1. The “3Rs” is a long poem (pages 17-18 in their workbooks). After reading this poem to the students, divide students into groups of four, with each person having a number between 1-4. When you call out the number “one”, all of the students with that number will (together) read the 1^st stanza. The goal is to read that stanza with as much emotion, tonality, etc. as possible.  It is not about reading it loudly, but with expression. Then call out the number “two”, etc.

2. Discuss with students each word or phrase that is in bold within the poem, to be certain they have a clear understanding.

3. Conduct a class discussion, asking the students to answer the following questions based on what is stated in the poem:

What does each of the 3Rs stand for?

What does each of the 3Rs mean as they relate to bullying?

What is the importance of knowing and applying the 3Rs?

Is this critical in the elimination and prevention of bullying? Why or why not?

ACTIVITY

Teach and guide students through the following lesson (much of it is also in their workbooks, page18):

RELAX is the first of the “3Rs”.  Have students do the following several times while concentrating on complete relaxation:

Teachers, go to page 18 of the Student Workbook and take the students through the activity that follows the poem.

THE FOLLOWING MUST BE PLANNED AHEAD OF TIME:

Plan a few unexpected “surprises”, which are to be followed by immediate student and teacher relaxation. Tell the students that in the “near future” they will see or hear something unexpected.  Their immediate reaction is to relax.  These surprises will happen without warning, unexpectantly, and during a time when the class is quietly working on something else.  Feel free to come up with your own “surprises”.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Select someone in the room who will suddenly, loudly, and repeatedly blow a whistle.

• Have 2 students act out a scenario very loudly, harmlessly displaying anger and aggression.

Remember, the goal is to learn to IMMEDIATELY relax.  After each “surprise” has occurred, discuss with the class their response:

• How soon did they think about “relaxing”; and how soon did they “hit the light” switch in their mind?

• Did they relax or not?  How soon?

Explain to students that these situations require that you must immediately relax when you are confronted with a bullying situation. (“Hit the light switch” QUICKLY in your MIND!)

Why relaxation is important:

• So your muscles don’t become tense, and your mind remains clear
  
  
• Proper relaxation helps you to take control of a bullying situation, instead of the bully taking control of you!

Show the “How to Relax” video, and then take the students through the following drill:

• Cross your arms in an X position at your wrist, about waist level.  At the same time begin inhaling through your nose (suck the air in).
  
  
• While your arms remain crossed at the wrist, begin lifting your arms until they are above your head in front of you.
   
• Total inhalation is now taking place.  This is very similar to holding your breath when swimming underwater – don’t worry, this is very temporary.
  
  
• Now begin to disconnect your arms at the wrist, while your arms then begin to move outward and downward in a circular motion. Immediately begin to exhale (blow the air out through your mouth) as your arms are moving away from your body and downward.
  
  
• Your arms will reconnect again as before at the waist level.  Repeat the process 3-5 times. Inhale as your connected arms move upward, exhale as your disconnected arms move downward.
  
  
• This drill is an excellent one to do when exercising vigorously, and you find yourself winded (out of breath).  This drill will more quickly replace the oxygen in the thoracic region (the area just below your neck down to the bottom of your ribcage) of your chest that has been expended from vigorously exercising.

State to students: In an actual bullying encounter, there is no time to, nor would it be feasible to do the drill above.  However, practicing this drill regularly can help you be mindful of how to relax when it is really important!

What students MUST do is the following:

With a bully in your face, relax, simply and quietly inhale (sucking the air in) and exhale (blowing the air out), with no locking of the wrist or arm movement.  We see professional athletes in various sports events doing this routinely to relax in a tense game situation.  (As seen in the video demonstration) 

Practice relaxing with students several times.

The Relaxation process serves 3 purposes:

• Relaxes the body, including the mind!
  
  
• More quickly replenishes expended oxygen!
   
• Instills confidence in moving toward the next action you are about to take to eliminate or help prevent an uncomfortable bullying encounter!

REACT is the 2nd of the 3Rs 

Guide the students through the following lesson:

The way you React when you are confronted by a bully refers to how you will allow yourself to feel.  Will you allow yourself to feel angry, sad, afraid? 

