Effects of Bibliotherapy on Second Grader?s Conflict Resolution Related to Bullying by Nancy Ellen Nix A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama December 14, 2013 Keywords: Bullying, bibliotherapy, conflict resolution, second graders Copyright 2013 by Nancy Ellen Nix Approved by Bruce Murray, Chair, Associate Professor of Curriculum & Teaching Edna Brabham, Professor of Curriculum & Teaching Angela Love, Associate Professor of Curriculum & Teaching ii Abstract This study investigated the effects of bibliotherapy on bullying with second graders. In this study, the bibliotherapy treatment group listened to and discussed ten trade books with the content of bullying. The control group listened to and discussed three chapter books that had no content of bullying. The participants were given two pretests, a survey, and a picture identification task, to determine their background knowledge about bullying. After the treatment, the participants were given four posttests to determine if the treatment group participants had developed more knowledge about bullying and conflict resolution than the control group. The study was completed during 16 consecutive school days. Pretests were given the day before the treatment began, there were 10 days of treatment and control group activities, and then the posttests were given the following 5 days. Only for conflict resolution was there a significant difference between the treatment and control groups. iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere appreciation to everyone who has supported me through this dissertation process. I especially want to thank my family for their support, understanding, and love throughout this process. Chad, Stephany, Ashlyn, Chad, and Cassidy, I could not have completed this without your support. I also could not have completed this work without the support of my mother, Margaret, best friend and colleague, Kathy. I will never forget all of the help and support you gave to me. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the administration, teachers, and students of my school system. Thank you to all who helped and participated in this study. I also want to thank my dissertation committee, Dr. Bruce Murray, Dr. Edna Brabham, and Dr. Angela Love. I would also like to thank Dr. Connie Buskist, Reading Education faculty member at Auburn University Montgomery, who served as the representative of the graduate school and the Outside Reader of my dissertation. Your patience, support, and encouragement have made this process possible. I could not have completed this statistical work without the support and help from Anna Shepherd Jones. Thank you. I want to also thank The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for providing scholarship funds. iv Table of Contents Abstract?... .................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments????????????????????????????? ? ..iii List of Tables???????????????????????????????? .vii Chapter I. Introduction ???? ?????????????????????????1 Preview of Research and Literature Supporting the Study?. .............................................2 Overview of the Study????????????????????????? ?. 7 Theoretical Foundations for the Study ?. ......................................................................... 8 Research Problem ???????????????????????????. 10 Research Questions ?. .....................................................................................................10 Statement of Hypotheses ?............................................................................................. 11 Scope and Limitations of the Study ?............................................................................ 11 Assumptions of the Study ?........................................................................................... 12 Significance of the Study?.... ......................................................................................... 12 Chapter II. Review of Literature ????? ??????????????????? 13 Bullying ?????????????????????????????? ... 13 Bibliotherapy ?? ??????????????????????????.. 24 Findings that Support this Dissertation Research ??????????????? 33 Chapter III. Methods and Procedures ?????????????????????? 35 Participants ?? ???????????????????????????? 35 v Materials..?????????? ???????????????????? ..38 Procedures ???? ????????????????????????? .....45 Teacher Preparation??????????????????????????. ..46 Common Procedures ??????????????????????????. 48 Treatment Group Procedures ????????.?.????????????? ..49 Control Group Procedures ??????. ?????????????????. ..50 Chapter IV. Results ??.. ??? ?????????? ????????????..... ...51 Restatement of the Research Questions and Purpose for the Study ??????? ... 51 Quantitative Results ?????????????????????????? ..52 Findings Question 1 ?????????????????????????? ..54 Findings Question 2 ????????????????????????? ? ..55 Qualitative Results ????????????????????????? ? ? 56 Summary ????????????????????????????? ?. ..57 Chapter V. Discussion ???????????????????????????... 59 Limitations ????????????????????????????? ... 61 Educational Implications ??????????????????????? ? ..64 Connections to Previous Research ???????????????????? ? 65 Directions for Future Research ????????????????????? .....67 Additional Important Information ???????????????????? ?. 70 References? ? . ???? ?????????????????????????? ? 71 Appendix A. ?.. ??? ?????? ????????????????????? ? 74 Principal?s letter to IRB ???????????? ???????????? ? 75 Appendix B. ?.. ???? ?????????????????? ???? ???? ? 77 vi Parental Consent letter ????????????????????????? ..78 Appendix C?. ?????? ????????????????????????.... ..83 Bullying Survey ? ?? ??? ????????????????????? ....84 Appendix D? ? ?????????????? ????????????????... 85 Pre/Post Bullying Pictures ????? ??????????????????. ...86 Appendix E. ?. ??????????????????????....... ............................. 90 Book List ?? ????????????????????????????. ..91 Appendix F. ?. ????? ?????????????????????????... ...92 Scripted Questions for Treatment Groups . ????????????????.. ....93 Appendix G. ?. ????? ? ???????????????????????? ?. 96 Posttests ???. ??????????????????????????? ...97 Appendix H ? ???? ???????????????????????? ??? ...99 Transcribed audiotapes ????????????????????????. ..100 vii List of Tables Table 3.1?? ????????????????????????????. 42 Table 3.2 ....................................................................................................................... .42 Table 3.3 ??????????? ????????????????..............43 Table 3.4 ....................................................................................................................... .45 Table 4.1 ........................................................................................................................ 53 Table 4.2 ....................................................................................................................... .54 Table 4.3 ? ????????????????????????????? ..56 1 Chapter 1: Introduction As a classroom teacher pursuing a doctoral degree in reading education, I became aware of bullying as a problem in school communities across the country (Hamaarus & Kaikkonen, 2008, Atlas & Pepper, 2001, Flaspohler, Elfstrom, Vanderzee & Sink, 2009), including my own. The purpose of this research study and dissertation was to determine if teachers reading books about bullying aloud in the classroom would change students? awareness of bullying and ability to identify positive approaches to conflict resolution. What is bullying? Is bullying calling a person a name other than their given name? Is it teasing or taunting a person? Is bullying hitting, kicking, or punching? Is bullying drawing a picture of a gun and holding it up at a person? Is it considered bullying when students taunt an adult on a bus? Is bullying considered bullying only when someone gets hurt? Does how the victim feels have anything to do with bullying? Is bullying physical, mental, emotional, or a combination of all three? Is speaking an opinion on another person?s attire, physical appearance, or personal choices bullying? The previous paragraph lists the questions about bullying that have been raised across the United States in public and private schools (Smokowski & Kopasz, 2005). What is bullying? How is bullying determined? Do the behaviors in the previous paragraph fully characterize bullying? How should students receive education to discern what constitutes bullying? How should teachers, counselors, and instructional leaders discern what bullying is and what it is not? What can instructional leaders do to help equip students with strategies to respond appropriately to occurrences of bullying? This study was prompted by many of these questions and concerns. 