptation: Let your students retell this with their own adaptations; modernizing, changing the characters, fictionalizing personal experiences. They can also create original stories about characters who get into trouble with a group or who help a group member to stop getting into trouble.
