KITE FIGHTERS
TOOLKIT
Project n° -1-2019HU-01KA060962-201
about this phenomenon you can often find phrases such as “the bully” or “the perpatrator” and „the victim”. We want to avoid using these, as they are assigning fixed roles to individual kids: it conveys the meaning that once you are a bully, you are always going to be a bully, or once you are a victim, you are always going to be a victim. The dynamics of bullying is much more complex than that: for example, in some situations a child might be bullied, while in others s/he becomes the per- son who bullies, to re-establish her/his sense of control. To avoid such oversimplifi- cation, we are going to use the terms “the kid / child who bullies” and the “the kid / child who is bullied” or “the targeted kid / child” – always describing the role that individual kid is in, in that particular situation.
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Summary
GLOSSARY OF BASIC TERMS 5
1. INTRODUCTION 7
1.1 About the project . . . .7
1.2 The Toolkit . . . .8
1.2.1 How to use the Toolkit . . . .9
1.3. Bullying and Cyber-bullying . . . 11
1.3.1 Bibliography . . . 12
1.4. Dynamics of bullying . . . 13
1.4.1. Bibliography . . . 15
1.5 Suggested behaviour and communication strategies . . . 16
1.5.1 How to deal with Cyberbullying: do and don’t for students . . . 20
1.5.2. Bibliography . . . 20
1.6 Case Studies from field research . . . 21
2. COLLECTION OF TOOLS 27 2.1 Storytelling . . . 27
Mapping the journey of life. . . 30
Mysty – digital storytelling . . . .33
Story cubes . . . .37
Puppet theater - Create a puppet, create yourself methods . . . 39
Dixit . . . 42
2.2 Symbolwork . . . 44
Creation of our own symbol box . . . 45
Introduction round . . . 48
Basic clearing intervention . . . 50
Mandala . . . 54
Wheel of emotions . . . 56
2.3 Folktales . . . 59
Making a paper theatre . . . 61
Appendix 1: Collection of Folk Tales on Discrimination and Bullying . . . 63
Lotilko . . . .102
3. SELECTION OF BEST PRACTICES 109 MaBasta! Movimento Antibullismo Animato Da Studenti Adolescenti . . . 110
NoTrap! (Let’s Not Fall Into A Trap!) . . . 113
Visc Social Competence Program (Wisk Programm) . . . 116
Anti-Bullying Intervention Program According To Olweus . . . 121
Peer Mediation Program For The Prevention Of Violence In Schools . . . .124
Fairplayer.Manual . . . .127
ABC – Antibullying Self-Assessment Procedure . . . .132
The Peaceful Schools . . . 135
School Mediation . . . .138
Communication without Violence according to Marshall Rosenberg . . . 144
Experiential Learning Activities in human trafficking and refugee rights . . . .147
4. LITERATURE LIST 150
4.1 Literature list: Italy . . . .150
4.1.1 Help for self-help: literature recommended for young people . . . .153
4.2 Literature list: Austria . . . .154
4.2.1 Links to important studies, initiatives and programmes . . . .155
4.2.2 Help for self-help: literature recommended for young people . . . .157
4.3 Literature list: Greece . . . .162
4.3.1 Help for self-help: literature recommended for young people . . . 164
4.4 Literature list: Hungary . . . .166
4.4.1 Help for self-help: literature recommended for young people . . . .167
5. ANTI-BULLYING SUPPORTYING SYSTEMS: USEFUL CONTACTS 168 5.1 Supporting System in Austria . . . .168
5.2 Supporting System in Italy . . . 171
5.3 Supporting System in Hungary . . . .174
5.4 Supporting System in Greece . . . .176
Glossary of basic terms
BULLYING BEHAVIOUR: When one or more students employ physical, emotional, or verbal abuse to make life miserable for another student. The abuse can take many forms from simple name calling to physical abuse to sexual harassment. Bullying behaviour is defined by its intensity and duration and is distinguished by a pattern of repeated physical or psy- chological intimidation.
BYSTANDER BEHAVIOUR: It is typified by someone who «stands by» while bullying is taking place. Bystanders do not actively participate, but they are rarely neutral. Passive observing reaffirms the bullys power. On the other hand, bystanders have the greatest potential to turn the situation around.
CYBERSAFETY: It refers to both a) online behaviours that are safe, respectful and responsible, as well as b) strategies to reduce risks online, e.g. using high privacy settings.
CYBERSTALKINK: It involves the use of technology to make someone else afraid or concerned about their safety. This conduct is threatening or otherwise fear-inducing, it involvs an inva- sion of a person’s relative right to privacy, and manifests in repeated actions over time. Most of the time, those who cyberstalk use social media, Internet databases, search engines, and other online resources to intimidate, follow, and cause anxiety or terror to others.
Surprisingly, cyberstalking rarely occurs by a stranger. For example, the aggressor may be an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend, former friend, past employee, or an acquaintance who wants to control, possess, scare, threaten, or actually harm the other person.
DENIGRATION: “Dissing” someone online. Sending or posting cruel gossip or rumours about a person to damage his or her reputation or friendships.
EXCLUSION: Intentionally excluding someone from an online group, like a “buddy list” or a game.
EXPLOITATION, COERCION AND THREATS: A person receiving sexual threats, being coerced to participate in sexual behaviour online, or blackmailed with sexual content.
FLAMING: A hostile online interaction that involves insulting messages, or flames, between users.
HAPPY SLAPPING: The activity of attacking someone and filming the attack and spreading it online.
HARASSMENT: Behaviour that targets an individual or group due to their identity, race, cul- ture or ethnic origin, religion, physical characteristics, gender, sexual orientation.
IMPERSONATION: It’s about identity theft. It happens when someone pretends to be another person (for example, creating a fake profile on Facebook or a fake e-mail) with the aim of sending reprehensible and discrediting messages.
PHYSICAL HARASSMENT: These actions are aimed at physically injuring a person, such as hitting, kicking, pushing, setting a trap.
OUTING: Sharing someone’s secrets or embarrassing information online.
SEXUALISED BULLYING: A person being targeted by, and systematically excluded from, a group or community with the use of sexual content that humiliates, upsets or discriminates against them.
SOCIAL (INDIRECT) BULLYING: The destruction of social relationships and social belonging is at the centre of negative actions, e.g. consciously disengaging from the group, spreading rumours, ignoring someone.
TRICKERY: Tricking someone into revealing secrets or embarrassing information, which is then shared online.
TROLLING: Intentionally posting provocative messages about sensitive subjects to create con- flict, upset people, and bait them into “flaming” or fighting.
UNWANTED SEXUALISATION: A person receiving unwelcome sexual requests, comments and content.
