Building caring schools k-12 preventing bullying
Building a Caring School Environment Workshop
This NCBI Workshop consists of a series of incremental, experiential activities where school staff and students begin to understand and appreciate each other’s different life experiences and how to be supportive to each other.
Learn approaches for encouraging respect and teamwork among all staff and students
Expand their understanding and appreciation of the multiculturalism within their school
Identify the misinformation that contributes to bias and teasing
Learn new information that builds respect among diverse groups
Build skills for effectively reducing teasing, harassment, and bias
Preventing Bullying and School Violence Workshop
The NCBI Preventing Bullying and School Violence Prevention Workshop empowers young people to create and maintain healthy, nonviolent schools and communities. Through a guided set of experiential exercises, young people learn to:
Identify ways to prevent bullying and violence
Recognize the nature and causes of violence
Heal from the effects of violence
Use nonviolent intervention techniques
Develop a school action plan to build safer and more inclusive schools
Train-the-Trainer Leadership Program for Middle and High Schools
The NCBI Two-Day Leadership Training for Middle and High Schools trains students to lead the Building a Caring School Environment Workshop or the Preventing School Violence Workshop. NCBI works with the school to identify critical issues related to inclusion and safety, including:
Targeting of students
Anti-gay bullying
Gender harassment
Teasing students with disabilities
Other types of mistreatment and violence
Take a moment to watch these Poignant Testimonials from some of the teen students NCBI has done Training with – Interview NCBI Excerpts
High School Student Theatre For Justice Plays!
NCBI’s Capital District Chapter Director, Tawana Davis, and Director of School Programs, Ira Baumgarten, combine NCBI training with Albany, NY area high school theatre programs creating dynamic youth written and performed stories that highlight overcoming prejudice and building strong relationships across diverse cultural groups.
Once in a while a perfect storm of courage, voices, collaboration, and love comes together and a miracle happens. At Albany High School, Albany, NY the Capital District Chapter of NCBI was asked to build bridges and to reduce tensions between immigrant/refugee and African American student groups. NCBI focus groups and coalition building workshops were held. Where the magic happened was when we brought the speak out stories into an after school Social Justice Theatre Program to form the basis for a student written production.
As each participant told the story of their journey to find a place in Albany, NY a common thread of alienation and prejudice that both groups had experienced in their search for a place of home, a place of belonging came through.
“The project helps people find a place of home in themselves and you learn from it and then you get to share it with the world.”
– Bianke, 11th grade participant.
“You can never take what I fought for as a child in the refugee camp, the love of my life, the opportunity to
learn.”
– Ar, 12th grade participant
“Try to take away my pride, take away my hopes leaping high. But you will hear this beautiful black girl’s voice because I matter.”
– Camille, 10th grade participant
The students became characters in each other’s story and in some cases, they even took the lead in another person’s story. Slowly, steadily, they literally walked in each other’s shoes. Strong bonds of friendship and family were formed. The play began with this narrative:
“Pain that is not transformed is transmitted. Story telling transforms our pain and your pain. Here in this room, tonight, there is no difference between those telling the story and those listening.
“Our stories are yours as well. Tonight we are one. Stand up if your place of birth is outside the United States …”
Which Way Is Home
Which Way is Home was performed at the community repertoire theatre and at the Albany High School. After the play was performed, funding was found to have Youth FX, a local non-profit film arts program, filmed and produced (film and produce) films of the students stories. Click here to see the films.
Students who were in the play will become a Bridge Builder Team of Artist Activists and with training from the NCBI Chapter they will bring their filmed stories into classrooms and lead discussions. They will continue to meet after school to prepare and to create a safe haven for other students to come to share their stories. An audio and video library of students’ stories is being established.
The students’ voices sang out like trumpets, they turned their swords into ploughshares. The arts combined with NCBI principles and practices created a powerful alchemy for healing and change. Through acting in each other’s stories, the students learned to understand each other’s pain and journey. Each day in rehearsal they lived being allies for each other. As an audience, we became witnesses and participants in their effort to build bridges. Their lives were changed and so were ours.
The final verses of the play read –
“Why do I feel like if I go out I’ll die
Why is it I can never feel peace
If we continue to do this we’ll cease
To exist in a world that’s full of hate
And always fearing that horrible fate
Mommy, Mama, Mother, Mom
Tell me that someday it’ll be better
And I won’t live in fear forever
Tell me that there’ll be a bright future ahead
And I won’t have to fear of soon being dead
We’ll stop reliving the horrors of the past
And mankind will forever last”
Student Take Leadership Role in Shaping School
Seventeen students in the eighth grade undertook National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) leadership training at Chatham Middle School. Hosted by the CMS counseling department as part of our ongoing character education program, this training aimed to create a more caring school environment. The training was led by guest NCBI trainers Tawana Davis and Ira Baumgarten, and focused on the impacts of self-awareness, personal identities, and stereotypes, as well as effective ways for the students to take a leadership role to reduce prejudice, conflict, and bullying.
NCBI is a nonprofit leadership training organization that works to eliminate conflict and prejudice in schools, workplaces, and communities the world over. NCBI training has been a part of Chatham Middle School’s character education program for the past 16 years.
With their NCBI training now completed, these student leaders will take an active role in positive relationship-building initiatives for our sixth grade students starting this November. With guidance from school counselors, they will lead workshops that focus on celebrating students’ similarities and differences while helping their peers better understand and appreciate one another.
Empowering Leaders. Strengthening Alliances.
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