EDPS 612.03 Practice Evaluation Vicki Pederson Stephanie Janzen Amy English Caroline Lapierre Wanda Chaulk Walk Away Ignore Talk It Out Seek Help OVERVIEW: HISTORY Acronym was created in 1993 by an Elementary School Principal Broadened its reach in 1997 by the school liason officer Rock Solid Foundation 1998 - UVic professor joined the team 2005 - piloted the grade 4-6 program 2011 - RCMP involvement 2012-2013 - piloted French programs Today - in over 400 schools across Canada and United States OVERVIEW The WITS program aims to increase children's interpersonal negotiation skills for handling peer aggression and threats of victimization and to reduce peer aggression in schools, classrooms, and unstructured environments (playgrounds, halls, etc.).
This program uses the easy to remember WITS acronym (Walk Away, Ignore, Talk, Seek Help) to facilitate implementation of the program at classroom, school, and community levels
OVERVIEW Primary Program WITS Kindergarten - Grade 3 Teaches children to make safe and positive choices when faced with peer conflict Intermediate Program LEADS Grade 4 - Grade 6 Teaches 5 problem-solving strategies to be safe when dealing with conflict Become "WITS Leaders" OVERVIEW Program Consists of:
Books & lesson plans Classroom Resources & Activities Resource Guide There are 36 books, each book comes with a lesson plan (pre-reading activities, pre-reading questions, questions during the reading, post- reading questions, WITS connection, & post reading activities) OVERVIEW -Launch the WITS Primary Program with a swearing-in ceremony where students are deputized as WITS Special Constables.
-Tug-of-Help skit.
-Make follow-up classroom visits throughout the year to see how the new Special Constables are doing with their WITS. Community Leaders also play an important role. Emergency Service Personel (RCMP), university or high school athletes, elders and other community role models OVERVIEW Lesson Example The Berenstein Bears and Too Much Teasing PRE-READING QUESTION: Have you ever been teased? How did you feel? What other ways are there to communicate other than teasing? POST-READING QUESTION: Why did Too-Tall start teasing Milton? What did Brother do to get it to stop? POST-READING ACTIVITY: Ask students to describe five good things about themselves and five good things about a classmate. WITS CONNECTION: Talk It Out, Seek Help LEARNING OUTCOMES: Identify and describe details and feelings conveyed by illustrations / describe appropriate strategies for communicating effectively with others
OVERVIEW: PROGRAM OUTCOMES Short-Term Long-term achieve social responsibility expectations reduce bullying and victimization increase child perceived safety at school and home enhance mental health and healthy relationships reduce internalizing and externalizing problems create a safe and caring school culture integrate lesson plans seeking help becomes normalized school uses WITS language increase child perceived safety at school VICTIMPROOF Empowering Students To Be The Change OVERVIEW
Created by Tom Thelen One of America's top anti-bullying speakers Break free of the victim mind set Has writen two books (Teen Leadership Revolution and Victimproof) but is known for his 30-part anti-bullying video curriculum
ABOUT TOM After completing his degree, he started work at a non-profit organization as a youth speaker As a youth speaker, Tom takes the students through his own journey as a typical face in the crowd kid living with a victim mindset He helps students break free from this mindset Tom teaches students how to "Be the change!"
You cant control whether or not you get bullied, but you can control whether or not you become a victim. Tom Thelen
THE GOAL During this program, students will learn how to: Respond to bullying Not become victims Make positive life choices Impact their school positively THE PROGRAM Victimproof is a book and video curriculum that provide a step-by-step program to help students drop the victim mindset and take control The program is divided into 12 parts, each taught in one month intervals They are: Victim Proof Bully Proof Be the Change Character Self-Esteem Self-Discipline Honesty Respect Responsibility Purpose Teamwork Leadership
COST The program includes the DVD curriculum with 30 video lessons, also includes discussion questions It costs $400.00, but is currently on sale for $194.00 There is also the possibility for schools to invite Tom Thelen to come to the school, however, this is at an additional cost. This can be shared by many schools or districts. DEBATE WITS VS VICTIMPROOF ARGUMENTS FOR: WITS It's (mostly) FREE Resources, lesson plans, and booklists are all accessible on the website Free online training modules Program fits in easily with regular instruction Made for use at home and at school Approx 36 books available, lots of variety, no repetition ARGUMENTS FOR: WITS Resources are available in French
Aboriginal-themed lesson plans and books Developed in Canada in the early 1990s ARGUMENTS FOR: WITS Creators recognized the developmental differences between K and middle school children and made an anti-bullying program to serve them previous programs designed for older students Long term benefits younger grades are when children meet and make decisions about each other; reputations are established and friendships made School and/or classroom -wide rather than targeted/individual
ARGUMENTS FOR: WITS Heavily researched 2003 study Over 400 Canadian students, 2 years, 4 waves of data collection Decrease in peer physical and relational victimization Increased social competence 2011 study Over 800 students, 18 months, 3 waves of data collection Findings supported the WITS for preventing victimization Decreased physical and relational victimization ARGUMENTS FOR: VICTIMPROOF