VERBAL BULLYING: All verbal attacks, such as verbal abuse, verbal threats, mean comments, making fun of someone.
Bibliography
– Grundsatzerlass GZ 15.510/60-Präs.3/95 – www.bullyingnoway.gov.au
– www.cyberbullying.org – www.sd35.bc.ca
1.1 About the project
KITE-fighters – Kids and Teachers Fighting for Inclusion is a Key Action 2 project funded by the European Erasmus + program. The aim of the project is to assist pedagogues working with young people in their teen-age (13-20 years old) with a focus on diversities, to strengthen so- cial inclusion, and promote peer-to-peer communication and team building.
Adolescence is a critical phase for any individual, since it is in this very moment that our iden- tity takes shape, our self-esteem is built and we go through major changes, physical, sexual and psychological as well. Schools are the social institutions where these process and changes must be supported, and the recognition and promotion of diversity as value must be at the base. Students should be able to grow in a safe place, but this is not always a given. In fact, young people often experience social exclusion and have to deal with bullying and cyber-bul- lying episodes, that can have a dramatic impact in their lives. In this context, the challenges for schools are major, and teachers often feel on unsafe grounds, because they lack instruments and expertise to deal with these phenomena.
The KITE fighters project stress the role of bullying as major threat for the self-development and for the growth of a healthy and inclusive society. In this context, the project wants to offer a concrete support to teachers and students, providing them with innovative methods and tools to cope with bullying situations and prevent the escalation of conflicts at school.
1. Introduction
1.2 The Toolkit
The KITE-fighters Toolkit has been designed to be a practical and valuable helper for peda- gogues. It was created with the aim of training trainers to provide teachers with creative meth- ods especially useful for engaging students with social difficulties.
The Toolkit includes a collection of innovative tools based on the following methodologies that have been successfully tested at European level: Symbolwork, (Digital) Storytelling and Folk Tale Work.
Moreover, it contains a selection of best practices that can be taken as reference point to im- prove schools’ strategies, and case studies that have been gathered through interviews.
Our hope is that students and educators will use this toolkit to create a positive climate and improve the communication inside the classroom, having a real impact on students’ mental health, emotional resilience and on the school atmosphere, and, with a broader perspective, also to decrease in social exclusion and bullying.
Symbolwork
Symbolwork is an innovative methodology that offers young people an additional language, making it easier to express personal feelings and thoughts.Symbols have probably accompanied people for thousands of years and are firmly embedded in the respective cultures. We would like to deal here with a technique, the work with symbols, which plays an important role in psychotherapy. Following the original approach of Wilfried Schneider, therapist and creator of the methodology (www.psychologische-symbol- arbeit.de) Hafelekar started to introduce symbolwork in various areas of the education sector. On this base and with some years of experiencing symbolwork in Austria, Hafelekar further developed the ‘SymfoS method- ology’ within the project “SymfoS – Symbols for success”, where symbol- work was tailored to the field of educational and vocational guidance for disadvantaged young people. You find more information on www.symfos.
eu. In this project symbolwork is seen as an additional language for young people to express themselves. This is a good starting point for the KITE- fighter project: In bullying processes it can be observed that the partici- pants - in whatever role – are often literally «speechless».
Storytelling is a process that combine facts and narrative in order to communicate a message and an emotion to a target audience.
In particular, Digital Storytelling is an interactive tool to present personal stories using short videos. Its use can be fundamental in different educational and learning contexts. Moreover, storytell- ing is a process during which a person can create a personal nar- rative to communicate about him or herself. By creating the nar- rative, the person strengthens his/her narrative identity, through which the self-coherence and self-agency are also strengthened.
Storytelling and Digital Storytelling
Through working with Folk Tales, we access narratives which were formed through generations, and therefore represents a knowl- edge of how to solve different problem situations. All life situa- tions and relationship problems – including bullying – has their own folk tales, in which the hero(ess) is empowered, reaches to her/his inner resources, and takes steps to change their fates into better. Using Folk Tale Work, participants can also look for and find their own resources and takes steps to solve their actual life problems.
Folk Tales
1.2.1 How to use the Toolkit
The KITE Fighters Toolkit include a total of 13 tools, which are categorized according to the methodology used, in order of presentation: Storytelling, Symbol work and Falk Tales Work.
Each tool is described using key information to guide and support pedagogues in the choice of the best activity to use:
- Difficulty level;
- Age target group;
- Duration;
- Themes covered;
- Type of activity;
- Source of the tool;
- Overview;
- Objectives;
- Materials needed;
- Instructions;
- The reason why the tool can be useful in the school environment.
The project provides a 30-hour teacher training curriculum to empower teachers to use the tools contained in this toolkit. The 30-hour course is divided into 10 modules, which can be separately used as well.
The teacher training curriculum will be piloted and evaluated at a training of trainers organ- ised by the project consortium.
However, everybody can use the tools presented in this Toolkit, independently of the training course. Some of the activities require a special attention to best facilitate them and obtain valuable results.
We suggest to follow these tips that can help those who do not have facilitation skills:
- Work on your emotional intelligence, especially on your empathic sense;
- Before starting the activities, work on team building and break the ice with group games;
- Create an inclusive environment: find the ways for everyone to participate;
- Communicate clear and effective guidelines and instructions: you can think about these guidelines yourself or you can simply ask the group what behaviours and attitudes will help them get the most out of the experience. Try to push for concrete ideas and clear guidelines;
- Promote an active listening;
- Do not rush, take the time you need to enjoy the experience. Manage well the time available;
- Keep high the energy of the group with energizer games;
- Try to stay neutral: no judgments;
- Share and record the meeting results.
Overtime, researchers tried to delineate the many facets of the term bullying, elaborating different definitions. We tried to find our own, by summarizing the most relevant researchers and finding the commonalities between them.
1.3. Bullying and Cyber-bullying
Bullying is an intentional act of violence, physical or psychological, conducted by an individual or a group directed against an inferior individual who is not able to defend himself, it is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bul- lying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psycho- logical, social, or educational harm.
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Summarizing the definition, in order to be considered bullying, a behavior must have these four characteristics:
- Direct (physical or verbal violence) or indirect aggression (psychological violence, resulting in manipulative acts to control the targeted person, like mobbing);
- Mens rea (guilty mind): intention to pursue the aggression;
- Imbalance of power: kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, popularity, confidence, different socioeconomic status, age, sex, race, ethnicity — to control or harm others.
- Repetition over time: bullying behaviors happen more than once, that is part of the rea- son bullying can be so emotionally or psychologically damaging.
Bullying, like all human phenomena, evolved overtime, adapting to the change of society. With the widespread use of technologies in our daily life, bullying went digital as well, being defined as cyberbullying. As for the former, we tried to elaborate a definition starting from the already existent ones.
