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What Should Schools Do About Bullying? A Q&A with Lissa Albert

Lissa Albert, M.A., Educational Technology

In the first part of my discussion with researcher and cyberbullying expert Lissa Albert, we discussed what a parent should do if they suspect their child is being bullied. Today, we’ll look at what schools can do. Q1.  What do you believe is the most effective approach for tackling bullying in schools? As an educator, I believe that we must always begin with as much as we can learn about any topic before we make a plan to tackle the … [Read more...]

What Can We Do About Bullying? A Q&A with Lissa Albert

School Climate 2.0 book cover

My last post on bullying sent the traffic to Coffee with Julie soaring. Clearly, I’d hit a nerve. I think that’s because the adults in our communities genuinely want to do something about bullying, but are just not sure what that is. One reader, Chantal, suggested that having access to a social worker or other experienced worker in the realm of bullying would be very helpful. So I reached out to my online community and received a number of … [Read more...]

Bullying is Bad. Wear a Pink Shirt.

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Back in October, I wrote a guest post on the PhD in Parenting blog titled "Bullying is Bad. Don't be a Bully." It started like this: It's not politically correct, but I'll say it: I'm tired of hearing about bullying. I feel like we spend a great deal of time as a society these days talking about bullying and the importance of teaching children that bullying hurts. I think children already know that bullying hurts. That's why children -- and … [Read more...]

It’s Friday, Friends. Let’s Celebrate True Colors.

Today closes out an international anti-bullying campaign. In schools across our city, kids are shown videos, encouraged to act out skits, and generally work hard not to roll their eyes as they're told over and over again that bullying is bad -- don't be a bully. None of it, in my opinion, truly prepares the teachers or the students for how to effectively deal with kids who are bullying and kids who are being bullied. I wish I knew the answers; … [Read more...]

Bullying and Rhetoric

Worried Young Woman Using Laptop At Home

Today, I'm a guest blogger over on Annie Urban's PhD in Parenting. Annie and I like each a lot despite butting heads on a number of issues. But that's precisely the point -- we both understand (and have a strong respect for) the importance of debate and discussion. Otherwise, we end up in rhetoric territory. … [Read more...]

The Normal Heart

He was practically sputtering, he was so frustrated. I looked at his tear-filled eyes with confusion. With stupid, naive confusion. He wasn't talking to me, and I didn't know him. We were a group of strangers exiting the warm, transcending world of the theatre before departing on our own separate ways. But I heard him. And I thought he was wrong. That he was transposing his own experience as a young gay man in the 1980s to that of today's … [Read more...]