As fast as the light switch went on and off is how fast you must first Relax, and then make a decision about how you will allow yourself to feel!

• You MUST make this decision quickly!
• You MUST take control over how you’re going to allow yourself to feel.

DO NOT ALLOW the bully to control your feelings. Some feelings you may experience are:

• Being Afraid
• Feeling Excited
• Being Very aware
• Being unaware and unsure of what to do next
• Not being in emotional control (uncontrollable anger or uncontrollable fear)

Discuss with students:

Pose the following question to students and have them write responses in their workbook, followed by a class discussion:

1. Which one(s) do you think you would feel? (Write answers on Page 20.)

2. What are the reactions that would be best in a bullying situation?

Review the following with the students, ensuring they have a complete understanding of what they need to do when first confronted with a bully situation.

• Hit the light switch in your mind. consciously “wake your mind up” to what is going on!

Utilize each of the 3Rs (we’ve learned about two of them):

• RELAX (Calm Down and regain your composure)
• REACT (Determine how you are going to let yourself feel)

RESPOND is the 3rd element of the 3Rs. This means what your face and body will actually do (how you will respond) when you are confronted with a bullying situation.

Your response MUST BE:

• Immediate
• Controlled
• Focused
• Confident

Discuss with students what each of the above would mean and why they are important when in a bullying encounter.

Discuss with the class the following examples of effectively responding:

1. RESPOND BY Walking Away from the bully as quickly as feasibly possible.  The bully may follow you, so DO NOT immediately turn your back to the bully.  This is because you will lose eye contact and will not know what the bully is about to do.

 Exposing your back to a bully makes you subject to physical harm that you will not see coming. Show students the video demonstration to learn how to safely walk away from a bully.

Plan a time when you can show the video, and soon after, take the class outside to practice what they learned on the video about Emergency Running Skills.

2. Another possible reaction is to Run Away from the bully buy only using “Emergency Running Skills”. The successful application of the following “Emergency Running Skills” training requires that the students:

With the teacher’s guidance, students are to go outside to practice the skills taught in the video

It will be important to plan a time when the students can practice together (outside) the skills taught in the video.  Please provide direct supervision and feedback, so the skills taught in the video are understood thoroughly and practiced accurately.  Allow students to give feedback so that each one can improve.  This should be practiced periodically (i.e. once each month) in the same manner to maintain skills.

Let the students know that if they have not been trained in, or feel confident in Emergency Running Skills, the only appropriate time they should run is if they are confident they can run fast enough to not be caught if the bully chases them!

3. A third Reaction when confronted by a bully: Talk your way out of the bully situation (students must have the confidence and verbiage to do so) by USING EFFECTIVE WORDS, PHRASES, & STANZAS learned in the BBGP Comprehensive Training Poetry. Frequent and intentional usage of My Favorites pages is extremely important for students to use for their benefit! 

THIS WOULD BE A GOOD TIME to encourage students to use the “My Favorites” pages provided at the end of their workbook to continuously list, practice speaking, and memorize words and stanzas from the BBGP poetry to use against a bully.  This will help them have “something to say” back to the bully and do so with confidence!!!

DISCUSS:

Talking your way out of a bullying encounter with confidence must be done skillfully, for example:

• Look the bully straight in the eyes while talking! 

Why is this necessary? Have students write their responses in their workbooks (page 20) and critically discuss them as a class. 

Fully explain to students the importance of “eye to eye” contact with a bully:

• Looking someone straight in the eyes for even a few seconds is not easy, but shows Confidence, especially in a stressful situation with a bully.
   
• Bullies are not as likely to hassle someone who demonstrates Confidence in this manner.
   
• Remember:  One of the bully’s main objectives is to strip their victims of any Confidence they may have.

Activity

On page 21 of the Student Workbook students are instructed to return to the 3Rs poem and role play their favorite stanza with a partner. Once practiced, they are to present it to the class. Note: If a team is practicing a stanza which has already been performed, they must choose and practice a different stanza.