When students don’t feel safe in school, they don’t thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.  According to a 2015 survey from the National Center for Educational Statistics, more than one out of every five students (20.8%) has reported being bullied. Bullying takes many forms and impacts not only the student being bullied, but the entire school community. Participants of this course will be equipped with the knowledge and tools to build safe school communities that identify bullying behaviors quickly (and even before they happen), empower students to move from bystander to advocate, and use character development and social-emotional learning to build stronger school communities. 

Techniques for effective interventions as well as best practices from both a teacher and school-wide perspective will be provided to enable participants to address (cyber)bullying concerns within their respective schools and communities.  Participants will leave the course with a framework for implementing classroom meetings to foster a positive classroom climate, integrating social-emotional learning/character education, and speaking with key stakeholders (parents, other teachers, and administrators) to prevent (cyber)bullying in and out of the classroom.