2 Bullying is a nationally recognized problem spotlighted by the media in reports of bullying in schools, on playgrounds, and in cyberspace (American Psychological Association, 2013). Until recently, educators had few, if any, resources available to help students recognize bullying and resolve conflicts that either caused or were the result of bullying. However, many school media centers now have book collections with many books that address the topic of bullying that are available for teacher use. Schools already have resources to increase student?s knowledge of bullying and to inform positive conflict resolution practices. At this time of reduced funds in many school systems, it would be difficult for school systems to purchase elaborate bullying programs. Preview of Research and Literature Supporting the Study Dan Olweus is a researcher who has been a leader in studying the issue of bullying, and his investigations in Sweden and Norway extend back to the 1970s (Hughes, Middleton, & Marshall, 2009). Olweus (1993) developed the widely used and accepted definition of bullying quoted below: A student is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students. Bullying is a negative action when someone intentionally inflicts, or attempts to inflict, injury or discomfort upon another (Olweus, 1993, p. 9). Scholars did not recognize Olweus? research until the 1980s because bullying did not become a recognized issue until that time. Perception of bullying in the United States gained attention in education only after 2000 when it was perceived as a problem primarily in high school settings (Prater, Johnston, Dyches, & Johnston, 2006). In 2001, 3 however, the Kaiser Family Foundation published a report with evidence that students between 8 and 15 years of age identified bullying and teasing as more serious problems than drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, and discrimination. In addition, approximately 3 in 10 children indicated that they had experience as a bully, a victim, or both (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2001). The National Center for Education Statistics (2009) surveyed middle school and high school students and found that 32% of students reported being bullied physically and 59% reported being victims of verbal bullying. Due to findings like these, 15 states have passed laws addressing bullying, and other states have considered legislation related to bullying (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). In the educational community, the operational definition of bullying includes three distinct features: 1) Harassment of the victim occurs over time; 2) intent behind the harassment is either mentally or physically harmful to the victim; and 3) an imbalance of power is apparent (Flynt, 2004). In other words, bullying is a recurring and deliberate abuse of power (Baras, 2013). Bullying takes a variety of verbal forms including teasing, spreading rumors, and name-calling as well as physical forms such as hitting, kicking, and vandalism of someone else?s property (American Medical Association, 2002). Behaviors like these and others have been categorized as direct or indirect bullying. Open attacks on the victim such as kicking, pushing, hitting, teasing, taunting, mocking, threatening, and intimidating are examples of direct bullying (Atlas & Pepper, 1998). Indirect bullying may involve social isolation, ostracism, and exclusion of the victim, or the use of gossip to change the way others perceive and respond to an individual (Bjorkqvist, Osterman, & Kaukianinen, 1992; Olweus, 1991). Indirect bullying may include spreading false stories 4 or negative rumors, telling others not to be someone?s friend, and trying to persuade others to dislike a certain person (Atlas & Pepper, 1998). Behaviors that do not constitute bullying include not liking someone, excluding others unintentionally, accidentally bumping into someone, making other students play things a certain way, telling a joke about someone without malice, arguing, expressing unpleasant thoughts or feelings regarding others, and committing isolated acts of harassment, intimidation, or hatefulness (Baras, 2013). Research conducted by Beale and Scott (2001) demonstrated that bullying has negative effects for both the victim and the bully. Victims tend to have higher rates of depression, anxiety disorders, and suicidal thoughts. Further, children identified as bullies are more likely to break the law by early adulthood. Bullies tend to drop out of school, have fewer friends, and do not easily develop lasting relationships (Beale & Scott, 2001). Given the high frequency of bullying incidents reported by school-age students and negative effects of bullying reported by researchers, it is important that teachers address bullying openly with students to make them aware of the negative effects of these behaviors. Shore (2009) suggested approaches to addressing bullying that involve bibliotherapy. In bibliotherapy, teachers use children?s literature with plots that involve bullying to prevent or reduce bullying behaviors in their classrooms. Shore recommended that teachers read aloud children?s books with characters who are bullied and follow up with conversations about the effects of bullying. To help students realize that bullying behaviors are not appropriate, Shore suggested that teachers guide 5 conversations to explore victim?s feelings, reasons for a bully?s behavior, ways the victim may respond, and actions others can take to help the victim and the bully. For the purposes of this study, bullying was defined as situations in which someone physically hurts another person on purpose, repeatedly taunts peers, or expresses insulting comments to an individual or other students. The children involved in this study were seven to eight years old. At this age, students? feelings can be hurt easily; therefore, a one-time conflict or hurtful comment would not be bullying because the victim is learning the difference between taking something seriously as a hateful act versus dismissing it as a thoughtless comment. Students at this age are learning about what comments should be made and what comments should not. For example, a comment mentioning that a child?s clothing may be of lesser quality compared to other students? clothing may be thoughtless, but the student making the comment is not necessarily being hurtful; they are just being observant without being tactful. Instruction in bullying may help children distinguish thoughtlessness from the intent to harm. Bibliotherapy using children's literature can be a useful classroom tool for addressing the effects of bullying because it can help children cope with their problems (Outz, 1991; Prater et al., 2001). The term bibliotherapy first appeared in 1930 in an article by G. O. Ireland (cited by Outz, 1991). However, psychiatrists William and Karl Menninger were among the first to foster an interest in therapeutic reading as an aid to mental healing (O?Ruba & Camplese, 1983). Psychologists and counselors have used guided readings or written materials since 1965 to gain understanding or solve problems relevant to a person?s needs (Riordan, 1989). Psychologists and counselors use bibliotherapy to help individuals cope with personal problems and changes in their lives, 6 to reduce depression and anxiety, and to improve self-esteem. Bibliotherapy can be used to provide information or insight about problems, stimulate discussion about problems, create awareness that other people have similar problems, and in some cases, provide solutions to problems (Prater et al., 2006). Prater et al. (2006) pointed out five possible benefits of bibliotherapy for students in schools. First, it encourages students to express their problems and concerns freely. Some students use repression or denial to deal with traumatic events. Books can help bring problems to the forefront so students can deal with them. Second, bibliotherapy helps students analyze their thoughts and their behavior in relation to themselves and others. Students can identify the thoughts and behaviors of book characters dealing with difficulties as similar to their own. Third, bibliotherapy can provide information to help students solve their problems. Fourth, bibliotherapy may reduce anxiety and promote relaxation. Students often feel emotional relief when they discover that others have the same feelings and have experienced similar life events. Fifth, bibliotherapy can provide a novel and interesting way to learn about new solutions to problems. Bibliotherapy can help students solve problems by confronting them and relating them to personal experiences (Prater et al., 2006). Students identify and empathize with book characters who must deal with problems similar to ones they have. Learning how characters solve problems provides alternatives to students as possibilities for handling bullying situations themselves. Children can benefit greatly from reading or hearing stories that reflect life?s challenges, especially if the issues and problems are presented by authors in sensitive, developmentally appropriate ways that offer control and hope to the characters and to readers (Smith-D?Arezzo & Thompson, 2009). 