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News Content
What is No Name-Calling Week? And what are some schools doing to recognize it?
Anticipation Guide
Before reading, ask students to share a time when they said something mean to someone else. How did this make them feel? How did it make the other person feel? Do they wish they could take back the words?
If you teach older students, you might share and talk about the poem Words Can Hurt by Virginia Ruth Becker.
News Words
Next, introduce these words that appear in the News Word Box on the students printable page: convince, inspired, teased, aware, novel, and student council. Discuss the meanings of any of those words that might be unfamiliar. Then ask students to use one of those words to complete each of these sentences:
Read the News
Click for a printable version of this weeks news story January 26-30 Is No Name-Calling Week.
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More Facts to Share
You might share these additional facts with students after they have read this weeks news story.
No Name-Calling Week was inspired by , a young adult novel by popular author James Howe. Motivated by the inequities they see around them, four middle school students create a new political party during student council elections. They run on a platform aimed at wiping out name-calling of all kinds.
The first No Name-Calling Week took place in 2004. This year, a national coalition of nearly 50 organizations is sponsoring the sixth annual No Name-Calling Week from January 26-30, 2009. The project seeks to focus national attention on the problem of name-calling in schools, and to provide students and educators with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate name-calling in their communities.
No Name-Calling Week Coalition partners include the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Girl Scouts of the USA, the National School Boards Association, and the National Education Association.
"Name-calling and bullying begin to take hold as an everyday experience in elementary and middle school," said Dr. Eliza Byard, interim executive director of the one of the sponsoring organizations (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network/GLSEN). "No Name-Calling Week is an opportunity for schools to address the problem in a proactive, educational manner. Far too many students know how important a week like No Name-Calling Week really is."
In GLSEN's 2005 report, From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America, 47 percent of junior/middle high school students identified bullying, name-calling, or harassment as somewhat serious or very serious problems at their school.
Comprehension Check
Recalling Detail
Think About the News
Discuss the Think About the News question that appears on the students news page.
Follow-Up Activities
Social studies tolerance. A short story about a young Iraqi boy opens up classroom discussion about the difficulties some immigrant children face, especially in the days after September 11, 2001. See this complete lesson plan; student work sheet included.
Social studies, math survey students. If you teach middle school or above, you might want to have students complete this survey from the partners behind No Name-Calling Week. Have students share the results of the survey by creating graphs. Students are bound to be surprised at some of the results of this survey of their peers.
Citizenship mark No Name-Calling Week. Following are a few ideas for recognizing No Name-Calling Week in your school.
Language arts reading aloud. Share with students this excerpt from James Howes book, The Misfits. Or read aloud some of these other books:
Find many additional lesson ideas and activities in the Resources section of the No Name-Calling Week Web site.
Assessment
Use the Comprehension Check (above) as an assessment. Or have students work on their own (in their journals) or in their small groups to respond to the Think About the News question on the news story page.
Lesson Plan Source
Education WorldNational Standards
LANGUAGE ARTS: English
GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.7 Evaluating Data
NL-ENG.K-12.9 Multicultural Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.11 Participating in Society
NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills
MATHEMATICS: Representation
GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-REP.PK-12.1 Create and Use Representations to Organize, Record, and Communicate Mathematical Ideas
NM-REP.PK-12.3 Use Representations to Model and Interpret Physical, Social, and Mathematical Phenomena
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH: Physical Education
GRADES K - 12
NPH.K-12.5 Responsible Behavior
NPH.K-12.6 Respect for Others
NPH.K-12.7 Understanding Challenges
SOCIAL SCIENCES: Civics
GRADES K - 4
NSS-C.K-4.5 Roles of the Citizen
GRADES 5 - 8
NSS-C.5-8.5 Roles of the Citizen
GRADES 9 - 12
NSS-C.9-12.5 Roles of the Citizen
See recent news stories in Education Worlds News Story of the Week Archive.
Article by Ellen Delisio and Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2009 Education World
01/14/2009