This post was originally published in Nick Glass’ monthly column for Curriculum Connections, an e-newsletter published by School Library Journal in partnership with TeachingBooks.net. Subscribe to this free newsletter here.
With No Name-Calling Week occurring January 23-27, 2012, this is a perfect time of year to integrate multimedia resources into your anti-bullying curriculum.
Bullying is a complex and difficult topic, so using books to start discussions can be a safe way to discuss these sensitive issues. Because books about bullying abound, there is plenty of literature to use that will open doors to understanding.
To help you jumpstart and institutionalize the ongoing dialogues that are necessary to eliminate name-calling and bullying in your schools, consider using the multimedia resources for a variety of grade levels offered in this post.
Watch this original TeachingBooks.net video of author James Howe as he discusses the power of words and his book The Misfits (S & S, 2001).
Howe’s The Misfits, which inspired No Name-Calling Week, has two companion volumes: Totally Joe (2005) and Addie on the Inside (2011, both S & S).
Hear Sharon G. Flake share the inspiration behind The Skin I’m In (Hyperion, 1998) in this TeachingBooks.net “Meet-the-Author” book reading.
When exploring all the resources for this John Steptoe New Talent award-winning book, note the six-trait writing lesson from WritingFix.
Use this book guide to help teach Trudy Ludwig’s books My Secret Bully (River Word, 2003) and Just Kidding (Tricycle, 2006) from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.
This 86-page resource offers extensive lessons for grades three, four, and five related to more than a dozen books.
Listen to this excerpt from Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak (Farrar, 1999) and the author’s reminiscence of her teen years.
Anderson’s website offers a variety of resources to accompany this National Book Award-winning book.
Refer to this book guide for Kevin Henkes’s Chrysanthemum (Greenwillow, 1991) when you introduce the topic of teasing with young students.
This study guide from the Anti-Defamation League includes suggestions for vocabulary, dramatic play, and extension activities.
Hear directly from author Sherman Alexie as he accepts the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown, 2007).
In his acceptance speech, Alexie reflects on how many teens, no matter their background, feel misunderstood. A transcript and an audio recording of the speech are available.
Play this dramatic audio excerpt of Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War for students who are reading this gut-wrenching novel (Pantheon, 1974) for the first time.
Numerous lesson plans are available for Cormier’s book, which explores peer pressure and the abuse of power including this lesson from McDougal Littell.
Implement this lesson plan which uses Paul Fleischman’s and Kevin Hawkes’s Weslandia (Candlewick, 1999).
In this instructional plan, ReadWriteThink helps students and teachers explore diversity and acceptance
Posted by Nick Glass, Founder & Executive Director of TeachingBooks.net
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