7 Overview of the Study I chose reading aloud as the method for delivering text content rather than the guided or independent reading formats commonly used in bibliotherapy (Schrank & Engels, 1981). From my experience, reading aloud engages young children in listening to, learning from, and responding to literature that they may not be able to read on their own. In the school where this study took place, reading aloud was a major part of the literature block and an enjoyable part of daily routine for teachers and students. Teachers planned read-alouds around themes such as holidays, subject matter, and seasons. Books used for read-alouds were age appropriate, colorful, and had characters that were interesting to students. Books chosen for reading aloud have illustrations, topics, themes, or structures that evoked rich responses from children (Hoffman, Roser & Battle, 1993). In reading aloud, teachers demonstrate enthusiasm for reading and model that reading is done to practice and develop reading skills, learn content, and appreciate language and literature. From my own experiences as a teacher, I found that the read-aloud lesson allowed me to address characterization, prediction of outcomes, and summarization. Moreover, read-aloud lessons have the potential to teach concepts and reading skills in all content areas. In reading aloud, the teacher can express personal responses to elements that are common in different literary genres and model learning from different types of literary and expository texts. I have found that making connections to literature is vital for learning to enjoy reading as a teacher or student. Read-alouds also allow students to compare writing styles and authors? purposes. 8 With these principles in mind, I sought out elementary-level trade books that dealt with bullying and conflict resolution related to bullying. Merriam-Webster (2013) defines trade books as books intended for general readership. Trade books are not textbooks and not technical treatises. Instead, they are texts aimed to interest the general public. Textbooks are books used to study a subject or content in a subject area (Merriam-Webster, 2013). Neither basal readers nor textbooks were used in this study. In this school, teachers used trade books in all subjects because young students usually find trade books more interesting than the school?s basal readers. The students preferred to listen to more detailed trade books on specific topics than to read even the same information in the basal textbook. Trade books are often accessible in school media centers; if not, they are economical for classroom teachers to purchase. In most schools, there is no money budgeted for a program to address bullying. I wanted to use this study to demonstrate to teachers, counselors, and instructional leaders that a formal, commercially available program was not necessary to introduce and discuss bullying in their classrooms. Some of the titles of trade books selected included the term bully and some did not, but all of the books targeted bullying as the topic and framework that structured plot and character, and all were located in the school or classroom libraries. Theoretical Foundations for the Study Reading trade books on bullying aloud to students is consistent with Vygotskian theory (Bodrova & Leong, 2007). Vygotsky?s (1978) theory of the zone of proximal development posits that development is defined both by what a child can do independently and by what the child can do when assisted by an adult or more competent 9 peer. According to Vygotsky, developmentally appropriate curricula includes activities that encompass not only what children are capable of doing on their own but also what they can learn with the help of others. Thus, the books used in this study were chosen because they were within the students? zones of proximal development. Each student could not read all the books, but the books were developmentally appropriate for reading aloud to students. With discussion and explanations of vocabulary, students who would not necessarily take these books from the shelf and read them on their own were able to listen to read-alouds, learn from them, and discuss the concepts presented. Scaffolding is another pivotal concept in Vygotskian theory (Vygotsky, 1978). Scaffolding is the process of first providing and then gradually removing external support for learning. During scaffolding, the task itself is not changed, but what the learner initially does is made easier with assistance. As the learner takes more responsibility for performance of the task, less assistance is provided (Bodrova & Leong, 2007). In the classroom, scaffolding helps a child in his or her zone of proximal development by providing hints and prompts at different levels. According to Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers (Vygotsky, 1978). In other words, it is the range of abilities that a student can perform with assistance but cannot perform independently. Having children discuss what they think about the story allows the teacher to ascertain the students? understanding of the story read aloud and to engage students in purposeful and rich conversations that most students would not be able to generate by themselves. Furthermore, Vygotsky 10 asserted that emotions and motivation are essential elements in the learning process. Children learn best when they feel emotionally engaged in learning activities (Bodrova, & Leong, 2007). Stories about bullying create a very emotional situation for both the victim and bully and elicit emotional reactions from students. By eliciting these emotional responses, students may internalize the stories, which could increase the possibility of their recognizing a bullying situation in their own lives. In turn, this could elicit recall of information they learned about bullying. Such learning may prevent them from taking part in bullying in the future or respond constructively to bullying. Research Problem Is it possible to influence the discernment of second graders concerning what bullying is, why bullying is wrong, and what they should do if they encounter someone, including himself or herself, being bullied? Additionally, can a treatment provide strategies that students could embrace to increase their coping skills if such a situation occurs? The aim of this study was to determine whether using bibliotherapy to examine bullying could affect students? awareness of bullying situations as a victim or bystander and their ability to identify possible solutions to conflicts associated with bullying. The goal was to evaluate the effects of bringing bullying to the attention of second graders to see if these experiences prepared them to understand the definition of bullying and why a student might bully and might not retaliate when being bullied. Research Questions 1. Do students who have completed a bibliotherapy treatment addressing bullying differ in their recall about the content of the books read aloud from a control group who read other narrative trade books? 11 2. Do students who have completed a bibliotherapy treatment addressing bullying differ in their ability to apply knowledge about bullying to an imagined bullying situation from a control group who read other narrative trade books? Statement of Hypotheses The following null hypotheses provided the foundation for statistical tests used to analyze the data resulting from this study. H01: Students will not differ in their recall about the content of books read to them during the experiment as measured by posttest. H02: Second grade students, after completing a treatment of bibliotherapy, will not differ in their ability to apply knowledge about bullying to an imagined bullying situation from a control group who read other narrative trade books. Scope and Limitations This study?s scope was limited to the definition of bullying described above. For the purposes of this study, the definition of bullying was limited to actual physical harm or the threat of physical harm. Given that participants were second graders, the idea of hurting someone?s feelings may not be understandable. To adults, telling the truth about something is not considered bullying, but to a second grader, even if a comment is true, it may still hurt the student?s feelings. For example, a second grader may state a truthful comment about a student who is dirty or has on dirty clothes, which is not bullying. However, if a student continually makes comments about the same student?s situation and encourages others to comment, that would be considered bullying because the student is bringing inappropriate attention to a situation the student may not have control over. 12 An additional limitation was the study was limited to verbal and written responses rather than behavioral observations. This is a limitation due to the possibility that the second graders may not be able to apply their written responses in an actual bullying situation. Further discussions of the limitations are discussed at length in the discussion section. Assumptions of the Study This study was grounded in the assumptions that the administration, scoring, and reporting of all student surveys, writings, and discussions were accurate. The data collected represent the student?s best efforts on the employed measures. It was assumed that students directly taught about bullying would maintain their understanding of bullying and recognize it in future situations. An additional assumption was that children who express opposition to bullying in writing would be less likely to engage in real life bullying in the future. Significance of the Study According to the research, incidences of bullying are rising across the United States and in other countries (Hughes et al., 2009). Despite this, school districts have limited funds for commercial programs to address the topic of bullying. The results of this study have the potential to demonstrate that using easily accessible trade books, modeled with purposeful and rich discussion, could have a positive effect on students? knowledge of bullying and strategies for conflict resolution. These strategies could lead teachers in the primary grades to address bullying and conflict resolution in read-alouds and reduce bullying in later schooling. 