Cyberbullying is any proacted form of psychological pressure, aggression,
harassment, blackmail, insult, denigration, defamation, identity theft, illicit acqui- sition, manipulation, unlawful processing of personal data through digital means – like social media (e.g. Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter etc.) and commu- nication services (e.g. Whatsapp, Telegram etc.) or content platforms (e.g. Youtube).
The negative behaviour can be carried out by individuals or groups of individuals, with the aim to abuse, torment, intimidate or isolate a person
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A widespread form of Cyberbullying is the online sexual harassment,
An unwanted sexual conduct on any digital platform, recognized as a form of sexual violence. Online sexual harassment encompasses a wide range of behaviours that use digital content (images, videos, posts, messages, pages) on a variety of different platforms (private or public). It can make a person feel threatened, exploited, co- erced, humiliated, upset, sexualised or discriminated against.
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There are some features cyberbullying and bullying have in common, however they have many differences that can make the first one even more devastating. In fact, cyberbullying is characterized by:
- the omnipresence of the behaviour and its effect (in space and time): it can occur at any time of the day from anywhere, without stopping;
- the risk of reaching a large audience, boosting its effect: a large number of people (at school, in the neighbourhood, in the city, in the world) can be involved the victimization;
- the potential anonymity of the bully(ies): the cyberbully can easily hide his or her identity using fake identities or anonymous email addresses;
- the lack of emotional feedback;
- unmanageable: there are few control mechanisms on the Internet or mobile phones, and once something is online it is very difficult to delete it – especially when it become viral;
- the non-obvious relationship between the target and the bully;
- the pool of potential targets, offenders, and witnesses is limitless.
1.3.1 Bibliography
– Florian Wallner: Mobbingprävention im Lebensraum Schule (www.oezeps.at)
– Gradinger, Strohmeier & Spiel, 2009, 2010, 2012; Strohmeier, Gradinger, Schabmann &
Spiel, 2012.
– Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
– Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja, Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying, 2014
– Nicola Hahn, 2019
– Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. Cyberbullying Research Center, Cyberbullying: Identification, Prevention, & Response Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. Justin W.
Patchin, Ph.D. Cyberbullying Research Center October 2014 – www.stopbullying.gov
– www.cyberbullying.org/
– www.gazzettaufficiale.it – www.oezeps.at
– https://www.childnet.com/our-projects/project-deshame
Bullying is a complex social phenomenon. Those who bully often act as consequence of grow- ing up in a toxic environment, as most of someone’s character is built in early age. But it is dur- ing the adolescence phase, kids go through major changes, physical, sexual and psychological as well. Schools are the social institutions where they must be supported in this process and encouraged to be their selves. However, some scholars argued that bullying and harassment could also be related to school culture, whether there is a culture of secrecy (”do not tell”), or an intolerance for diversity and a culture of disrespect.
Students targeted as bullying victims are often defined through deviant labels. Bullies focus mainly on physical aspects, different nationality and sexual orientation of their targets. In gen- eral, the trigger is diversity and “the new”.
It has been elaborated also the social dominance theory, according to which bullying is often used as a strategy to establish and maintain social dominance, and groups are often organised in dominant hierarchies (R. Thorneberg, 2015).
Any form of bullying can create negative emotions and change the dynamics of self-percep- tion and self-control of individuals, to the point that, in rare cases, individuals are even led to attempts suicides, some of which are unfortunately successful.
Bullying has important consequences that affect not only those who are directly involved, but it also touches other members of the community who monitor the evolution of incidents and
1.4. Dynamics of bullying
If there are frequently repeated negative actions which, as a whole, are systematically directed against an inferior pupil, if this takes place over a longer period of time and leads to a reduction in the possibilities for action of the person concerned, we will refer to bullying in the following. It is important that this does not have to be «major» acts of violence. Negative actions›, which can lead to bullying, include many possible courses of action. All these actions are suitable to cause mobbing - also or even more so, if it is only a matter of supposedly «small» acts of violence. Many actions that appear harm- less as individual phenomena can, in sum, result in the bullying dynamic.
This is precisely what makes «bullying» in schools often difficult to recognise and grasp, as they sometimes take place in secret for educators, as these individual acts are not perceived as bullying
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Florian Wallner: Mobbingprävention im Lebensraum Schule (www.oezeps.at)
experience the phenomenon as bystanders, that often became bullies. In these cases, violence creates feelings of wider anxiety and fears for children viewers who possibly either consider themselves as potential «victims» in the future, either accept aggressive behaviour and to en- gage in similar behaviours. In general, the increased incidents of school violence create a neg- ative climate in the school in which there is widespread concern that follows the educational process, while affecting the rights of its members school community for a healthy and safe school environment.
Bullying can be either long or short term for both the bully and the targeted person as well.
SHORT – TERM EFFECTS For the targeted person
• Psychosomatic exhaustion
• Blows, bruises, wrists, scratches, etc.
• Combining negative emotions about what they are experiencing:
• Shame: thoughts that your classmates and the rest of the world have consider them cowardly and weak
• Anger: because they cannot react
• Guilt: negative thoughts of blaming them- selves for the violence they have they exist (e.i. «They call me pig ... Since I›m obese .. I don›t stop eating .. so I›m a pig .. «)
• Fear: fear that your classmates will be ridiculed, fear that they will «disappoint»
their parents.
• They tend to become more introverted, iso- lated, lonely people - (social) anxiety, insecu- rity, feeling helpless
• Reduction of self-esteem, self-pity, emotion- al withdrawal, dysfunction, reduction of so- cial skills
• Depression, low self-esteem and self-esteem
• Showing phobias (eg school phobia), avoid- ing places, school
• Denial, absences and stigmas, discourage- ment for joining colleges
• Occurrence of phobias (eg school phobia), avoidance of spaces where the victim may
meet the perpetrator, school denial, absen- teeism and beatings, discouragement for participation in collective activities
• Psychosomatic problems (sleep disorders, nightmares, headaches, discomfort, stom- ach aches, eating disorders etc.)
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Academic impact: decrease in academic performance, schooling failure, learning dif- ficulties, difficulty concentrating and atten- tion, lack of motivation to learn, drop out of school
• Develop aggressive behavior
• Domino effect (child- «victim» begins to in- timidate other children to relieve negative emotions and self-empowerment)
• Secondary victimization by classmates (dis- paraging) comments, mockery and more following the incident of violence and intim- idation)
• Conflicting emotions: anger and aggression behavior towards parents and teachers be- cause of negative emotions that lead chil- dren to not witness no victimization of them and avoid asking aid.
