Working with 6th Graders

This week Sensei Anthony and I volunteered some time at the Wilmington Middle School. Dressed in our Karate uniforms, the last time we were at WMS was last year, when we were helping Principal McMenimen and Superintendent Benton reinforce the Second Step(TM) anti-bullying program. This year we had been invited back to talk to the 6th grade (having visited the 4th graders at both the North Intermediate and West Intermediate two weeks before).

Because of the class schedule, the talks had to be split up between two days, with Sensei Anthony and I working with the 6th graders in their gym classes. While we taught some basic Karate blocks and did some pushups and other physical activities, the main focus was on educating on the different types of bullying as well as demonstrating the importance of bystanders.

At this point it’s hard to imagine that anyone can underestimate the seriousness of bullying. What we (adults) can sometimes forget, though, is the social cost sometimes associated with standing up for peers, especially if they are not our friends. Our goal in going into the schools was to show how important a role being a bystander can be...provided action is taken. The students role-played in front of their groups, and while we had fun with it, we also wanted to stress how important it is to take that first step...a first step that can sometimes be a little scary. We finished with some drills to work on confidence and had some students come up and break boards (we had some students in every class, so for the most part they broke the boards because they had already been trained how to) and invited the students to contact us with any questions on what we went over.

This kind of work in the community is really what’s exciting for us. For Sensei Anthony, Karate (and the support of his family and teachers) took him from being a really shy 7 year old to the very confident teacher and mentor he is today. For me, insert 8 year old and it’s approximately the same story. Perhaps what makes this such a close issue for both of us is that we both have had experience being bullied (as I’m sure many adults have). Hopefully more and more of the lessons will stick over time and a culture will form that encourages bystanders to be leaders and take action; that’s just one of the reasons why I love what I do.