Bullying task - Introduction

Sarah introduced the group to the task of creating an anti-bullying assembly which would be performed to year 7-9 at Lutterworth High School. The assembly should be about 20 minutes long and to evoke an emotive reaction from the audience without the performance being inappropriate for the target audience.

My fist response was the memory of watching the anti-bullying assembly performed by the now upper BTEC. The audiences immediate reaction was to laugh, which of course the reaction we want to avoid. Laughing is a natural response to being uncomfortable and upon reflection we thought that this was because abstract techniques were used which took it away from reality. So baring this in mind I know that we need to create a performance that was very close to what really happens. By creating a much more realistic drama I hope that it would connect more with the audience and so to be more effective.

To give us some inspiration for our drama Sarah showed us three stimuli's. The first of these was a video:

By the classes emotional response the video was clearly effective. The video showed photos of victims of bullying who all committed suicide as a result. After each photo of a victim was their name and the date they lived and died. The most shocking thing was seeing how young the people were when they died and the feeling of what a waste of life it was. But also how much pain that person must have suffered to drive them to end their own lives. The thing that really shocked the class was that some of the victims were really beautiful and even cheerleaders greatly known for their popularity. These people that have nothing wrong with them and are absolutely perfect could hate themselves so much to kill themselves. Also the music used in the video was particularly effective, especially the lyrics. So in our performance we would use music to create the right atmosphere for an emotive product. Also at the end we want to include someone saying a name the dates they lived and then simply falling down. Also by giving the dates and not the age it makes the audience think about it for a few minutes longer and really understand how young victims are.

The second was this poem:

'I am'
I am the person you bullied in school
I am the one who didn't know how to be cool
I am the person you alienated
I am the person you ridiculed and hated

I am the person who sat on their own
I am the person who walked home alone
I am the person you scared every day
I am the person who had nothing to say

I am the person with hurt in their eyes
I am the person you never saw cry
I am the person living alone with their fears
I am the person destroyed by their peers

I am the person who drowned in your scorn
I am the person who wished they hadn't been born
I am the person whose name you don't know
I am the person who just can't let go

I am the person destroyed for 'fun'
I am the person, but not the only one
I am the person who had feelings too
..and I am a person, JUST LIKE YOU!!!

The use of "I am" could be showing how alone and isolated they feel. But it could also be them standing up to the bully, fighting back as if saying "look at me, look at what you're doing". It could even be that this person has gone through this and is trying to give encouragment or strength to someone else who feelsthe same. "I am a person" this is showing that they like they have only been treated as something like dirt but that they deserve to be equal and treated fairly.

The third was an article printed in the telegraph about a girl who committed suicide.

Bullied schoolgirl hanged herself with tie

An "exceptionally gifted" 13-year-old bullying victim who dreamed of becoming a pilot hanged herself from a bunk bed using her school tie, an inquest has heard.

By Richard Savill 4:12PM BST 25 Jun 2008

Cherelle Ardle was having "extreme problems" with bullying at her school and was finding it difficult to interact with other pupils, the hearing was told.

She had been locked in a cupboard and dragged down the stairs and once needed hospital treatment after a playground fight.

On the evening of December 3 last year, her lifeless body was found by stepfather Dale Evans in her bedroom at her home in Kennard Street, Ton Pentre, South Wales.

The inquest heard how the teenager wrote a suicide note on a blank page of a maths exercise book.
The note ended with the words: "I'm about to hang myself. If I keep writing after this, it hasn't worked."
Mr Evans told the inquest in Miskin, South Wales: "She was being bullied at school. There had been some trouble at school that day and I picked her up early.
"She went up to her room and had a bath but then stayed in her bedroom. I went to check on her at 8.30pm and found her hanging."
Trudy Robinson, a respite foster carer, who looked after the girl one weekend each month, told the inquest: "She was having extreme problems with bullying at school.
"She had been dragged downstairs and locked in a cupboard and had been taken to hospital on one occasion."
She described the girl as "exceptionally gifted academically and beautiful to look at", adding: "She was a joy to look after and liked to help in every way she could.
"She had just joined the Air Cadets and she had told me she wanted to be a pilot which I thought was a fabulous idea."
The inquest heard the Treorchy Comprehensive School pupil went to her bedroom after a row with her mother Deborah Evans over missing money from a money-box, which she eventually admitted taking.
Det Insp Nigel Cottle said: "Cherelle was generally the victim of bullying at school but on certain occasions she was the assailant in her own right. She had no problems with teachers but she had difficulty interacting with other pupils."
In a statement to police, her mother spoke of concerns about the bullying and said she felt it "impacted on Cherelle's quality of life".
The inquest also heard the girl was involved in a relationship with an older man, which was subject to an ongoing investigation by South Wales Police.
The coroner Philip Walters described the girl, from Ton Petre, Rhondda, as an intelligent and articulate teenager.
Recording an open verdict, Mr Walters said: "I really don't know why this has happened. It might be due to one thing, it might be due to a number of things.
"What I am satisfied is that I honestly don't think that this young lady intended to end her own life."
He said he was convinced the suicide note was a "cry for help" or was possibly to draw attention to herself.
Mr Walters also issued a warning to others who might be similarly tempted.
He said: "Young people are often not aware that if you tie a ligature around your neck it takes as little as five seconds to render you unconscious.
"Thereafter, death can occur any time up to quarter-of-an-hour.
"If you go down this route, this is final. There is no coming back."

Many people in the class were outraged at how in sensitive this article was and how it insinuated that what happened was this girls fault. Also that in doing so was extremely iun bad taste as most of the article is speaking ill of the dead. Her memory should be treasured and instead she is made out to be some attention seeking brat. This poor girl was a victim of severe bullying and was even hospitalised on many occasions. This poor girl ended her life as a direct result of bullying and not as a cry for attention.

After the stimulis the group started to brainstorm ideas for our final drama:

 The explorative stradagy we used were asked to use was 3 still images. The first would be a happy group photo with everyone having fun. Rachel then teld a joke and after a short laugh we slowly backed away because the joke wasn't funny. James then told a joke about her and we all laugh and turn our backs after insulting her. The next showed the time of being bullied and one person is isolated and surrounded by the rest of the group. The final one was a symbolic one of her imaginating them there as she self harmed herself. Each of us in the group said an insulting name to her an then turned around and pretended to hold a blade to encourage her to self harm.