Gossip

Grade Level: 5-9

With the encouragement of a school counselor, young teens share their own experiences coping with bullying, taunting, and teasing. They view and react to vignettes that show situations of harassment. Dr. Michael Furlong, professor at UC Santa Barbara, lends advice to students about what they can do to handle these difficult situations. Includes 20 reproducible student worksheets on CD. Awards Honorable Mention, Chris Award.

Grade Level: 6+ Addresses the problem of rumors and gossip and the speed with which they circulate through an entire school, often becoming exaggerated along the way. Using realistic scenarios, this program details the heartache, and frustration rumors can cause, then follows up each scenario with thought-provoking questions to give viewers opportunities to talk about a problem so painful to and prevalent among middle school and high school students.

Angry at Dave for teasing him, Phil tell Latasha that Dave cheated on a test, gossip that spreads quickly throughout the school. When Gabby fails to make the soccer team but Sara does, she puts out word that Sara got picked only because her father contributed money to the team. These and other vignettes help students understand the impact of rumors and gossip.

Grade Level: 5-8. One out of five teenagers becomes depressed as a result of serious school, family or social problems. In some cases these teens can become suicidal. For some youngsters, feeling they are a social outcast or an academic failure can precipitate depression.

Rumors, Gossip, Taunting,Teasing and Bullying are all forms of harassment. Harassment is when someone or a group of people target someone else with the goal of making them feel bad. Teasing and taunting might get you angry, but there are healthy ways to deal with it and how it makes us feel. Sometimes the best thing to do is just ignore it. You can avoid people who say mean things. If you see others being bullied and picked on, you should say something to stop it. Helping the person being picked on will help you feel good about yourself, too.