Today we performed the 'Bullying Assembly' to the learning skills pupils. 
I think the performance went very well because 

• the pace was very good/quick and there were no hesitations or stops so everyone knew what they were doing, 
• the links/transitions were successful because it did seem like it was a school bell and the audience accepted that.
• I think the emotion in the letters were very good
• the physical bullying scene went well because the audience said that, that scene was good and gave them 'chills'.

Bullying Assembly - Lesson 3

In this lesson we wanted to have a plot/ structure for our drama piece we all came up with different idea's for what we could do:

Abstract

Physical Theatre

Show Side Effects

Self Harm

Depression

Suicide

Evidence

Being Singled out from Friends

Variation of Bullying

Beginning - Victim Scene

Paranoia - Vocal Collage

Dates

Then we talked about different types of bullying:

Verbal

Exclusion from Friends

Cyber-bullying

Physical

Mental

We then wanted to structure the drama into scenes, these were:

1. verbal abuse

2. cyber abuse 

3. paranoia

4. physical 

5. exclusion

Then we got put into groups we wanted to work on, I wanted to do the 4th scene, physical bullying, I was with Alys, Autumn and Beckie. Me, Alys and Autumn decided we were going to be the bullies and Beckie be the victim, we first decided to do the typical chav bullies who take Beckies things like her ipod because we didnt have enough money to buy ourselves. 

Bullying Assembly - Lesson 2

In this lesson, we discussed the use of narration and how we could use it in our drama's, also we found out that we we're performing to year 10-11's Learning Skills class because they are doing about bullying in their lessons at the minute.


different ways the class thought we could use narration were :

• story telling
• diary entry
• the people shouting the last bits - back of imagination
• poem
• music
• letters
• news report
• the bully as the narrator

Then we split into two groups 

group 1 - victims

group 2 - bully

I was in group 1, our group did an idea of a diary entry over time and only show significant times when the bully's were bad. 

The parts of the diary we chose were:

The day it started

When it was getting worse

The worst part of it

Excluding herself from life - she cracks thinks what to write as final good bye

Final entry

Alys and I wrote the last one 'Final entry'

31st October 2010

Dear Diary, 

                   I've made my decision. I don't want this any more, I've been planning this for weeks, everything is set out, anything is better then this. How can they not notice anything is different about me? There my own parents! I shouldn't be angry. This is my last goodbye, I love you all. x

Bullying Assembly - Lesson 1

Sarah introduced the topic by telling us we we're going to do a performance to year 7-9's about bullying. It could be on any form of bullying and it had to be around 20 minutes long.
My first thoughts on this was that we could do mental bullying, when people just make you very paranoid and maybe shout things at you - that kind of bullying
We were given three stimuli for bullying these we're : a video
                                                                            a poem
                                                                            a newspaper article
The first was the video, it put the message across of bullying very seriously and very well done, there wasn't very much information, just dates and names, the dates we're of their life length and the names were the names of the victims, these were of people who had committed suicide. This was quite upsetting because the music was quite upbeat but if you listened to the lyrics they were quite serious and deep. 
My initial response to this was that it was very very moving and very sad to think that, that many people had done that to themselves because of the extent of their bullying, it made me think as well because a lot of them were people our age and to think that bullying is going on in our school makes me feel even worse. I was mostly shocked by how young the people were that committed suicide. 


We then looked at the poem ...
'I am'
I am the person you bullied in school
I am the one who didn't know how to be cool
I am the person you alienated
I am the person you ridiculed and hated

I am the person who sat on their own
I am the person who walked home alone
I am the person you scared every day
I am the person who had nothing to say

I am the person with hurt in their eyes
I am the person you never saw cry
I am the person living alone with their fears
I am the person destroyed by their peers

I am the person who drowned in your scorn
I am the person who wished they hadn't been born
I am the person whose name you don't know
I am the person who just can't let go

I am the person destroyed for 'fun'
I am the person, but not the only one
I am the person who had feelings too
..and I am a person, JUST LIKE YOU!!!