13 Chapter II: Review of Literature This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section is a review of the limited research literature on bullying. This section includes reports of survey results, articles, and editorials that call for more research on bullying. The second section is a review of qualitative and quantitative research on bibliotherapy. The third section is a discussion of findings that support the design of the study. Bullying Dan Olweus is known as the father of bullying research for the vast amount of research he has completed and due to the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) he created. In 1983, after three young adolescent boys committed suicide in northern Norway in response to severe bullying, Norway?s Ministry of Education commissioned Olweus to conduct a large research study and intervention project on bullying. The result of this research study was the creation of the OBPP. This program led to positive results in two additional projects in Norway. It is now being used all over Norway and has been implemented with successful results in other countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. When the OBPP was being considered for use in the United States, Dr. Olweus worked closely with Dr. Sue Limber and Dr. Gary Melton of Clemson University (Brown University, 2005). Olweus? background in identifying bullying as a school problem supports the need for action to reduce bullying situations and to provide strategies for conflict resolution. Olweus? program targets students of all grade levels. All students participate in most of the aspects of the programs, and the students who are identified as bullies or targets of bullies receive additional individual interventions. The program identifies risk 14 factors for bullying such as 1) temperament, including lack of empathy, difficulty conforming to rules, lack of tolerance, violence, and a decreasing interest in school; 2) the bully?s family, including lack of parental involvement, overly permissive parents, poor discipline, and lack of parental supervision; 3) peers, including friends with violent attitudes; and 4) school, including teacher and student acceptance or indifference to bullying (Brown University, 2005). The program restructures or attempts to restructure the school environment to reduce opportunities for bullying. It is the responsibility of the school faculty to introduce and implement the program. The idea is to improve student relationships to make the school a safe and positive learning environment for students. At the beginning of the program, an anonymous questionnaire is administered to students and then analyzed. Then a Bullying Prevention Coordinating Committee is formed. The committee develops school-wide rules and measures to improve supervisory aspects for break periods. The teachers hold weekly 20-40 minute classroom meetings. Once the program has been implemented, the school receives technical assistance and follow-up consultations to the site coordinator every 3 to 4 weeks during the first year. All teachers are required to have a copy of the Teacher?s Handbook and Bullying at School. There are other required elements such as the Olweus questionnaire and software for processing and evaluating student responses. Access to one OBPP videotape and guidebook is required for every six classrooms. The OBPP has been identified as being successful due to its interventions on three levels: school-wide interventions, classroom interventions, and individual interventions (Brown University, 2005). 15 Five studies used surveys to gather their information. Results from the surveys determined that students feel that bullying is prevalent in schools. One of the surveys by Flynt and Morton (2008) was conducted with administrators. Results indicated that administrators did not feel bullying was a large issue in their schools. Flaspohler, Elfstrom, Vanderzee, and Sink (2009) collected survey data from schools that had used the OBPP with a total of 4,331 students from grades three through eight. In addition to using the ten items from the OBPP program questionnaire, these researchers also used the Brief Multi-dimensional Students? Life Satisfaction Scale to assess the relationship between bullying, life satisfaction, and social support from teachers and peers and the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale to measure social support from parents, teachers, classmates, and close friends. The researchers compared scores from the questionnaire and two scales to examine the relationships between bullying, life satisfaction, and social support. After controlling for students? grade and gender and analyzing their findings, Flaspohler et al. (2009) found that students who did not report being engaged in bullying situations reported better quality of life and higher life satisfaction and felt more supported by teachers and peers than students who reported being a bully or being a victim of bullying. The results of this study indicated that students who were victims of bullying were less satisfied with their lives and felt less socially supported by peers than the students who bullied them. Findings also suggested that the students who were had been both victims and bullies reported the least life satisfaction and least support from teachers and peers. Students who perceived they had both peer and teacher social support exhibited the weakest association between victimization and quality of life, which suggested that having peer social support along 16 with teacher support provided the strongest buffer against the negative effects of bullying. According to Flaspohler et al. (2009), the use of bullying programs such as the OBPP reduced the occurrence of bullying in schools. Hamaarus and Kaikkonen (2008) used self-report data from 85 students from 13 to 15 years of age. Students were invited to a seminar and asked to write essays about their own bullying experiences. The following year another seminar was held, and 10 of the students who had previously admitted to being bullies were interviewed individually so that researchers could obtain a more in-depth understanding of bullying. Using qualitative methods to draw information from students? writing, Hamaarus and Kaikkonen (2008) found that students who were perceived as being different by peers were more likely to be bullied. Some examples of being considered different are students who are quiet, shy, timid, sensitive, unfashionable, and unhealthy. When they examined students? writing, Hamaarus and Kaikkonen (2008) found that students described various acts of bullying such as teasing, silencing, fooling, ritualizing, and protecting the unity of the group. In this study, students indicated that they engaged in bullying just for fun and to prevent the boredom of everyday life. The researchers reported that bullying begins with teasing and that teasing in itself has three goals. First, teasing makes it possible to find out who will join in or support the bullying. Second, outcomes of teasing tell the would-be bully about the community?s attitudes toward power relationships. Third, the bully is able to acquire knowledge about how the target of teasing will react. Silencing is another type of bullying. When a student was made an outcast by the group due to humiliation, he or she was silenced. Silencing occurred directly by telling 17 the victim to shut up or by making noises as a group while the outcast tried to speak in class. The outcast was then isolated and in turn isolated himself or herself from the community. Rituals were used to produce power and to oppress. Rituals connected to bullying required the presence of an audience, and they often caused social turmoil, which created a distraction to the group dynamic and caused discord among students. Rituals included repeated kicking, which gave the bully power; afterwards, just the threat of physical bullying was used by the bully because the fear of physical bullying was instilled in the victim. Hamaarus and Kaikkonen (2008) determined there were several reasons for bullying and several reasons for why peers go along with bullying. The researchers found that bullying was a cultural and social phenomenon with interaction and communication as the crucial elements, and they noted that bullying must involve the victim(s) and one or more students who do the bullying. These researchers stated bullying was not always a long-standing process because it often occurred in small interactive incidents. Bullying incidents often did not involve the same individuals over long periods of time but instead erupted over seemingly meaningless incidents and involved any students for a class period or less. Hamaarus and Kaikkonen (2008) suggested it is very important that teachers get to know their students so that they are not misled or even unknowingly used in a bullying situation. In their writings, students reported when a teacher observed a bullying situation and began to intervene, he or she often had only partial information about the situation. Some bullying events continued because the students deliberately kept their teachers in the dark and unaware of the full story. 