School harassment or bullying is an issue that concerns parents and teachers around the world and it is clear that it must be addressed, as it has led to suicide cases and could affect physical, mental and emotional health.
According to information posted on the website GuiaInfantil.com, an American teacher who is aware of the unfortunate effects of bullying, devised an effective method that prevents harassment and helps teachers to catch it on time.
The teache simply asked two questions to her students every Friday before going home: “Which 4 children do you want to sit with next week?” And “who had the best behavior this week?”
With the information, she developed flowcharts or “X-rays” of the relations among her students, enabling her to detect which ones are the group leaders, and which ones are excluded. The latter usually become the victims of bullying.
As a way of preventing bullying, the teacher started activities to “balance” the relationships between the groups, such as organizing weekly meetings in the class for the students to indicate if there is any problem to solve. She also developed more outdoor activities and started to teach less popular children ways to join the groups and how to demonstrate their strengths.
The theory that this teacher is using is that if children feel integrated, it will be much harder for a bully to find a victim.