Summary: The group creates a “wordle” by hand to demonstrate how they think about bullying.
Target Grades: 6th grade and above
Minimum Length: 25 minutes
Materials:
- Masking tape
- Strips of colorful construction paper
- Pieces of paper
- Pencils
Connection to bullying: Brainstorming about words associated with bullying helps demonstrate how similar/different peoples thoughts are, and this exercise provides an opportunity to examine the negative words as well as hopeful/positive words.
Instructions: Length: 15 minutes
Have each student start writing a list of words that come to mind when they hear the word bullying. Examples include hurtful, disrespectful, mean, etc. After a few minutes, have students start writing these words on the wall. You could have them combine the words together, such as like a crossword puzzle. Or, you can have students write over a word if they have the same word on their list – so that words on multiple lists will be bolder.
Instructions, Round 2: Length: 10 minutes
Create another wordle that reflects what a world without bullying would be like. Instead of brainstorming words like hurtful that describe the way bullying feels, brainstorm words like happy, peaceful, friends, etc. to describe how you would feel if bullying didn’t exist. Have students write their words on the wall as they did in the last round.
Discussion: Length: 5 minutes
Discussion questions:
- How are the bullying and anti-bullying Wordles different? Are they similar in any way?
- Which Wordle did you like better? How did you feel when you were doing each round?
- What is something you can do to help prevent bullying?