18 Overall, the results of the studies conducted by Flaspholer et al. (2009) and Hamaarus and Kaikkonen (2008) suggested that teacher involvement affects bullying, students? feelings toward themselves, and bullies themselves. Different types of bullying needed to be handled in different ways, and the teachers involved needed to make sure they were aware of the full situation of the problem instead of only the part they witnessed themselves. Hughes, Middleton and Marshall (2009) investigated students? perceptions about the seriousness of bullying, their personal involvement in bullying, their responses to being bullied or seeing someone else being bullied, and their suggestions of how to reduce bullying. They surveyed 2,651 third graders, 2,731 fifth graders, and 2,466 seventh graders. Teachers read the following definition of bullying to the students before they completed the questionnaire. Bullying occurs when someone with more power hurts another person?s body, things, or feelings on purpose and over and over again. Bullying is not an accident; it is a mean behavior by one student or several students?It is not bullying when students of equal power or strength argue or fight, or when there is friendly teasing (Hughes et al., 2009, p. 219) Hughes et al. (2009) found that 90% of the children believed that bullying others was hurtful to people, and 19% of students worried about being bullied often or daily. In this sample, girls worried more than boys, and younger students worried more than older students. Six percent of students reported never being bullied, while 40% of third graders reported being bullied every week or every day at their respective schools. Children 19 claimed that bullying took place most often on the playground (70%) or the bus (42%), and also occurred in halls (36%), bathrooms (28%), classrooms (23%), and the cafeteria (23%). Hughes and colleagues identified three types of bullying: physical, social, and sexual. Fourteen percent of students reported that physical bullying occurred often or daily. Twelve percent of girls and sixteen percent of boys reported physical bullying overall. Twenty-three percent of students reported daily social bullying, and eight percent of fifth and seventh graders reported sexual bullying on a frequent or daily basis. Hughes et al. (2009) also investigated students? identification of themselves as bullies and victims. Overall, out of the 7,848 students, 28% reported they were never bullied at all, 62% were bullied once in a while, and 10% were bullied often or daily. The 10% who reported being frequent victims comprised 800 students, and 154 of these students reported being physically, socially, or sexually bullied. Three groups of students were studied: those who were bullied frequently, those bullied infrequently, and those who stepped in when they saw a victim of bullying. The researchers found four noteworthy results. The results showed that 31% reported the bullying to an adult; 3% reported joining a bullying incident, and more victims reported incidents than by- standers. Some children who were frequent victims reported they actually joined in the bullying of others more than twice as often as children who were not frequently bullied. Hughes et al. (2009) asked students what adults could do to make them feel safer in school. The most frequent suggestion was for adults to supervise better. The third graders wanted the adults to make rules against bullying (46%) and teach lessons about how to get along better (31%). In the seventh grade only 16% thought the adults should make rules against bullying, and only 17% thought lessons might help. 20 All of the previous studies had different definitions of bullying, which demonstrated the lack of a single definition for bullying or criteria for categorizing bullying situations. In each of the studies, researchers gave a slightly different definition, which means that the student participants may not have considered some situations bullying across the studies. Researchers and educators need a comprehensive definition of bullying to help teachers and administrators identify and handle these situations more effectively. Atlas and Pepper (1998) took a different approach to studying bullying by using naturalistic observations of bullying situations in action. They videotaped 190 students in the eight classrooms. Of these 190 students, 34 were identified by teachers as students who may have bullying tendencies. Atlas and Pepper (1998) videotaped classroom and playground interactions and examined how often and what type of bullying occurred in relation to individual characteristics such as gender and aggressiveness for bullies and victims within the interactions. They also studied the characteristics of the bully-victim relationship, specifically assessing the physical power imbalance or size difference between the bully and the victim. The last assessment was of social factors that comprised the frequency and type of peer and teacher involvement and the setting and time of day within the classroom in which bullying interactions occurred. Results indicated that boys were identified as victims more frequently than girls and that aggressiveness and bullying behaviors were associated with aggressive children more likely to be bullies. In the Atlas and Pepper (1998) study, the teachers in the video were generally unaware of the bullying, and the peer group was unwilling to intervene to stop the 21 bullying. Of the 60 documented bullying episodes, teachers only intervened 11 times. The videos documented whether the teacher was aware of the bullying situation, whether she intervened, or whether she was aware bullying was taking place. The peers, however, never intervened, and researchers did not determine whether it was because they did not know how or just did not want to get involved. Atlas and Pepper?s (1998) major findings were that bullying was pervasive in these classes, teachers were generally unaware of it, and that the bystanders were reluctant to intervene and to stop the bullying. These findings were consistent with results from Hughes et al. (2009) in that teachers were generally unaware of bullying occurrences, and the peer group did not succeed in helping in bullying situations. The studies reviewed here all dealt with student perceptions and actions related to bullying. These studies confirmed there were bullying situations taking place in school settings. Students perceived themselves as bullies, victims, or both. Students usually felt that adults could or should do more to help prevent bullying. Bauman, Ribgy, and Hoppa (2008) surveyed teachers and counselors in the U.S. on the topic of bullying, and Flynt and Morton (2008) surveyed principals. In both cases the researchers used surveys to determine the attitudes of the adults in school settings. Bauman et al. (2008) surveyed teachers and school counselors to determine what they felt were their professional roles in a bullying situation, whether or not their school had anti- bullying policies, and whether they had received any anti-bullying training. The researchers determined that there were five relatively independent ways of addressing bullying in schools: 1) to ignore the situation, 2) to discipline the bully by applying consequences, 3) to work with the victim to promote assertiveness, 4) to seek help from 22 other adults in the school to help with the bully, and 5) to work primarily with the bully or bullies using a problem-solving approach. Bauman et al. used a scenario-based questionnaire that required participants to answer 22 questions describing how they might respond to the scenario using a five-point scale. Higher scores indicated stronger endorsement of the strategy. Results showed that counselors and teachers responded that they would discipline the bully, enlist other adults to work with the bully, and work personally with the bully at a higher rate than the other choices listed on the survey. Some of the other choices offered were to let someone else sort it out, let students sort it out themselves, tell kids to grow up, ignore it, and suggest the victim be more assertive. Bauman et al. (2008) demonstrated that there was a difference in bullying rates if the school had an explicit policy on bullying. There were lower scores for ignoring the incident and higher scores for enlisting other adults when there was a school bullying policy in place. Having a school program or policy about bullying also appeared to raise awareness of the importance of responding. The use of a program, however, did not seem to result in clarifying for educators what actions they should take in response to an incident. One of the most striking findings of this study was the difference