Let’s Get Real Video and Curriculum Guide

Lessons and Activities to Address Name-Calling and Bullying

Produced by the Respect for All Project
By Bob Kim and Judy Logan
Review by Barbara Gifford
Lifespan Faith Development, UUA
Boston, MA

Steven “is part of the ‘skaters.’ He swears at other kids and says things to make them mad. He tries to make it seem like he’s a person not to mess with. When he really wants to get to people, he calls them a ‘fag.’ He says his big brother beats him up at home so he is mean to kids who are littler than him at school…. If people knew the real person inside him, they would find out that he actually doesn’t like fighting.”

Kate “used to be in the popular crowd. She says girls bully by talking behind each other’s backs. She thought she was better than other girls and just ordered them around. She got a taste of her own medicine when another girl started talking about her behind her back. Now she thinks that spreading rumors or being mean is not the way to be cool.”

–Excerpts from the film, Let’s Get Real

Let’s Get Real Video
Bullying is not a rite of passage. It is a prevalent social problem in American communities that damages “bullies” and “targets” alike. A recent report from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids (September, 2003) found that nearly 3.2 million students in grades six to ten are victims of bullying and even more are bullies themselves. Faith communities can help us understand bullying behavior and provide spiritually based problem-solving toolkits for children and youth. Together we can become allies against bullying and work for respectful and just communities. Unitarian Universalist Principles provides the religious foundation for this work.

Let’s Get Real features the powerful and poignant voices of middle schoolers from around the United States talking out about their experiences with bullying. Youth who have been bullied speak about aggressive verbal and physical acts and their damaging emotional effects. Youth who have perpetrated bullying talk about how bullying makes them feel powerful, as well as its negative psychological affects on them. Some share their experiences in multiple roles: bully, being bullied, being a bystander, and becoming an ally. One message is clear: Youth need and want the help of adults and role models to empower them and work towards reclaiming safe communities.

The film breaks bullying into four components or themes:

• Unprovoked actions or threats
• Acts motivated by an intent to cause fear, distress, or harm
• Repeated and aggressive acts
• Acts against someone with less power

There are two options for viewing the video. One is formatted for viewing the thirty-five – minute film in its entirety; the other is formatted for viewing it in eight “chapters.” Since the film is graphic and the youth plain-speaking, the filmmakers recommend that parents and guardians preview the video before it is presented to their children. Congregations might invite adults to join children/youth in viewing the film. The emotional content and sensitive subjects raised in the video, including racial slurs, unprovoked physical taunting, and suicide, may be too provocative for some youth. The supplemental curriculum guide offers resources for preparing youth for the video and for discussion afterward.

Let’s Get Real offers a provocative stimulus for addressing the problem of bullying. The video is compelling, but the themes sometimes feel imposed. Often the sections do not culminate in clear alternatives to the bullying/victim behaviors. At first viewing, seen in its entirety, the video can leave the viewer with a lot of feelings and the dilemma of what to do about them. Religious educators will need to augment the film with how-to discussions of alternatives, including how to enlist and become allies toward a just community. The Let’s Get Real curriculum guide, developed to address this need, is one available resource. Religious educators will want to draw from a variety of sources to guide the important problem-solving discussion that should follow the film.

This video is appropriate for use with students grades six and up. In addition, Let’s Get Real can be used for lively and empowering family or intergenerational church programming.

The video is produced by the Respect for All Project (www.womedia.org/respectforall.htm ) a program of Women’s Educational Media, www.womedia.org , 2180 Bryant Street, Suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94110, phone 415-641-4616.

Let’s Get Real curriculum guide
The goals of the Let’s Get Real curriculum guide include developing empathy, reflecting on the prejudice/bias that underlies bullying, becoming an effective ally, and working for change. Two plans, one twelve sessions and the other three sessions, are suggested. Both start with establishing classroom agreements, brainstorming about bullying, and developing a shared definition of bullying. The program can be adapted for different groups. I would recommend combining brainstorming about bullying with the “System of Privilege” activity (suggested for session ten) in the first session. This would emphasize how prejudice and unearned privilege/power underlie most bullying.

Each of the plans includes viewing a chapter of the video, discussion questions, activities, and follow-up assignments. There are numerous opportunities for cooperative learning. Some of the activities make use of participants’ experiences; some provide for different modes of expression. “Concentric Circles” helps participants identify others with whom they can share feelings. “What I Want You to Know” offers scenarios for group role-plays. Other activities are less appropriate. For example, the activity “Act Like a Guy/Act Like a Girl” falsely dichotomizes gender identities. In addition, the guide inadequately defines race as “a group of people with common physical characteristics or a common identity.” Overall the activities in the guide require screening and adaptation for use in UU settings. In the hands of an experienced religious educator or youth facilitators, the guide has much to offer.

Some resources in the guide are very useful. There is a handout with photos and text descriptions of students who appear in the video that is very helpful when discussing the film. Also included are sample letters, in English and Spanish, to parents inviting them to preview the film. Additional resources include lists of support and advocacy organizations and readings.

The Let’s Get Real film and curriculum guide can be adapted to be part of a powerful program on bullying for lifespan faith development settings. Leaders skilled at facilitating discussion with youth can make this a wonderful, empowering program. Becoming faithful allies against bullying can be a process that puts our UU faith in action.

The Let’s Get Real curriculum guide is also available from Women’s Educational Media. See order information above.