• Injuries, more rarely suicide («bullycide», which but it may be the culmination of many factors)
SHORT – TERM EFFECTS For the bully
• Nervousness, anxiety, symptoms of depression
• Absences and jail
• Increased chances of getting involved in other forms of antisocialism behavior (eg thefts, vandalism, etc.)
• Preparation of educational information material and program training courses
• Academic impact: reduced academic performance, schooling failure, learning difficulties, difficulty concentrating and attention, lack of motivation to learn, drop out of school
• Leaving school (voluntarily or at his / her address) school because of the child›s behavior)
• Trends from home
LONG – TERM EFFECTS
For the targeted person For the bully
• Effects on interpersonal relationships and mental health
• Low social skills, reduced adaptability
• Lack of trust in relationships
• Anxiety, low self-esteem, depression
• Involvement in abusive behavior, ‹cycle of abuse› (domestic or partner violence)
• Lack of motivation, creative and constructive thinking
• Difficulties in building interpersonal rela- tionships
• Anger management problems
• Aggressive, impulsive or violent adults
• Sloppy lifestyle
• Increased chances of being anti-social or criminal behavior as adults (eg theft)
• Problems with the police
1.4.1. Bibliography
– Robert Thornberg, The social dynamics of school bullying: The necessary dialogue between the blind men around the elephant and the possible meeting point, 2015.
– www.safeatschool.ca/plm/bullying-prevention/understanding-bullying/dynamics-of- bullying
– http://stop-bullying.sch.gr/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/odigos_diaxeirisis_peristatikwn.pdf
Many strategies can be adopted to cope with bullying and cyberbullying. In the first phase of the KITE project, the partners conducted interviews with teachers and students to investigate on the current bullying situation inside schools and to see what kind of strategies are adopted to tackle these phenomena. This paragraph goes through the most relevant outcomes emerged from these interviews.
However, the most significant result of the interviews is that everyone agreed that the key to cope with bullying is a correct communication, to be able to encourage a positive dialogue be- tween students and teachers, and parents. The next chapter will contain the tools proposed by the KITE project to improve the communication strategies.
Develop an effective school anti-bullying policy
Generally, these should be developed over time with students, parents, and staff members. In the context of the ABC – Anti-Bullying Certification EU project, some general guidelines for an effective antibullying policy in a school have been identified:
1. Group formation and norming ground rules: start the school year with setting prosocial rules and create safe groups by doing group cohesion activities;
2. Understanding how bullying works and how to act against it: explain to students and dis- cuss what bullying is and how group processes work and can be handled;
3. Broad commitment: involve gradually but systematically more staff, students and parents in the development and maintenance of safe school policy;
4. Support positive behaviour, avoid putdowns and punishment: complimenting, rewarding and no-blame methods are more effective than negative methods, like blaming bullies, a lot of attention for bullies and punishment;
5. Focus on school culture and prevention: a good school policy focuses on prevention creat- ing a positive school climate and not only on preventing negative behaviour or on handling incidents;
1.5 Suggested behaviour and
communication strategies
Organise anti-bullying days at school
Anti-bullying initiatives are implemented in all the European territory. For example, in Italy, there is an anti-bullying day named “giornata del nodo blu” (blue knot day) to raise awareness on bullying and cyber-bullying. But many of them think that it is not very useful, because it is only a formality and it has not any real effect. One of the students, actually, said that bullies take actively part on this celebration day, but it is all a charade. Eventually, this initiative could be considered as starting point to organise more useful activities and meetings, for example invit- ing victims or bullies to talk with them.
In Austria, the ViSK programme was implemented as part of a project of the Austrian Ministry of Education in cooperation with the University of Vienna, Faculty of Psychology (educational psychology and evaluation) and the Universities of Teacher Education.
Improve school support system
Reporting bullying episodes could not be easy for students. They might be afraid to denounce their peers in a face-to-face conversation with a teacher, or also because of a fear to spotted by the bullies which might make the situation even worse. This is why schools must improve their anti-bullying system. They must promote and support teachers’ formation to identify and deal with these uncomfortable situations. People who know about bullying must be en- couraged to report it. It could be used a “complaint box” to anonymously denounce the bully- ing episodes. Moreover, it could be useful for schools to appoint a responsible person to whom anyone can turn to.
Avoid labelling students
The labels ‹bully› and ‹victim› are unhelpful and can cause additional problems. It is more helpful to describe the role, rather than to label the child. A student who is bullied in one con- text may do the bullying in another, and a student who sees bullying in one context may be bullied in another.
Involve external support
Sometimes, especially in dealing with delicate situations, schools should involve external ex- perts (like psychologist), and to analyse with them what the consequences of bullying are. In the most severe cases, the police should be involved too.
Work on communication strategies
An effective and smart communication must be done in two dimensions: inside and outside the school.
COMMUNICATION INSIDE THE SCHOOL
People involved Strategies
SCHOOL STAFF AND STUDENTS
Students and teachers can organise classes to talk about bully- ing and equality, workshops and meetings. It would be helpful to create a space at school where it is possible to openly talk about bullying episodes, and involve parents. Teachers must work on emotions and to teach students how to understand and respect people, working on the concept of “Emotional Literacy”. Some- times students do not trust teachers, and they tend not to report bullying episodes. Schools should dedicate more time and space to debates and create “safe places” to share ideas and experienc- es. A Reporting Box can be another useful strategy to stop bully behaviours. The notes students leave must have names on them so the investigating staff member knows where to start.
It should be done something also to raise students’ altruism, to stand in favour of those who are abused, and strengthen stu- dents’ bounds, through group activities and workshops.
SCHOOL STAFF ITSELF
School staff must be trained with bully prevention information and action strategies: identifying, investigating, and taking ac- tion when dealing with bully behaviours. Especially, they must improve their communication skills, adopting effective and al- ternative methods, like the ones proposed by the KITE project:
storytelling, folk tales and symbolwork.
SCHOOL STAFF AND PARENTS
Parents must be included in the anti-bullying educational pro- cess and communication, because often there is a lack of trust in the school system. Parents need to feel comfortable and safe addressing bully behaviours with the school. In order to do so, school staff can use different tools, like newsletters and flyers, awareness-rising emails, it can show its commitment through web sites, blogs, video blogs, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc…), or organise parents meeting and surveys. Adopting an open-door policy is a good strategy.
COMMUNICATION OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL
People involved Strategies
SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
Society and school must work together to combat bully behav- iours. Community members can volunteer for events in school.
They can participate and see how the schoolworks to keep the learning environment safe, secure, and positive. Students can create videos, announcements, community presentations, and even go out to local businesses to spread the word about bul- ly prevention. Videos can powerful that explain what other stu- dents are going through when they are battling bully behaviours.
This synergy can lead to the elaboration of new strategies or ac- tion plan to combat bully behaviours, and to help spread bully- ing prevention.