between counselors and teachers regarding modes of responding to bullying. For all items except work with the bully, counselors? scores were significantly different from those of teachers. These findings provided grounds for concern regarding current practices in the training of educators to deal effectively with bullying. Of the educators who answered this survey, 86% had not received anti-bullying training in either undergraduate pre- service training or in graduate programs, and 42% of the respondents worked in schools without an anti-bullying policy. Only a third of the participants had received in-service 23 training about bullying. This lack of training and policies related to prevention or intervention for bullying is disturbing in an age when bullying is a prevalent source of harm to students in our schools (Bauman et al., 2008). Flynt and Morton (2008) specifically surveyed a portion of the school population to determine whether they felt bullying was a problem in their school systems in relation to students with disabilities. The researchers surveyed 75 elementary school principals in Alabama. Only 49 of the 75 principals completed the survey; 70% of principals were female with fewer than 10 years of administrative experience. Forty-seven percent of participants described their school settings as urban; school populations ranged from 100 to more than 300 students enrolled. The survey was particularly designed to determine principals? perceptions of bullying as it related to students with disabilities. The results showed 85% of the principals replied that bullying was a minor problem. Ten percent replied bullying was a significant problem; less than 1% replied the problem was nonexistent, and 69% responded that there was an anti-bullying policy in place at their school. Only 37% responded that their system provided a specific intervention program or training for teachers on the subject of bullying, and 87% responded that their school would benefit from an anti-bullying policy. Overall, Flynt and Morton?s (2008) results suggested that principals in Alabama elementary schools did not see bullying as a significant problem. However, with respect to students with disabilities, school personnel needed to effectively respond to incidents when bullying occurred. The principals reported they did not see bullying as a significant problem, but they did think their school would benefit from an anti-bullying policy. 24 In conclusion, these studies demonstrated that bullying does exist in schools. Even though principals may not think bullying is a problem in their schools, teachers and counselors recognize the problem. In these studies all adults in the school setting, including principals, teachers, and counselors, felt that training in bullying prevention would be beneficial in their school. Bibliotherapy The origins of bibliotherapy date to classical antiquity when the reading of selected literature was regarded as psychotherapeutic and morally uplifting. Although the term bibliotherapy was not coined until much later, philosophers such as Aristotle believed that the healing force of literature was a function of its capacity to arouse certain affective states in the reader (Stevens & Pfost, 1982). The word bibliotherapy first appeared in 1930 in an article by G. O. Ireland. However, two psychiatrists, William and Karl Menninger, were among the first to foster an interest in therapeutic reading as an aid to mental healing (Anderson, 2013). The process of bibliotherapy now used in educational settings is largely credited to Caroline Shrodes (1950), who completed one of the first dissertations on bibliotherapy. The American Library Association gave its support to bibliotherapy early in the twentieth century (Anderson, 2013). Simply stated, bibliotherapy is the use of books to help people solve problems (Prater et al., 2006). Riordan and Wilson (1989) refer to bibliotherapy as the guided reading of written materials for the purpose of gaining understanding or solving problems relevant to a person?s therapeutic needs. Bibliotherapy can help teachers address students? emotional well-being because it focuses on the needs of the whole child. Books allow teachers to become involved with students who are experiencing stress and 25 negativity in their lives. Most teachers recognize that students? home lives affect their ability to learn in school and understand that it is important that they reach their students emotionally. There are few, if any, research-supported classroom practices for helping students cope with emotional issues; however, school-based research on bibliotherapy has the potential to fill this void. Using literature to help students recognize that other people deal with situations and feelings similar to their own can help the student cope. Literature can also sharpen perception and deepen empathy, even if the reader is not experiencing emotional turmoil personally (Prater et al., 2006), and it can be used by teachers to help students develop compassion for others. After reviewing the research on bibliotherapy, Stevens and Pfost (1982) concluded that its popularity and the practice of reading books for therapeutic purposes was based on exhortation and opinion rather than evidence from experimental investigations. They found that journal articles supporting the practice over the past 70 years were generally repetitious and uninformative. Stevens and Pfost (1982) reported that there were few empirical studies to back claims that bibliotherapy positively affected outcomes such as academic achievement, assertiveness, attitude and behavioral change, fear reduction, helper effectiveness, marital and couple accord, self-concept, self- development, or even weight loss. Schrank and Engles (1981) identified a need for research on bibliotherapy as it might be useful for school counselors, therapists, and teachers who work with individuals or groups and wish to tap the benefits of reading for guidance or instruction. They cautioned counselors and educators to be aware, however, that the effects of bibliotherapy had not been examined empirically. They pointed out that few studies had 26 tested bibliotherapy in experimental investigations, although there were many publications that described bibliotherapy, explained what it had been used for, and reported its application in particular settings. Stevens and Pfost (1982) and Schrank and Engels (1981) carried out meta- analyses on bibliotherapy. Only five studies had student participants from kindergarten to third grade. The remainder involved middle school, high school, or adults as participants in studies. These reviews of literature on bibliotherapy were conducted in the early 1980s, and more recently only a few more studies have investigated its effects with children in the primary grades. This review will be restricted to participants in the primary grades. The literature discussing bibliotherapy fell into three general categories. The first category concerned analyses of interest in and uses of bibliotherapy and its successes in clinical settings. The second category concerned the use of bibliotherapy in the classroom setting. The third category included experimental studies. Shrank and Engels (1981) looked at the use of bibliotherapy in the counseling situations. They defined bibliotherapy as a guided reading strategy that helps individuals gain understandings of the self and environment, learn from others, or find solutions to problems. These authors determined there are three parts to bibliotherapy: identification, catharsis, and insight. Identification begins with an affinity between a reader and a character or situation in a story. Catharsis takes place when readers relate their own experiences to those of characters in positive and negative situations presented in literature. The reader gains insight for dealing with interpersonal and personal conflict, coping with stress, and assuming more positive and productive attitudes and behaviors. 27 The studies reviewed by Shrank and Engels (1981) focused on the usefulness of bibliotherapy for increasing positive attitudes and behaviors, self-development, and emotional and psychological well-being. In addition they reviewed three studies with children showing mixed results; two reported that bibliotherapy reduced fear and anxiety but the other found no effect. There were also mixed results for academic achievement and helper effectiveness. Bibliotherapy was not effective for fostering assertiveness or for marital or couple accord. Shrank and Engels (1981) identified the following implications for using bibliotherapy as an adjunct to counseling: 1) Bibliotherapy might be useful to counselors and therapists in their work with individuals and groups; 2) bibliotherapy might be useful to school counselors and teachers who wish to videotape the uses of guided reading for guidance or instructional practices; and 3) counselors should be aware that recommending bibliotherapy to teachers may not guarantee its actual usefulness and benefits. Stevens and Pfost (1982) organized their review of studies into five distinct categories: exhortatory articles, attempts to relate bibliotherapy to other aspects of professional practice, general descriptive research, case studies, and experimental research. The experimental studies they found dealt with using bibliotherapy to help with weight loss, treat phobias, and modify self-concepts and prejudices. Stevens and Pfost found methodological deficiencies in design, instrumentation, sampling, and treatment procedures, along with variability issues. These findings suggested that bibliotherapy could not be determined to be effective until more experimental studies were conducted and replicated. 