Sixth-Graders 'Get Real' On Bullying

sixth-graders on Friday saw more bullying than they see daily, Assistant Principal Gayle Logan says.

That's why school officials showed them the "Let's Get Real" video, and had the students do anti-bullying activities afterward.

The video shows kids talking about bullying. And in one example, a student riding his bicycle is pushed off by another kid.

"It's middle school voices. It's kids' voices talking about how it feels to be bullied, and talking about how the bully feels. Kids find it powerful," Logan said.

"We don't have a climate anywhere near like this at school, so they are amazed at how bad it can get."

Sharon school officials have shown this video the past two or three years, Logan said. Seventh- and eighth-graders watched it in previous years.

Logan said she had seen excerpts from it during a summer course at Northeastern University.

"What I liked most about it is it's middle school kids," she said.

The sixth graders then did activities, such as "Silent Conversation," where a word or question, such as "bystander," was written down and the students had to write responses to it and to their classmates' reactions, Logan said.

Later, the students created flowers with positive messages on them, for display in the hallway, "so that students can have a positive reminder," she said.

"We try to come at this at 'Why do you want to be nice to each other,' the importance of having a sound community," she said.

Showing the video is part of the Sharon public schools' anti-bullying efforts.

Public comments were due Friday on the district-wide Anti-Bullying Task Force's draft bully prevention plan. The task force will send the plan to the school committee for review.

Next Thursday, a man whose 13-year-old son committed suicide after classmates bullied him will speak to Sharon parents.

The session is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the auditorium. The Sharon Education Foundation and the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation are co-sponsoring the event.