Before students can start to look at bullying in a more abstract fashion, they have to understand the basic facts about what bullying is. Bullying is not limited to physical intimidation and other extreme acts. Rather, according to the U.S. Office of Juvenile Delinquency, it consists of "repeated negative acts commited by one or more children against another." An informational lesson plan on bullying should have a series of lectures on what constitutes bullying, followed by a test or quiz that asks students to define bullying and identify examples of it in case studies. Examples of negative acts that you would mention and discuss include teasing, stealing lunch money and physically attacking other students.
Because bullying has such tragic consequences, it is important for teachers to spend a lot of time educating students about bullying prevention. Bullying prevention lessons plans should draw heavily on case studies that illustrate the kinds of consequences bullying can have. For example, if you are teaching teenagers, you can create a lesson plan in which you read the students a story dealing with a child who committed suicide after being bullied. If you're teaching elementary students, use a less graphic story, such as one dealing with a student who has to transfer schools because of bullying. After reading the story to the students, ask them to write a brief statement reflecting on how they would feel if their actions led to one of their peers harming themselves or leaving school.
Role playing lesson plans involve getting students to act out a bullying scenario as a short play. This lesson plan involves a role playing scenario followed by a period of reflection. To execute a role playing lesson plan, write a brief scenario description dealing with bullying and assign each student a role from the scenario. Let them use their own imaginations to act out the skit. Once the students have performed the role play, you can then spend 10 to 20 minutes discussing the moral with them in class.
One of the best ways to prevent bullying is to have students think up their own ways to combat it. You and the students can discuss the most common forms of bullying at your school and how to prevent them. When you execute this lesson plan, you should have a black or white board and chalk stick or marker, so you can write down ideas as the students suggest them. At the end of the lesson, present your students with three or four hypothetical bullying scenarios and have a class discussion where you talk about which methods of bullying prevention are likely to work best in which situations.