28 A third analysis of bibliotherapy in clinical settings was carried out by Riordan and Wilson (1989), who referred to bibliotherapy as the guided reading of written materials by teachers with students for the purpose of gaining understanding or solving problems relevant to a person?s needs. Riordan and Wilson attempted to extend the work of Shrank and Engels (1981), and Stevens and Pfost (1982) by including more recent studies in their analysis. The studies reviewed had fewer than ten participants, and they showed mixed outcomes as in the previous reviews. Only one of four studies on attitude changes supported bibliotherapy. They also found 14 more studies on behavioral changes, out of which 11 reported positive results. They found six studies that assessed the use of bibliotherapy for improving self-concepts. Results showed improvement in three studies and no change in three studies. Riordan and Wilson (1989) found that many of the studies they summarized used bibliotherapy as a competing treatment without any explicit theoretical rationale, or they used it in combination with other treatments, which made it difficult to determine the effects of bibliotherapy alone. From the research that was deemed valid, Riordan and Wilson (1989) provided these observations. First, research with behaviorally-based reading materials such as self-help programs has increased the research related to bibliotherapy. Second, fiction, poetry, or inspirational materials for bibliotherapy did not have as much effect as non- fiction materials, which may have been the case because behaviorally-oriented materials were easier to use in empirical studies. Third, even though there were mixed research results, there was a growing interest in bibliotherapy among clinicians, and survey results suggested that uses of bibliotherapy were increasing. 29 According to the three meta-analyses (Schrank & Engles 1981; Stevens & Pfost 1982; Riordan & Wilson 1989), there were only certain areas in which bibliotherapy had produced definite positive results: attitude change, behavioral change, self-development, and emotional and psychological well-being. There were many areas in which bibliotherapy demonstrated mixed results, such as academic achievement, fear reduction, and helper effectiveness. Unfortunately, many experimental designs were not strong enough to determine whether the use of bibliotherapy caused positive results. The second group of studies concerned the use of bibliotherapy in classroom settings. These studies were not experimental in design, though they did offer insight as to the circumstances under which bibliotherapy could be useful. Gavigan and Kurtts (2011) determined that using bibliotherapy could be a valuable instructional tool for creating an inclusive classroom. Examining disabilities through children and young adult literature was one way to facilitate students? understanding and acceptance of individual differences. These authors suggested a framework including pre-reading, guided reading, and post-reading discussion, and they recommended books to increase awareness about student disabilities ranging from attention disorders to visual impairments. Gavigan and Kurtts (2011) cited two examples of teacher preparation programs that supported using bibliotherapy in classrooms. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of South Carolina both teach the bibliotherapy approach to teacher candidates to help them learn how to promote empathy and the understanding of diversity in special education classes. Prater et al. (2006) defined bibliotherapy as the use of books to help students solve problems. It can be used to provide information, stimulate discussion, create 30 awareness, and in some cases provide solutions to problems. Prater et al. (2006) found that bibliotherapy encouraged students to express their problems and concerns freely to one another. They provided evidence that using books to illustrate problems could help students to deal with similar problems they may have experienced. They demonstrated that bibliotherapy helped students analyze their own thoughts and behaviors in relation to themselves and to others around them. The students were able to recognize similarities between themselves and characters in books and identify behaviors of the characters as they responded to situations such as divorce, child neglect, suicide, and parental death. Prater et al. (2006) hypothesized that bibliotherapy can provide the tools needed to help students solve their problems: As they read about characters in books solving problems, students took in this information and applied it to their own lives, which helped to reduce the anxiety students felt about their own lives because they saw characters successfully coping with similar situations. In this sense, bibliotherapy provided the students new ways to address and handle their problems that they may not have thought of on their own. In addition, Prater et al. (2006) stated that bibliotherapy can also be a technique for teaching appropriate social and developmental skills such as friendship, work ethics, and kindness. Prater et al. (2006), critiqued studies reporting classroom research on bibliotherapy conducted by other investigators. They pointed out that other researchers did not use a consistent definition of bibliotherapy, and that many studies lacked sound research designs, which limited the researchers? ability to attribute effects to bibliotherapy rather than to some other causes. In spite of these design problems, Prater, and colleagues concluded that bibliotherapy can open doors to appreciation of good 31 literature while helping students cope with real life situations, thus enhancing the probability of success both academically and socially. Stamps (2003), a gifted education specialist, contended that bibliotherapy could be a strategy that helps students overcome or deal with current problems in their lives. She listed the following reasons for using bibliotherapy: 1) to help develop a child?s self- concept and help nurture and heal the self-esteem; 2) to increase the possibility that the student will understand himself/herself and others more fully; 3) to help a child to appraise himself or herself honestly; 4) to assist the child in discovering outside interests; 5) to help relieve emotional pressures; 6) to demonstrate to the child that he or she is not the first or only one to face a specific problem or challenge and that there is more than one way to solve a problem; and 7) to foster discussions of problems and provide a constructive method of solving the problem or meeting the challenge. Stamps (2003) differentiated between developmental bibliotherapy and clinical bibliotherapy. Developmental bibliotherapy is the act of meeting needs before they become problems, while clinical bibliotherapy is conducted by trained psychotherapists for serious emotional or behavioral problems. In her work with gifted students, Stamps (2003) used developmental bibliotherapy. She agreed with Schrank and Engels (1981) that the bibliotherapy process includes identification, catharsis, and insight, but added a fourth stage, universalization. Universalization is the act of putting oneself in someone else?s shoes to realize that people all over the world face similar challenges. In the experimental category, I found only one study by Shechtman (1999), who used bibliotherapy in the treatment of childhood aggression. There were 10 eight-year- old boys from the same class. In this group, 6 of the boys were identified as highly 32 aggressive, and the other 4 were added to make the group heterogeneous. The group was randomly divided into experimental and control groups. There were 3 aggressive boys in the treatment group and 3 in the control group. The experienced special education teachers who led the program were trained in a 56-hour continuing education program that focused on childhood aggression. The program itself consisted of ten 45-minute sessions that included short stories, poems, films, and pictures, focusing on possible themes that may lead to aggression. All materials were read aloud to the students. Aggression and other behaviors were measured through a 15-item Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (ACBC). There was a self-report and a teacher report. The behavior measures during group sessions included self-disclosure, responsiveness, empathy, insight (a key behavior in group therapy), and aggression. The verbal responses of the boys were analyzed based on these topics for each session. Schechtman (1999) reported results that showed a decrease in the level of aggression reported by both students and teachers in the bibliotherapy treatment group. There was no change in