PARENTS AND COMMUNITY
Parents communicating with community members could be a powerful way in combating bully behaviours. For example, par- ents can create videos about combating bullying. They can also go to strategic places (churches, stores,..) in the community to rise awareness.
INSIDE THE FAMILY:
PARENTS AND STUDENTS
Parents are potentially the first one to learn about bullying epi- sodes. It is crucial to increase the trust children have in them. At the same time, parents must be aware of methodologies to be able to efficiently listen and advise.
1.5.1 How to deal with Cyberbullying: do and don’t for students
Respond to bullying messages.
Promote messages or pictures that could hurt someone’s feelings, it then immediately we become part of the bullying.
Block the access of the sender who har- ass us, so he/she will not be able to send us anything.
Hold and store messages and conver- sation as proof of the sender’s actions (this will be useful to us if we need it or if we wish to denounce it).
Report the problems to our parents or other adults that we trust.
Refer to the helpline were specialized doctors and psychologists with exten- sive experience in problematic behav- iours on the Internet can provide advice and support.
We do We don’t
1.5.2. Bibliography
- ABC – Anti-Bullying Certification 3rd Newsletter, www.gale.info - www.education.vic.gov.au
During a field research, each partner of the project collected a case study of bullying, analysing the dynamic and the strategies adopted to deal with the episode.
In this paragraph, we will present one case study per country, which we consider particularly important. The selected cases are very different and should make transparent that the topic of bullying is also very multifaceted and diverse.
We hope that by presenting real cases, the topic will become more vulnerable and understandable. Of course, the names of the interviewees have been changed, because for data protection reasons we only work with pseudonyms.
In the respective field research of all partners you will find a larger selection of cases and more detailed information.
1.6 Case Studies from field research
Case study 1:
“Karina & Oliver” - avoid assigning roles
Concrete description of the situation:
Karina works as a pedagogue at a secondary school in Vienna. In our conver- sation she told us about a bullying incident which is very complex and makes clear that a hasty role assignment in a bullying process is not helpful. She reported about a boy, Oliver (12 years old), who is currently in the third grade.
Karina knows that Oliver had a difficult start. He was intellectually very mature for his 10 years at the transition to secondary school, had only top marks and was “unpopular”, because of his physical appearance (small for his age, long hair, and androgynous facial features). Three boys in his class - according to Karina’s assumption - could not “classify” Oliver and started to make life dif- ficult for him: he was pushed over the stairs, called “nerd”, “gay” and “victim”
and laughed at every opportunity. The parents rightly turned to the school immediately and asked for clarification.
The headmaster invited the head of the class, two pedagogues and Karina to discuss the case. Those pedagogues who experienced Oliver mainly in class tended to assign him a victim role. Karina and another pedagogue, who also looked after him during the free periods, mentioned “the other role” of Oliver:
As soon as he didn’t feel observed by the pedagogues, he let his - rightly pent- up aggressions - run free. He then indiscriminately attacked fellow students by pushing, pinching, yelling at them or tearing them to the ground. Back in class, he was again in the role of the “model student” and in this role, he rarely missed an opportunity to intellectually expose his “attackers”.
The pedagogue team gave themselves a few days before the parents were invited for a talk. They tried to explain to the parents both roles their son was in as objectively as possible. The parents initially reacted very upset with the argument that they had chosen our school to avoid exactly such situations.
As the conversation progressed, the mother became calmer and calmer and then said that she now understood the situation, because Oliver behaved the same way at home towards his younger sister.
Coping strategy:
– The school management took time to look at the case from different perspectives. The pedagogues working in afternoon care were able to see that the boy had two roles: superficially, that of the classic “victim of bullying” in the regular school hours and that of the “aggressor” in the supervised free periods. Karina and the team of pedagogues at the school have been dealing with this topic for many years and know that attributions of any kind are not helpful. Karina is much more concerned with keeping an eye on the mood in the whole class and is always ready to listen. Because, as she says: “Often students who only take on an ob- server role suffer because they are overwhelmed by the bullying situ- ation, become increasingly calm and withdraw. Then I become active and look for the conversation with them. It is important to realize that in a bullying process the whole class community is involved.”
– In a first conversation with the school management, the parents react- ed very upset, but then realized that the boy also uses a similar strategy at home - especially towards his younger sister. There is now a lot of talk about it in the family and the parents try to take the pressure to perform off him. This seems to work well - Karina says with a wink - be- cause Oliver’s grades have gotten worse, but he is more balanced and relaxed.
Case study 2:
“Androniki” – the role of parents
Concrete description of the situation:
There was a girl who from the first sight one could tell she was quiet intro- vert, Androniki. All her classmates are leaving her behind, they do not ask her to play with them neither to participate in any activities with them. The rest of the class says that Androniki does not look as attractive as the other girls of the class and call her any kind of offensive names about her appearance.
Although Androniki seems not to like the situation deep down she enjoys it since she is the centre of attention.
In fact, she was causing the whole situation so to be on the spotlight. She was convinced that everyone was teasing her because she was something differ- ent. Her vocabulary was quiet upgraded than the one of most kids, she was acting like a woman and was quiet elitist on how she will hung with or talk to.
Her parents were willing to deal with the situation and understand what is wrong with their kid as well as where they did mistake in her upbringing. They were also positive to change many things. The father was out of town most of the year though- due to work travels- and mum was overanalysing everything.
After a birthday party where some of the children were bulling Androniki, a mother who attended the party decided to act without talking to anybody, so she wrote an email and send it to all parents, the teacher of the class and the director of the school which was written in an inappropriate language for the children that were bullying Androniki. She was also mentioning that it is their parents’ fault the way they are behaving and should be punished immediate- ly. This email was received by all parents and 5 of them were backing her, the rest of the parents did not agree with the way she was acting.
The teacher decided to call all the parents and discuss the topic. Firstly, she wrote an email notifying everyone that proper language should be used among all the attendants so to solve the situation. The school as well as the principal were really worried about how this gathering would go.
The mother, who wrote the email, did not appear to the meeting and the 5 parents who aligned with her did not appear, and also the parents of Andron- iki did not show up and according to the teacher that we interviewed they rightly did not show up.
The parents who came in the meeting claimed that nothing was happening, and these actions are not to be called bullying. Instead, bullying is what the mother did by sending an email after the party accusing the students.
The parents of Androniki believed that the problem their child is facing must be dealt with the teacher, the principal and the psychologist.
The teacher filled the Observation Form that they use in the school given by the psychologist. On the form they have to report each case of bulling and describe what happen and what they did, what actions were taken, then is discussed with the school psychologist or external help.
