MONDAY — SMALL ACT #1: NOTICE THE PERSON WHO HAS GONE QUIET
Sometimes helping begins before anyone asks for help
There is a moment near the beginning of The Mauled Mage that I keep returning to.
Beam is alone in his shed, doing what Beam likes doing best: digging around online and following clues. He has heard a rumour that Lee, the quiet boy from his class, is being picked on online. Nobody has asked Beam to become involved. Lee certainly hasn’t.
Beam could quite easily decide it has nothing to do with him.
He doesn’t.
What finally moves him is remarkably simple: “Lee needs my help. I’m sure of it.”
That line makes an excellent starting point for the first day of Bullying No Way Week because the first useful act against bullying is often not dramatic at all.
It is noticing.
Noticing the child who suddenly eats lunch somewhere else. The friend who leaves a game they usually love. Someone who becomes strangely quiet when a particular name is mentioned. The classmate who laughs along with a joke but doesn’t really seem to be laughing.
The national theme for this year’s Bullying No Way Week is Small Acts, Big Impact, and the official campaign makes exactly this point: looking out for one another and seemingly small actions can change somebody’s experience of school. (Bullying No Way)
The difficulty is that children are often told, “If you see bullying, do something.”
That instruction is correct. It is also enormous.
A nine-year-old may reasonably wonder: Do what? Confront the bully? Tell the teacher? Ask the person? What if I’m wrong? What if everyone turns on me?
A story gives us somewhere safer to begin.
Put Beam in the hot seat
The opening passage in The Mauled Mage Read-Aloud Kit, Chapter 1: Digging Deep, is ideal for Monday. Beam discovers disturbing material about Lee online. The evidence disappears before he can capture it, leaving him with concern but very little certainty. The kit deliberately uses this passage to open discussion about investigation, cyberbullying, courage and loyalty.
Instead of asking a class, “Have you ever seen somebody being cyberbullied?”, try:
What should Beam do now?
Suddenly we are not asking children to expose themselves.
We can argue about Beam.
Should he approach Lee? Should he tell Bindi? Should he talk to a teacher? What should he not do? Is there a danger in spreading the rumour while trying to help? Would Lee want everyone discussing what has happened?
The Read-Aloud Kit is deliberately built for short sessions like this: give a little context, read the scene, then allow the characters to carry the discussion rather than turning it immediately into a comprehension exercise.
There is another useful lesson hidden here.
You do not have to solve somebody’s problem in order to notice them.
A child can say:
You seem a bit quiet today.
Want to sit with us?
Are you okay?
Do you want me to come with you to talk to someone?
Small sentences. Quite possibly a very big effect.
Bullying No Way’s guidance for primary students similarly encourages children to check in, listen, offer support and involve a trusted adult when needed.
For Monday, I would give a class only one challenge:
Notice one person you might normally pass by.
No heroics required.
Beam’s adventure becomes spectacular later. There are portals, trolls, dark mages and some fairly unpleasant things lurking in cyberspace.
But the important part begins much earlier.
A boy notices another boy might be in trouble.
And decides not to look away.
Monday’s small act: NOTICE.
#BullyingNoWay #SmallActsBigImpact #TheMauledMage #Cyberbullying #DigitalCitizenship #StoryBasedLearning #MiddleGradeLearning #StudentWellbeing #BeKindOnline #ThoughtBytes
