Teach the students an anti-bullying mantra to help them deal effectively with mistreatment by bullies. An example of an anti-bullying mantra is, “Talk, walk, and tell the teacher.” The first move is to talk to the bully about his bad behavior. If talking does not work, walk away from the bully. If the bully still does not leave you alone, go tell the teacher about his bad behavior.
If a bully is continually disrupting and mistreating students, he may need to be removed from the classroom or even the school. This is a decision to be made by the school administration, but parents and teachers can make a recommendation to remove the bully.
Parents and other concerned adults can volunteer at the school to monitor student behavior and watch the interactions between the students. If a volunteer spots bullying, she can report it to the school administration. Volunteering to help in the lunch room or in the classroom allows parents to see what is going on in the classroom with regard to bullying.
The victim of bullying can deliver a one-liner to the bully to put responsibility on him for starting the confrontation. For example, the victim can say, “I'm sorry you are having a bad day today.” This makes it clear to the bully that he is the one with the problem.
Encourage kids to set up appropriate boundaries with their peers to avoid bullying. Teach them to communicate respectfully with others, rather than feeding into the bully's behaviors by playing a back-and-forth game of disrespect and insults.
Set up an atmosphere that encourages victims of bullying to talk about their issues with respectful and empathetic adults. These adults can be teachers, counselors and other members of the school's staff.
Talk about bullying in the classroom, allowing for lively discussion between students. Ask the students to report any form of bullying they witness to the teacher so that the bully can be dealt with immediately.
Set up an official anti-bullying policy for the classroom to inform potential bullies about the consequences for their actions. Publicize the classroom policy to the entire classroom so that everybody knows the rules.
Confront the bully's parents about his behavior and let them know about the school's anti-bullying policy. Informed parents may be helpful in addressing the roots of their child's bad behavior.
A great way to break down social boundaries in school is to have an official “Mixing It Up At Lunch Day,” in which everybody is expected to eat lunch with new people who are outside their regular circle of friends. Tolerance.org sponsored the Mix It Up At Lunch Day to promote this idea across the nation.