School had “An Action Plan” of how to deal with such situations (which is shared with the parents since the beginning of the school year) but none of the protocols was followed in this case by the mother who wrote the email.
Finally, after many meetings between Andronikis parents, the teacher, the director and the school psychologist, the parents of Androniki followed psy- chological support. Androniki also attended individual psychological sessions outside the school so to improve her situation.
Finally, Androniki is hanging out with the girls, and is part of a girls’ team 100%
and much more involved in the school life.
Coping strategies:
– The School has “An Action Plan” to deal with such situations (which is shared with the parents since the beginning of the school year
– The teacher has an Observation Form
– The parents, who were supportive, accepted the situation and tried to solve the problem with any means.
– The teacher who decided to organize the gathering of all parents and convinced the school that the situation would be under control.
Support system involved (interventions & solutions):
– The parents: their immediate efforts to understand the situation was decisive for Androniki. They understood that they had played a signif- icant role in their child’s rearing and wanted to spot the source of the problem.
– The teacher: Acted and did not let all the involved parts to fix the cir- cumstances alone yet drastically acted to find a common line.
– The school psychologist
Case study 3
“Gina” – theatre as anti-bullying strategy
Concrete description of the situation:
“Gina” is an actor and a drama pedagogue. She has been working in schools formerly, but currently she is organizing thematic workshops with a partner for classes (usually the head teacher contacts their group and “orders” a work- shop, which then the class visits). She follows a participatory, interactive ap- proach: some elements of the “play” is acted by them (professional actors), while other parts of the story are acted out according to the kids’ suggestions.
There are also many parts where students can discuss the situation among themselves in small groups.
One of their most popular pieces is about bullying. At the beginning of the workshop, facilitated by the workshop leader, the group create the character of two teenagers of the same class. They use some props to help brainstorm- ing about the traits of the characters: one of them is a popular kid, while the
small groups where to recreate these scenes: they can decide who is playing which character. At this point the two actors play out a scene which shows how the “casual bullying” turns into repetitive hurtful behaviours over a longer time period. A discussion follows about this dynamic then the last, pivotal scene is coming: the class trip, where – based on the groups ideas – something happens to the kid who is bullied, who becomes suicidal as a result. The scene is stopped at the pivotal moment and kids can react the way they see fit. Usu- ally this is the point they first tell the “cool guy” to stop what he is doing. Then a discussion can come about the responsibility of the whole class. The piece ends with discovering how the relations changed after this incident.
Experiences
“Gina”’s experience is that when there is an existing problem in the class, it is really difficult for kids to open up, they don’t dare to share their ideas. Usually these walls can be overcame by playing, it helps to open up communication. A crucial element of drama pedagogy is the use of roles: the kids are not playing themselves, therefore they feel less vulnerable sharing their ideas, but at the same time they usually behave in a way that is typical of them. It also gives an opportunity for everyone to try out different roles: maybe a kid who is bullying other might try the role of the bullied or vice versa. This process helps building an empathetic atmosphere in a group.
The attitude of the teacher also tells a lot: sometimes s/he brings the class to the workshop, then disappears, instead of staying and observing. The work- shop leaders can discuss their observations with the head teacher during the workshop.
Kids often have a shift in attitude, where the main message is that the whole class, the mass is responsible also in empowering the “cool guy”. The sui- cide-attempt moment in the scene is often the point, where the bystanders become mobilized and realize their behaviour is also part of the problem. It is shocking to them, that the bullied kid would do such a thing, as they haven’t realized the severity of the situation up until that point.
A missing element in this practice is long-term feedback – usually classes come to the workshop, but “Gina” doesn’t know if the shift in attitude is long- term or not.
Case study 4:
“Roberta” – way out of exclusion
Concrete description of the situation:
The case study we will present is a case of bullying as group behavior, specifi- cally a group of girls of the first year of secondary school bullying one of their classmate, that we will name “Roberta”.
The targeted girl was very shy and introvert, but eager to be accepted by her peers. In her class, 4 of her classmates formed a group, which named itself
“The best”. In order to please them and be accepted, Roberta satisfied all their requests: to dress in a certain way, avoid talking to some classmates, give them as “gift” some of her personal objects that she cared about. The girls only pre- tended to include her and some days they even invite her to go out, to play this game of acceptance. In reality, the group was excluding her. They secretly organized meetings and they made fun of her in closed social media groups.
Roberta’s mother was alerted by other parents who read the conversations in the groups and that had heard about this situation from their children.
Roberta also changed her behavior at home, starting to have eating disorders and mood changes, frequent crying, nervousness and depression. Roberta’s mother decided then to talk to her to be sure about what was going on. After Roberta confirmed the truth, she decided to talk with the responsible teacher.
Coping strategy:
The responsible teacher decided to adopt a multi-level approach to deal with the situation, involving the parents first, then the class and the school psy- chologist.
– The teacher called the girls’ parents to discuss together about the sit- uation. Families, after an initial surprised reaction, have been willing to talk to their girls and try to adjust their behavior.
– The teacher also decided to invest more time to talk about bullying inside the class, avoiding talking about the specific episode, not to ex- acerbate the situation. She organized debates and projected a movie.
– The teacher privately talked also with the girls of the group, stressing the dramatic consequences of their bullying behavior on her classmate.
– Finally, the teacher involved the school psychologist who organized in- dividual sessions for the involved students and group sessions with the entire class.
2.1 Storytelling
2. Collection of tools
Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.
Robert McKee
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Learning through storytelling refers to a process in which learning is structured around a narra- tive or story as a means of ‘sense making’. It involves the use of personal or impersonal story and anecdotes to engage learners and share knowledge.
Storytelling is a useful tool to helps youngsters to share experience, explain events and phenom- ena, while stimulating their communication skills and emotions. Moreover, this methodology helps them to reflect, organize and memorize information about their own life story including some details about their past, their cultural heritage and social-cultural background in order to give continuity and be aware of that.
Storytelling involves community peer-to-peer building through the collectivisation of personal experiences and personalisation of collective experience, in order to raise awareness about a sensitive topic, like gender-based issues, migration etc. The purpose is to construct the personal
identity through emotions and networks of meanings, while focusing on mutual understanding and be reflected into the others’ experiences.
Storytelling has some key elements:
– The stories are generally written in the first person, but in some cases, there is a facilita- tor who presents a story.
– The storytelling process involves exploring and collecting “data”, making a story through establishing logical connection, in order to develop the flow, the narration itself;
– The setting or the way the story is presented, and the material used (videos, images, text, narration) influence a lot the way the listener is struck by our history.
The storytelling must take into account:
a) The context: situation, space and place where the narrative is taking part;
b) The course: the plot and the events, the content expressed through various language and media elements.