I liked this poem because it shows at the end how strong the writer is that they can get over the bullying unlike the people on the video also how simple the words were but how strong they were like 'destroyed' and 'drowned' they showed you how those people had affected this person and the repetition of the 'i am' because it showed you who was in control.


We finally looked at the newspaper article,

Bullied schoolgirl hanged herself with tie

AN "EXCEPTIONALLY GIFTED" 13-YEAR-OLD BULLYING VICTIM WHO DREAMED OF BECOMING A PILOT HANGED HERSELF FROM A BUNK BED USING HER SCHOOL TIE, AN INQUEST HAS HEARD.

By Richard Savill 4:12PM BST 25 Jun 2008 

Cherelle Ardle was having "extreme problems" with bullying at her school and was finding it difficult to interact with other pupils, the hearing was told.

She had been locked in a cupboard and dragged down the stairs and once needed hospital treatment after a playground fight.

On the evening of December 3 last year, her lifeless body was found by stepfather Dale Evans in her bedroom at her home in Kennard Street, Ton Pentre, South Wales.

The inquest heard how the teenager wrote a suicide note on a blank page of a maths exercise book.
The note ended with the words: "I'm about to hang myself. If I keep writing after this, it hasn't worked."
Mr Evans told the inquest in Miskin, South Wales: "She was being bullied at school. There had been some trouble at school that day and I picked her up early.
"She went up to her room and had a bath but then stayed in her bedroom. I went to check on her at 8.30pm and found her hanging."
Trudy Robinson, a respite foster carer, who looked after the girl one weekend each month, told the inquest: "She was having extreme problems with bullying at school.
"She had been dragged downstairs and locked in a cupboard and had been taken to hospital on one occasion."
She described the girl as "exceptionally gifted academically and beautiful to look at", adding: "She was a joy to look after and liked to help in every way she could.
"She had just joined the Air Cadets and she had told me she wanted to be a pilot which I thought was a fabulous idea."
The inquest heard the Treorchy Comprehensive School pupil went to her bedroom after a row with her mother Deborah Evans over missing money from a money-box, which she eventually admitted taking.
Det Insp Nigel Cottle said: "Cherelle was generally the victim of bullying at school but on certain occasions she was the assailant in her own right. She had no problems with teachers but she had difficulty interacting with other pupils."
In a statement to police, her mother spoke of concerns about the bullying and said she felt it "impacted on Cherelle's quality of life".
The inquest also heard the girl was involved in a relationship with an older man, which was subject to an ongoing investigation by South Wales Police.
The coroner Philip Walters described the girl, from Ton Petre, Rhondda, as an intelligent and articulate teenager.
Recording an open verdict, Mr Walters said: "I really don't know why this has happened. It might be due to one thing, it might be due to a number of things.
"What I am satisfied is that I honestly don't think that this young lady intended to end her own life."
He said he was convinced the suicide note was a "cry for help" or was possibly to draw attention to herself.
Mr Walters also issued a warning to others who might be similarly tempted.
He said: "Young people are often not aware that if you tie a ligature around your neck it takes as little as five seconds to render you unconscious.
"Thereafter, death can occur any time up to quarter-of-an-hour.
"If you go down this route, this is final. There is no coming back."

I was really angry with how the people/police tried to blame it on the girl, when she'd just killed herself, they've completely looked past that she hung herself and kept on at how it was attention seeking.


After this we all spoke about idea's final piece:
Little comments
Don't do obvious bullying
Characters: best friend, victim, parents
Lots of different stories from different characters
Every action has a reaction
Alternative endings
Stimuli from books
Reasons: confidence, jealous of victims life
Self harm
A lot of bully's don't realise they bully someone


Activity:


3 images - Snapshots - Happy (Family life, friends etc)

                   Middle one (bullying)

                   Last one (Consequences)

We started as a happy group of friends - All together telling jokes and chatting

Rachel tells a joke and after a short laugh we slowly back away because the joke wasn't funny

James then told a joke about her and we all laugh and turn our backs after insulting her - As I turned my back I just said 'HA!'

We turn and hold the knife to stab her