This isn't "work"-related per se, since I'm on placement, but I thought I'd share it today.
So my placement is going well so far, with the students gaining more and more respect of me each day. That said, I have encountered one problem, which I would like some insight on. This problem concerns one of my students who is quite frankly being bullied by some of their classmates.
Now, a few things that should provide some more insight into the behaviour of said student (while the school wouldn't check their files, I figured it would be best to keep it gender-neutral):
-Said student does not participate in classroom sports games. They WILL participate in Bothmer, Music and all other lessons, except for sports games. When they are poked to participate by the teachers, they are very sullen and quiet. For instance, in a game of Capture The Flag, they will act as a guard for their "home base", but the guard work involves them sitting down and doing nothing.
-According to a relief teacher, said student has a thing for blood and vampires. To the point where other students know about it. And of course, said student also likes Vampire Knight. (I am having to remind them to NOT discuss it in class-students are not to discuss things they've seen on TV or similar. If they see it in public-fine. Manga? fine.)
-Said student has had a reputation for "giving up" when it's too hard, although they appear to be improving.
-Said student has a tendency to wander or similar if they are sent out of class (which only happened today), or wandering out of bounds if they have free play time (which is quite a bit)
-Said student does have a few "friends" of sorts, but I am not sure how "close" they are to them. One of the friends is a girl who has been earmarked as a loner, but still appears to get on OK.
-Said student however, is very eager to participate in lessons such as English, Maths, Science and such. They LOVE to paint and draw though-if given free time, they will dig out their pencils and a sketchpad and GO. NUTS.
-Said student is also quite easy to distract if their emotions are running hot.
And with that said, the bullying issue is at hand. It is not necessarily physical, rather it is primarily verbal taunts and them being harsher on her than on their own classmates. For instance, if one classmate makes a mistake, nothing will be said of it. If said student however makes the same mistake, they are immediately attacked for it. Some of it may be positive at times (for instance, getting them to play in class sport), at other times it is absolutely harsh. Which brings me to today's incident.
We have the kids sitting in groups, with 2 boys and 2 girls to a group. The two boys that were sitting with said student started throwing eraser pieces at her, so she retaliated by doing the same. Unfortunately, she was the one caught and sent out of the classroom. When she returned to the classroom, somebody placed glue on her pencil case, which she (and initially I also) mistook for spit and started crying, resulting in her being sent out of class for a breather.
I let her vent and sent her off to wash her face. When she returned, she was still upset though and screamed at another classmate when asked to put her chair up (as they all had). The classmate in question was promptly sent outside along with the rest of the class for some free play to let her calm down.
I did relay it to my mentor teacher regardless of what happened and while I know she will say something to the class, the relief teacher mentioned providing her with some coping skills.
This brings me to my question: what coping skills am I able to provide to a 11/12-year-old student to help her cope with bullying? all I can think of is encouraging them to "throw" themselves into their studies, but she struggles like crazy in some areas.
So my placement is going well so far, with the students gaining more and more respect of me each day. That said, I have encountered one problem, which I would like some insight on. This problem concerns one of my students who is quite frankly being bullied by some of their classmates.
Now, a few things that should provide some more insight into the behaviour of said student (while the school wouldn't check their files, I figured it would be best to keep it gender-neutral):
-Said student does not participate in classroom sports games. They WILL participate in Bothmer, Music and all other lessons, except for sports games. When they are poked to participate by the teachers, they are very sullen and quiet. For instance, in a game of Capture The Flag, they will act as a guard for their "home base", but the guard work involves them sitting down and doing nothing.
-According to a relief teacher, said student has a thing for blood and vampires. To the point where other students know about it. And of course, said student also likes Vampire Knight. (I am having to remind them to NOT discuss it in class-students are not to discuss things they've seen on TV or similar. If they see it in public-fine. Manga? fine.)
-Said student has had a reputation for "giving up" when it's too hard, although they appear to be improving.
-Said student has a tendency to wander or similar if they are sent out of class (which only happened today), or wandering out of bounds if they have free play time (which is quite a bit)
-Said student does have a few "friends" of sorts, but I am not sure how "close" they are to them. One of the friends is a girl who has been earmarked as a loner, but still appears to get on OK.
-Said student however, is very eager to participate in lessons such as English, Maths, Science and such. They LOVE to paint and draw though-if given free time, they will dig out their pencils and a sketchpad and GO. NUTS.
-Said student is also quite easy to distract if their emotions are running hot.
And with that said, the bullying issue is at hand. It is not necessarily physical, rather it is primarily verbal taunts and them being harsher on her than on their own classmates. For instance, if one classmate makes a mistake, nothing will be said of it. If said student however makes the same mistake, they are immediately attacked for it. Some of it may be positive at times (for instance, getting them to play in class sport), at other times it is absolutely harsh. Which brings me to today's incident.
We have the kids sitting in groups, with 2 boys and 2 girls to a group. The two boys that were sitting with said student started throwing eraser pieces at her, so she retaliated by doing the same. Unfortunately, she was the one caught and sent out of the classroom. When she returned to the classroom, somebody placed glue on her pencil case, which she (and initially I also) mistook for spit and started crying, resulting in her being sent out of class for a breather.
I let her vent and sent her off to wash her face. When she returned, she was still upset though and screamed at another classmate when asked to put her chair up (as they all had). The classmate in question was promptly sent outside along with the rest of the class for some free play to let her calm down.
I did relay it to my mentor teacher regardless of what happened and while I know she will say something to the class, the relief teacher mentioned providing her with some coping skills.
This brings me to my question: what coping skills am I able to provide to a 11/12-year-old student to help her cope with bullying? all I can think of is encouraging them to "throw" themselves into their studies, but she struggles like crazy in some areas.
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