There are different styles of storytelling. A story should be presented in a way that emphasiz- es the «what» of the story but also the «how» of the telling by the storyteller. It is important to create a relaxed, informal atmosphere (e.g. participants sitting in a circle, semicircle; indoor or outdoor) in order to facilitate the communication.
When elaborating a story, there are many elements to focus on:
1. Relevance: it is important to keep in mind what’s interesting to the listeners;
2. Structure of the story: “Once upon a time…”. The story must have a plot, characters, con- flict, an introduction, middle, and an ending.
3. Passion: what is the reason why you have to tell this story, what’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of?
4. Being yourself: what personal experience that is linked to the story can you share with your listeners?
If the storytelling acts as facilitator for a group of students, some general guidelines should be taken into account:
– The facilitator has to speak slowly and clearly, modulate the tone of the voice and try to arouse emotions.
– It is important to give the participants time to think, ask questions, look at the pictures, make comments. In addition, the facilitator should inspire confidence and trust among the participants in order to help the self-reflection and the oral expression of their experience.
– At the end of the sessions, participants have to show their learning outcomes; they can demonstrate comprehension by asking some questions to the facilitator as well. However, it is better to leave more time for the inner reflection of participants and not stress them.
Storytelling is the oldest form of education and it evolved overtime, although it kept the same key features. Nowadays, technologies are strongly present in everyone’s daily life. They have changed our way of relating to the others, the way we present ourselves and how we do it.
Through the use of the smartphones, we stay connected almost 24 hours per day, and every second we are exposed to new contents, and we constantly see and listen to new stories.
Social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook, made our lives public for everyone. Of course, we decided what to show and how to do it. It is here that storytelling became digital and more interactive. In fact, digital storytelling is now the most used means for young peo- ple to communicate their experiences. In particular, it is through short form of digital media production, for example in platforms like TikTok or Instagram, that youngsters share particular aspects of their lives, using creativity and originality. “Media” may include full-motion videos with photos, sound, animation, stills, audio, etc.
The use of multimedia in digital storytelling encourages participants to communicate meaning on multiple levels. And this how the new generations communicate, and in order to create an effective channel of communication with them is key to learn how it works.
In conclusion, through stories and narration, we have the possibility to manage our choices and give meanings to our experiences. According to the Italian researcher Federico Batini,
Everyone can build him/herself as history, since each of us is the product of the stories he/she tells about him/herself, and how the others perceive us and tell stories about us. It’s a process of daily narration so to construct our identity and reflect on how others see us.
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INTRODUCTION
Difficulty level Age target
group 12-18 years old Duration 120 minutes Themes
covered Personal story Type of
activity
- Individual activity - Indoor activity
Source www.tellyourstorymap.eu
MAPPING THE JOURNEY OF LIFE
DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY/TECHNIQUE
Overview
The participant will be able to reflect on their life journey and as- pirations for the future. Also, she/he will be able to represent their life moments through the artistic expression.
Objectives
- To promote deeper self-awareness and self-reflection of participants.
- To increase the knowledge of experiences that informs different perspectives.
- To create visual personal story lines.
Materials Paper, pencils, colours
INSTRUCTIONS
Introduction
Give each participant large sheet of paper and ask them to draw a winding pathway.
At the middle of the path ask them to draw a circle. To the left of the pathway, ask them to write “road already travelled” and to the right – “the path yet to come”.
Step 1 “Looking back” (30 min)
1. Ask participants to reflect and include elements of where they come from: plac- es, culture, language, and/or spirituality.
2. Ask them to reflect on their companions throughout this journey: friends, fami- lies but also spiritual leaders, pets.
3. Ask them to draw or list some of the favorite places along the road they have been on this journey so far.
4. Ask them to identify two milestones of their journey. Ask them what key things they have already accomplished and represent it on their pathway.
5. Ask them to draw a mountain and a river to symbolize two obstacles they have already overcome. How they overcame it?
6. Ask them to draw the survival kit at the top of the page. Within it they have to write down what helped them during difficult times. These could be not only people but also values.
Step 2 “Looking forward” (30 min)
1. Ask participants to write their hopes and wishes toward the end of the path.
These might be for themselves, their family members, friends etc..
2. Ask them to identify some places they wish to see on the rest of their journeys and ask them to mark it on the pathway.
3. Ask them to look at the milestones they have already achieved and then ask them to mark three future milestones.
4. Ask participants to draw a mountain to symbolize one obstacle that they can face in the future. How they overcome it?
5. Ask the participants to mark the songs that they will be taking with them in their future life journey. Ask them to reflect on why those particular songs, what do they mean to them and sign it along their path.
Step 3: “Looking Down at Your Journey” (30 min)
1. Give participants some time to reflect on their Journey.
2. Ask them what are some good memories that they will take with them to the future and let them draw these as stars along their Journey.
3. Ask them to give names to their paths to symbolize what this Journey of Life means to them.
4. Ask them to look back over everything they have spoken about. What is the les- son they learnt during their life journey? Would they like to share it with others?
Step 4: “Sharing the journey” (30 min)
1. When all “Journeys of Life” are finished give time to participants to walk around and look at the stories of other participants.
2. Gather participants in the circle and ask for volunteer to share hers/his story.
3. Finish the activity with the reflection on how participants felt, what were the most difficult aspects to identify, if they have discovered something new or for- gotten some key elements.
4. Ask to the group: What was it like for you to tell your story to this group? What was it for you to hear all of these stories? What insights have you gained about yourself and your group friends?
HOW THIS TOOL CAN BE USEFUL IN THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT?
This intervention could be useful to allow student to know each other better and im- prove their self-awareness. It could be the starting point of an intervention , because personal issues and conflict could emerge.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY/TECHNIQUE
Overview Students learn how to create a story using digital tools, collaborating with their peers.
Objectives - Improve critical thinking and decision-making skills - Promote and improve team work
Materials
– Paper, pens
– Knovio – www.knovio.com
– Office Mix for Microsoft PowerPoint – www.mix.office.com – Voice recorder (voice recorder in Windows or external
recording software like Audacity, phone recorder like Voice Memos or Audio Recorder)
– A video and Audio editor app (i.e. iMovie, Shotcut, Audacity, Windows Movie Maker, Vimeo)
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Brainstorming in groups (story circle)
A story circle is an opportunity to gather in circle and share experiences or stories related to some themes (special family moments, special objects in my life, special people I have met, adventures and accomplishments, special places in my life, celebration in my life).
INTRODUCTION
Difficulty level Age target
group 12 – 18 years old Duration Undefined Themes
covered Use of technology Type of
activity
- Group activity - Indoor activity
Source www.mysty.eu
MYSTY – DIGITAL STORYTELLING
Step 2: Finding your story
Look at your ideas and find two or three possible stories that you might use in this project. Take two or three index cards or fold an A4 paper into A5 and write down your stories as if you were telling them to a friend. Write quickly, without too much filtering.
