No Name-Calling Week Expands to Include High School Component Focusing on Anti-LGBT Bullying
| Advertisement:
 |
|
Posted: 01/31/2010 - 14:07
• Though No Name-Calling Week was originally designed for grades 5-8, demand from high school educators to develop a way to incorporate No Name-Calling Week into their classrooms inspired the new component, which includes a lesson plan and category in the Creative Expression Contest.
NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2010 – A new No Name-Calling Week high school component created by GLSEN and Stories of Us that focuses on anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools is being used across the country this week as part of the seventh annual No Name-Calling Week.
Though No Name-Calling Week was originally designed for grades 5-8, demand from high school educators to develop a way to incorporate No Name-Calling Week into their classrooms inspired the new component, which includes a lesson plan and category in the Creative Expression Contest.
“Despite being one of the most pervasive forms of bullying, many schools do not adequately address anti-LGBT bullying,” GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said. “We are proud to work with No Name-Calling Week Coalition partner Stories of Us to help foster a respectful dialogue between students. Discussing anti-LGBT bullying has a tremendously positive impact on school climate.”
The lesson plan, Lights, Camera, Action: Using Film to End Anti-LGBT Name-Calling, Bullying and Harassment encourages students to engage in discussion and activity about the prevalence of anti-LGBT bias in schools, and consider how anti-LGBT bias in schools hurts all students and begin to think about how they might address these issues through creation of their own anti-bullying film.
Likewise, the Creative Expression Contest will expand to allow high school students an opportunity to create a short film about anti-LGBT bullying and how it affects school climate. Deadline for entries is Feb. 26.
“By working together as a team to develop their films, students collectively reflect upon anti-LGBT behavior in their lives and in the process develop empathy and move beyond the social barriers which foster bullying and other negative peer relationships,” said Christopher Faull, Founder of Stories of Us, a bullying prevention program that seeks to harness the power of creating film to reduce bullying.
No Name-Calling Week, which as of three years ago also includes lesson plans for grades K-4, was inspired by the young adult novel The Misfits by James Howe, a story about four students who have experienced name-calling and decide to run for student council on the platform of creating a "No Name Day" at school. Hundreds of thousands of students have participated in No Name-Calling Week since its inception.
No Name-Calling Week is a project of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, in collaboration with more than 50 national education and youth service organizations including the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America , the National School Boards Association and the National Education Association.
To learn more about No Name-Calling Week, visit www.nonamecallingweek.org, and for more information on Stories of Us, visit www.storiesofus.com.
Post a Comment: (0) Comments: 
|