Theory of Mind - promotes prosocial behavior through development of social reasoning and an understanding of social emotions of others
Social Cognitive Theory - explains how people aquire competencies, values, and styles of behavior - self development, adaptation, and change occur through an interplay of personal, behavioral, and environmental influences ARGUMENTS FOR: VICTIMPROOF STOP A BULLY: CANADA website (May 2009 - July 2013) Types of Bullying: Name calling / Insults (63.5%) Shoving / Hitting (40%) Involving Friends / Peers (32.5%) Threats / Intimidations (31%) Cyberbullying (30%) Spreading Rumors (28%) 73% of incidents reported by students, with 66% wanting to remain anonymous
ARGUMENTS FOR: VICTIMPROOF STOP A BULLY: CANADA website (May 2009 - July 2013)
One in seven Canadian children, aged 11-16 are vicitim of bullying
Incidents of offenders by grade Grade 7 - 16% Grade 8 - 20% Grade 9 - 13.5 % All other grades between 4 & 10 vary from 4 - 8% ARGUMENTS FOR: VICTIMPROOF Bullying leads to negative outcomes:
victim - anxiety, depression, low self esteem, physical and psychosomatic complaints, post traumatic stress disorder, suicidal ideation
bully- mental health disorders (ADHD, ODD, conduct disorder) and greater likelihood of criminal behavior, domestic violence and substance abuse as adults
Victimproof views the bully as a victim: both are targeted in this group intervention ARGUMENTS FOR: VICTIMPROOF Crothers, Kolbert, Baker (2006)
Middle School students' preference for intervention - training on assertiveness, social skills replacement to help make bullies leave them alone - favoured classroom management techniques whereby teachers are able to monitor what is happening
Social validity is confirmed with targeted population buy in ARGUMENTS FOR: VICTIMPROOF Implementation style appeals to Middle/High School students
- media / technology (videos) - young speaker sharing powerful messages - provides examples of real life experiences WITS CONS - If books are not in library, must purchase them (e.g. from Amazon) - May be difficult to recruit community members (e.g. RCMP) - Program doesnt target bullying behaviour, but rather responses to bullying (http://kidsview.hubpages.com/hub/Why-the-WITS-Program-to-stop-Bullies-Doesnt-Work) WANDA (#3) -Study above relies on self-report of students experiences of victimization -Study was done in mid-size canadian city, findings may not correlate with different ethnic/racial make-up, or rural or urban settings. Since The majority of studies were done by program creator (bias?) - Caroline
some studies show a slight increase in behavioural and emotional problems, also a lack of effect on aggression and internalizing (targeted interventions may be required for those children showing beh/emo problems) >> The article talking about this is in the email of cons PLEAE PUT YOUR NAME BY THE CON YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS Click to add text VICTIMPROOF CONS 1. Junior High / High School Intervention - challenging to implement a program of this nature given the resistant nature of this population - Vicki
2. Lacking empirical research with this population - credibility may be questioned - AMY
3. Cost of the program....$400 for one set of materials.
4. Cost of the motivational speaker, Tom Thelen himself : Though not essential, it is a great motivational factor These costs are not favorable for financially stricken schools
5. 12 month program - then what? How do you change the culture of a school with a short term program?
ARGUMENTS AGAINST: VICTIMPROOF Targeted age-group of the program Lack of empirical research Cost
CONCLUSION WITS Early intervention program designed to teach children how to respond to peer conflict and reduce victimization Involvement of community members Promotes a positive school culture Cost-efficient and easy to implement VICTIMPROOF Changes mindset, giving students tools to succesfully cope with bullying Students take control of the school environment Promotes a positive school culture Technology based and interactive, thus appealing to targeted age range REFERENCES Artinger F, Exadaktylos F, Koppel H, Saaksvuori L (2014) In Others Shoes: Do Individual Differences in Empathy and Theory of Mind Shape Social Preferences? PLoS ONE 9(4): e92844. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092844 Laura M. Crothers, Jered B. Kolbert, and William F. Barker (2006). Middle School Students Preferences for Anti-Bullying. Interventions School Psychology International October 2006 27: 475-487, doi:10.1177/0143034306070435 Leadbeater, B., Hoglund, W. & Woods, T. (2003). Changing contexts? The effects of a primary prevention program on classroom levels of peer relational and physical victimization. Journal of Community Psychology, 31(4), 397418. doi: 10.1002/jcop.10057 Leadbeater, B. & Sukhawathanakul, P. (2011). Multicomponent programs for reducing peer victimization in early elementary school: A longitudinal evaluation of the WITS primary program. Journal of Community Psychology, 39(5), 606620. doi: 10.1002/jcop.20447 Royce,D., Thyer, B.A., & Padgett, D.K. (2006). Program evaluation: An introduction (5thed.). Belmont, AC: Wadsworth Centage Learning Salmivalli, C., Kaukiainen, A. and Voeten, M. (2005), Anti-bullying intervention: Implementation and outcome. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75: 465487. doi: 10.1348/000709905X26011