Step 3: Choosing the best story
Now you have two or three possible stories. To see which one you are going to use, answer to the questions below:
– What do you think the story means? What is it really about?
– What is the most important moment in the story? What is this moment about?
What is this moment about? Did anything change? Did you learn or realize any- thing new? Try to describe the moment in more detail.
– What emotions are connected to this story?
Step 4: Write your story
Now it’s time to write your story down. Imagine you are telling the story to a friend.
Use a fairly informal style that sounds like oral storytelling. Use simple, short sen- tences. Your story should not be longer than 1 A4 page. Keep your audience engaged.
How are you going to grab their attention? It is a good idea to start with a great opening line. Something dramatic, funny, interesting or emotionally attention grab- bing. Helpful tips:
– We recommend a spoken story length of between one and three minutes.
– Remember stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. But a really good story does not necessarily follow a chronological order. You might start in the middle and throw your audience in at the deep end and then unfold the story from there.
Try this. Find a crucial moment in your story and try to start from there in your second draft.
– Relating your story to one or more themes can help you choose what story details should go in your story and what you can leave out.
– Re-read your first draft and show it to a friend. Have you managed to get your emotions across? Are you focusing on the right things? Is anything unclear or confusing?
– Ask a friend or family member to listen or read your script. They might spot errors that you might not have seen. (Even professional script writers and journalists need proof readers, so don’t worry!)
Step 5: Selecting images
Be sure that you have the consent to publish and share personal pictures. Always ask for permission to use the photos of others!
Step 6: Producing your story
In order to produce a convincing story, you’ll need to structure your presentation.
Your story will consist of the following elements:
– one or more pictures (if you are using a single picture you can pan and zoom in on various details during your narration)
– your voice-over
– possibly some music that enhances the meaning and emotions of the story Storyboarding: Use an A3 sheet and draw a storyboard like the following example or do this on the computer. Paste in your text and decide what images and effects you are going to use. Photocopy your images so you can move them around in the story- board. If you feel that some background music might enhance your story, choose a fitting piece. Images and music must be royalty-free!
Step 7: Recording and editing your story
It is now time to produce your story. You can use a variety of applications to record your voice and then put together your voice-over, pictures, and anything else you might need into a digital story video clip. Our advice is: Keep it simple! Try out a sim- ple recording set-up and simple editing software, maybe that’s all you need to pro- duce your story. The more features an application has, the more complicated and error-prone your production becomes. But, of course, if you know what you’re doing, go for it! Tips for recording your voice-over: When recording your script, choose a qui- et place where you or the person who is telling the story can relax. The microphone should not be too close and not too far away. While recording, speak slowly, don’t hurry. You can record your voice-over on a mobile phone; its microphone should be good enough for this task. If the school has good microphones, you can also use those for recording. Most importantly, you listen to your recording and check for volume level (too high, too low), background noises and other interferences. Your recording does not have to be perfect, just make sure the story and the emotions get across!
If you make a mistake, don’t worry. Stop where you are and re-read that paragraph.
We can edit the audio later and cut out any mistakes. You may wish to make some changes, which is absolutely fine. Discuss this with your teacher in advance so they are fully prepared before the recording! Tips for creating your digital story: There are many applications that you can use to put together your digital story. Knovio (https://
www.knovio.com/) and Office Mix (https://mix.office.com/) allow you to upload a pres- entation file and record audio directly for each slide. You can re-record the audio for individual slides too. Audacity (http://www.audacityteam.org/) is a free and easy to use piece of software for recording and editing your voice-over. Macs have a good vid- eo editing application called iMovie. Finding free and easy to use video editing soft- ware for Windows computers is a bit trickier. It is best to stick to simple and easy to use solutions such as Knovio and Office Mix. If more advanced video editing software for Windows is needed to tell the story properly, one suitable application might be Windows Movie Maker—but it is not being updated anymore. Shotcut (https://www.
shotcut.org/) is another free video editing software, but some students had mixed feelings about using it in the past.
Step 8: Publishing your story
Before publishing your story, have a look at it and make sure everything is the way it is supposed to be. You need to export the story in a video format (MP4, MOV, WMV, MKV, …). This is NOT the same thing as the video project file. Or you share the video online (privately) and you have a link to the video. Then show it to the teach- er, friends, family members and others and ask for feedback. At this point you can still make changes to your story, but once it is fully published and out in the open, making changes will be a bit harder to do! Before publishing, make sure that you have all the permissions to use pictures, music, sound effects, etc. – preferably in written form!
HOW THIS TOOL CAN BE USEFUL IN THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT?
Students can learn more about digital storytelling and acquire the skills to create their own story, which could be used to denounce bullying behaviours at school, and to promote positive communication.
INTRODUCTION
Difficulty level Age target
group 8+
Duration 1h
Themes
covered Imagination and creativity Type of
activity Group activity
Source www.storycubes.com/en
DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY/TECHNIQUE
Overview
Story Cubes is a where each player becomes the Narrator.
Throw the dice, and create a story starting with “Once upon a time…” using the nine symbols on the faces of the dice. Then, follow your imagination!
To create your story, you can use three dice for the setup, three for the story development, and three for the conclusion.
Objectives Stimulate the creativity of the participants Materials Story cubes
Tips
– If you’re short on ideas, think of your favourite film, book, or TV show. What could happen to your favourite characters in another time or place?
– You’re free to interpret the symbols
– They can represent different things for everyone, and the first idea you have is often the right one.
STORY CUBES
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1
Throw the dice
Step 2: create your story
Start your story with “Once upon a time..”
HOW THIS TOOL CAN BE USEFUL IN THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT?
Story cubes promote positive communication between students, and it is an easy and funny way to improve storytelling skills.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY/TECHNIQUE
Overview Puppetry art is used as an art form in education and therapy (i.e.
the long-standing experience of Teatr Grodzki).
Objectives
Even though puppet theatre is usually perceived as something childish, it can serve as a very efficient and attractive way of teach- ing adult students how to discover their aptitudes and abilities needed for a true social adaptation.
Preparation
It could be interesting and stimulating to read the original project idea http://ccproject.art/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Create-a- Puppet-Create-Yourself-Methodological-Guidelines.pdf Materials
A roll of brown paper and a single sheet crumpled up, a few pairs of scissors, a few spools of string (different colours), some old newspa- pers, coloured crepe paper.
INTRODUCTION
Difficulty level Age target
group 14+
Duration 4h
Themes
covered Personal story Type of
activity Group activity Source www.ccproject.art