Zap Bullies - Return the Challenge!

Written by Paula McCoach, Middle School Counselor


The Most Basic Technique for Dealing with Bullies - Returnrepparttar Challenge! By Paula McCoach http://www.bullyzapper.com

Askingrepparttar 109183 bully to 'Leave you alone, stop, etc.' is what I believe to berepparttar 109184 most basic technique for victims of bullying. I find that many students do not use this simple and basic technique to stop being bullied.

Byrepparttar 109185 time they get to me,repparttar 109186 school counselor, they are so mad or hurt that they cannot even talk torepparttar 109187 bully. The first techniques to teach or reteach victims is to tellrepparttar 109188 bully to stop or returnrepparttar 109189 challenge.

Students can get this message across in a variety of ways. They can tell them in what I call "kid language" to stop - using words that don't sound like what an adult would say like "Back off," "Cut it out," or some other type of slang that would getrepparttar 109190 message across torepparttar 109191 bully and allow them to save face atrepparttar 109192 same time.

The bully needs to know thatrepparttar 109193 student does not like what they are saying or doing to you. I guess most of you are thinking thatrepparttar 109194 bully should know what they are doing is wrong, and many of them probably do, but I feel that emphasizing thatrepparttar 109195 victim tell them to stop helps them develop their own strength to take care of themselves - which isrepparttar 109196 goal of most counselors, therapy, etc.

The Internet & Education: One Mom's Perspective

Written by A.R. Linder


On many a Friday night my daughter and I can be found in front ofrepparttar computer playing an online game based upon “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”. The differences are that allrepparttar 109182 questions are related to science, we can’t actually win a million dollars, it’s absolutely free, and we arerepparttar 109183 players. It isn’t unusual for us to spend a couple of hours playing this game. I am always amazed by how much she knows as her age as well as how much I seem to have forgotten at mine.

Many years ago while developing and teaching Air Force training courses for U.S. Space Command, I became fascinated withrepparttar 109184 use of computers in learning. Also while working inrepparttar 109185 training area, I became a fan ofrepparttar 109186 basic premises of Thorndike’s Laws of Learning. Although some would characterize them as almost forgotten and even sometimes discredited, I have foundrepparttar 109187 laws to be helpful in flagging what works and what does not in educating my child as well as adults and youth in other programs I have managed. I have realized much success incorporatingrepparttar 109188 essence of those laws of learning and computer technology as I have dealt with my child’s learning. Thorndike’s laws are pretty simple:

The Law of Readiness deals with ensuring a child is ready to learn--making surerepparttar 109189 student is fed, free from too much worry, comfortable, and well aware ofrepparttar 109190 importance of what is to be learned. In other wordsrepparttar 109191 student must be prepared to learn. One exercise I have done with my child dealing with this law is researchingrepparttar 109192 admissions criteria for different schools. We found sites like CollegeTours.com, a site providing loads of information and virtual tours of different college campuses, to be a handy reference for this exercise. We have even gone as far as to look at scholarship requirements using scholarship databases such as CollegeNET.com and CollegeIsPossible.org. We have also comparedrepparttar 109193 costs of different institutions. We have been doing this sincerepparttar 109194 sixth grade. By understandingrepparttar 109195 requirements now, hopefully, we won’t be running around in her junior and senior years trying to get things in order. It is awfully difficult to bring up that grade point average in a couple of semesters, especially ifrepparttar 109196 young person is stressed by time constraints. Getting my child prepared now is my way of ensuring we are prepared whenrepparttar 109197 time comes. A worksheet for this exercise can be downloaded from my website YouthPlay.org.

The Law of Exercise relates to making sure that practice is part ofrepparttar 109198 study routine—especially when dealing with essential facts and rules. The Internet and various software can be very useful in providing repetition in a not-so-routine manner. Games such as Basket Math at ScienceAcademy.com where your child actually makes a hoop each time he or she getsrepparttar 109199 correct answer can make rote learning of multiplication tables a tad more interesting than just repeatingrepparttar 109200 multiplication tables over and over.

I remember clearly when I began to dislike math—a subject I had loved until, I believe, I ran intorepparttar 109201 wrong teacher. I remember my worst days in school. I remember my best days. I rememberrepparttar 109202 teachers who were creative and inspiring and know thatrepparttar 109203 best skills I possess today are inrepparttar 109204 areas they taught. That isrepparttar 109205 Law of Effect at work. I look very hard for sites that are good learning websites and share them with my daughter. I don’t want her to be turned off by sites that are really advertising monsters, just enticing you to a point of enjoyment and then launching an advertising scheme where you must make a purchase before you can go any further. Certainly I understand that many websites survive through their ability to sell products, however I believe this can be accomplished without bait and purchase gimmicks.

Goodness, have you ever tried to unlearn something you learned how to do wrong? This isrepparttar 109206 Law of Primacy, which states that what is learned first is learned best. You really have to make sure thatrepparttar 109207 resources that your child uses are good resources. Every textbook is not a good textbook; every website is not a good website; and every teacher is not a good teacher. And assuming that these tools are good simply because they exist or becauserepparttar 109208 school system uses them can cause your child a world of harm. A parent really has to do more than have these tools available. If you tryout a piece of software or an Internet resource and you cannot followrepparttar 109209 instructions, then there is a very good chance your child may not be able to effectively userepparttar 109210 resource either. Andrepparttar 109211 same rule applies with other resources as well. Some sites such as Math.com and MathForum.com gave really simple step-by-step instructions to concepts my child was learning in school, yet I had long forgotten. I was able to refresh my memory and to get her on track using these resources.

The Law of Intensity deals withrepparttar 109212 vividness ofrepparttar 109213 learning experience. If I take my child torepparttar 109214 zoo to learn about animals, he or she will learn more than if I just explainrepparttar 109215 animals. One of my favorite sites for young kids is Switchzoo.com. My younger nieces and nephews are fascinated withrepparttar 109216 animals they are familiar with, but just spillover with excitement as they manipulaterepparttar 109217 animals to make new ones. I think that my daughter and I are really supposed to be a little old forrepparttar 109218 activity, but in all truthfulness we have a great time with it too. There are so many places out there that I neither haverepparttar 109219 time norrepparttar 109220 money to take my child. The Internet has been especially useful in getting my child to those places. At our fingertips we haverepparttar 109221 Virtual Smithsonian Institute andrepparttar 109222 National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. At GreatPlaces.org we have in living color enjoyed films and photos of Madagascar, Tibet,repparttar 109223 Amazon and several other far away places. Throughrepparttar 109224 gateway of MuseumStuff.com, we have viewed museums all overrepparttar 109225 world including my personal favoriterepparttar 109226 web only exhibits of our National Museum of Air and Space in Washington DC. And let’s not forgetrepparttar 109227 brick and mortar library. Before computersrepparttar 109228 library is how my parents took me to far away places. It still works and every library that we have visited recently also has wonderful computer resources as well. So, if you don’t have a computer at home, that is certainly no excuse for not spending some time with your child using this wonderful technology. And I still buy books for presents—wonderful, exciting, colorful books.

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