SCHOOL TRAININGS
Student Assemblies
Students will learn to identify the exact reactions that are looked for by kids who target others. They will then learn step-by-step how to alter their body-language and respond in a specific way that takes away the payoff that kids who target others seek. Students will also be taught exactly what to do if the bullying is, or becomes physical.
Students who are 3rd grade and older will not just learn the above techniques, but they will also learn how “popular appearing” bullies isolate, control, and manipulate their peers. An example would be one girl isolating and excluding another girl from her group of friends. The students will learn during the assembly exactly what steps the girl (or boy) who is excluding takes, and then they will be taught step-by-step how to take that power back. It is almost like teaching them all of the excluding child's chess moves, and then showing the targeted kids and bystanders how to checkmate the situation and take the group back. This is all taught assuming the controlling girl (or boy) will continue to try to exclude the targeted girl (or boy) throughout the process. It benefits not only the targeted child, but also forces the excluding child to change his or her behavior in a positive way.
For a more in-depth explanation of what the kids will learn during the assemblies, please read the program description section located on the Home page of this site.
Assemblies are 60 minutes long for 1st and 2nd graders, 75-80 minutes long for 3rd - 5th graders, and 90 minutes long for 6th - 12th graders. The younger kid assemblies have places where the kids will stand and practice body-language techniques, and the older student assemblies have a stretch break built into the training. Mr. Bisenius will completely hold their attention the entire time, and the assembly time will fly by. As part of each training Jim will demonstrate his techniques live in front of the kids with a staff member or older student targeting him. It is an extremely powerful role-play that will really brings home the effectiveness of these techniques.
Staff Training
Teachers will learn how to intervene in bullying situations without making the situation worse for the targeted child. This involves specific techniques designed to protect the "cool" of the targeted child. They will also learn objective methods of identifying the two different types of kids who target, and the two different types of kids who are targeted using an Anonymous Peer Rating Tool. They will then be trained in how to use this information to re-map their classrooms and buses to drastically reduce bullying opportunities between students. Teachers will also learn what parenting styles tend to produce different types of bullying behavior.
In addition to this, teachers will be trained in specific techniques that will foster connections between targeted students in their classrooms and healthy, non-bullying peers. They will also be trained step-by-step how to help parents of both kids who target, as well as those being targeted, to assist their children in resolving the bullying problem rather than making it worse. Some social bullying and student clusters will also be discussed with specific methods of bringing kids on the social fringes into the social groups. Staff trainings are ideally 90 minutes long, but can be shortened if school schedules require. This training is completely different material, and will build on what staff will learn while attending the student assemblies.
Parent Workshop
The parent anti-bullying training will cover exactly how to teach a child to respond to verbal bullying, physical bullying, social bullying, and group manipulation. They will also learn what to do and what never to do if their child comes to them and reports that they are being targeted.
Parents will walk away with concrete tools that they can immediately implement and help their child master in order to eliminate bullying from his or her life. Participants will learn specifically how “popular” bullies isolate, control and manipulate their peers. Then they will learn exactly what steps they and their son or daughter must take to stop the dance. In addition, parents will be able to use all of these techniques in their own life to deal with controlling or intimidating adults. Also parents will be taught how to work with instead of against schools to help support and empower their child. The parent workshops are 90 minutes long.
3rd - 5th Grade Follow-up Training
A follow-up training that is available for students 3rd - 5th grade students involves teaching them to connect with and support peers. In this training students will learn more about group manipulations that bullying students use to control peers. They will also learn to include targeted kids in ways that will truly help the targeted student, and not be viewed as an act of pitty. In addition students will learn how to intervene when they witness bullying in "cool" ways that will not put them at risk of becoming the next target. This is an assembly that really addresses some of the root causes of bullying.
One of the best parts of this assembly is where students learn step-by-step how to connect with their peers. This method is extremely effective for shy targeted students, but also helps students who bully. The reason it helps the kids who bully, is because it shows them how to relate and connect with others in a healthy way instead of bullying. This follow-up training can be scheduled after booking the initial Bully-Proofing Youth assemblies, and it will build on the core assembly’s information. Follow-up assemblies are each 60 minutes long.
6th - 12th Grade Cyber-bullying and Relationship Abuse Follow-up Training
For middle school and high school students, a follow-up training is available that focuses in-depth on cyber-bullying and relationship abuse. This is as important as the first assemblies, because it not only teaches students many detailed tactics for handling cyber-bullying, but also all the subtle signs of how abusive behavior progresses, long before it becomes obvious to most people. Jim covers this topic as entertainingly as possible, but it is very moving and empowering to all that hear it. It helps students look at their relationships objectively, and makes it very hard for them to ignore or rationalize symptoms that will progress just as Mr. Bisenius teaches. These techniques are very similar to what Jim would teach therapy clients that were dealing with abuse or domestic violence.
Staff Follow-Up Training
This training focuses on teaching administrators and teachers how to de-escalate students, and/or parents who try to bully them. Dealing with the stress of an aggressive child or parent can be one of the most frustrating aspects of a teacher or administrator’s job, and this training specifically addresses those situations. This training is a favorite of teachers and administrators and is 60-90 minutes long, depending on school schedule.