reports of aggression by teachers or students in the control group. In the treatment group, teachers reported higher levels of aggression than the students reported, but the overall level of aggression decreased. All but one child in the treatment group were assessed as improved by their teacher. The results across sessions differed slightly. The students in the treatment group demonstrated increases in all of the constructive behaviors measured, i.e., self-disclosure, responsiveness, empathy, and insight. After session four, insight sharply increased, but after the eighth session, insight sharply decreased. Empathy and responsiveness increased in the sixth session, but decreased in later sessions. Self-disclosure increased in the fifth session and then 33 remained high throughout the rest of the sessions. The most aggressive student had a turning point in the sixth session when his aggressive behaviors decreased and all dimensions of constructive behaviors started to increase. Schechtman?s (1999) research was particularly informative because it was the only study that demonstrated causal effects of bibliotherapy for reducing reports of aggression and increasing reports of constructive behaviors. Findings that Support Bibliotherapy Overall, previous research and classroom observations have demonstrated that in some areas, such as attitude changes and behavioral changes, there is support for the effectiveness of bibliotherapy. Stamps (2003) and Prater et al. (2006) claimed that using bibliotherapy in a classroom setting was a viable strategy for helping students in the primary grades cope with real life problems. Prater et al. (2006) identified book discussion as the mitigating factor that makes bibliotherapy a positive treatment. These researchers speculated that just reading a book about bullying may not produce changes in the thinking of the reader unless considerable discussion occurs about the topic and characters. Little research addressed bullying and or assessed the potential of bibliotherapy to positively affect students? awareness of ways to resolve conflicts related to bullying. The research on bullying indicates that an individual can take the role of victim or bully or both, and that teachers, counselors, and instructional leaders are not always aware there is a bullying problem in their classrooms or schools. The studies reviewed showed that bibliotherapy tends to produce changes in attitudes and behaviors. 34 Therefore, bibliotherapy has the potential to increase students? awareness of positive ways to resolve conflicts related to bullying situations. 35 Chapter III: Methods and Procedures This chapter describes the experimental design, methods, and procedures used in this study and includes a description of the collection and analysis of data. Topics included in this chapter include participants, materials, and procedures. Participants The participants in this study were students in the second grade who attended a suburban school in central Alabama that serves a community of approximately 34,000 residents. This school served only first and second grade students. At the time of this study, this school qualified as a Title One school because 52% of students qualified for free or reduced lunches. During the 2010-2011 school year when data were collected, there were 641 students enrolled in this primary grades school, and the total number of second graders was 310. This school was divided into Learning Communities, which were groups of four to five classes. The teachers in each Community planned instruction, took field trips, and had physical education and lunch together. These classes usually were grouped together by location in the school. Two different buildings housed second-grade students at the school. There were 18 second-grade classrooms divided into four Learning Communities, two with four classes, and the other two with five classes. For purposes of scheduling, one learning community was asked to participate in this study. This Learning Community had five classes, but only four were used in the study, as I was the teacher in the fifth classroom. The teachers were chosen based on their schedules and availability to participate and their willingness to take part in the study. Teachers did not receive any remuneration for their efforts. 36 Student participants were all part of the same Learning Community and ranged from seven to nine years of age. Participants were 36 males and 33 females. Of these students, 18 were African American, 49 were European American, and 2 were non- identified, i.e., the parents did not identify the child?s ethnicity on any registration form. All students were native English speakers. Eight were identified as special education students who received speech therapy or additional instruction from special education teachers. At the time of this study, there were no formal lessons or classes about bullying taking place in the school. The students did go to the guidance counselor once a month to participate in 40-minute sessions for which the counselor chose the topics. When the researcher discussed this study with the counselor, the researcher was informed that the counselor did not specifically focus on bullying during any of her sessions. I obtained written consent from the principal granting permission to collect data for this study (see Appendix A). I also obtained signed informed consent forms for participation in this study from each student?s parents by sending consent letters to the home of each of the students in the four participating classrooms (see Appendix B). Of the 70 students invited to participate, only one did not return the consent form. This student was excused from the assessments associated with the study but took part in the instructional activities. The excellent return rate for consent forms owed to the fact the parents were familiar with the researcher as a veteran teacher in this school. Students were rewarded for returning their permission slips with Tootsie Rolls dispensed by their classroom teachers. The 69 returned forms were assigned numbers, which were then randomly 37 divided into four groups, two being the control groups, and two being the experimental or treatment groups. The researcher asked the school secretary to pull the names from the school?s attendance system without identifying students in any way. Once I received the list, I assigned each student a number from one to sixty-nine. I cut each name apart, tossed the individual names together, and then pulled them one by one and placed them sequentially in groups numbered from one to four. Once each group had either 17 or 18 students, I assigned each student a number that I used to code pretest and posttest pictures of bullying situations presented to individual children for the picture identification task. The school had a time set aside during the classroom day for intervention activities. During intervention time, the majority of the students read silently and took Accelerated Reader tests on computers. The teachers used this time to meet with individuals and small groups to work on reading strategies. The three classroom teachers who agreed to participate in the study were randomly assigned to groups by drawing names. All three of these teachers held Master?s Degrees in early childhood or elementary education. They had an average of 12 years of teaching experience. All of the teachers had been identified as master teachers by the state of Alabama and had pre-service teachers as interns in their classrooms. The first two names pulled from the hat were in the treatment group; the last teacher and I, were in the control group. Each teacher chose one of the four lists of students. Once the lists were chosen by the teachers identified as control or treatment groups, I then gave each student on each list a code so the teachers could make sure that scores on the pre- and posttests were coded and recorded correctly for each student. 38 Materials One of the materials for pretest in this study was a researcher-created survey about bullying (see Appendix C). The survey was used as a pretest only and consisted of seven questions to determine what students understood about bullying. The students were asked to circle a happy face for yes or a sad face for no. The questions were: 1. Have you ever heard the word bully? 2. Has a bully ever frightened you? 3. Would you know what to do if a bully frightened you? 4. Have you listened to any stories about bullying? 5. Do you think there is a bully in your class? 6. Do you think there are bullies at your school? 7. Has a teacher, parent, or counselor ever talked to you about bullying? In addition to the researcher-created survey, four pictures were found on the Internet that showed children from different ethnic groups in bullying situations. The pictures showed children approximately the same age as students in the study and depicted both males and females in both the victim and bullying roles. Each child in the treatment and control groups saw one picture for the picture for the pretest and a different picture for the posttest. These pictures were used to assess knowledge of bullying, e.g., to determine if the students could recognize a bullying situation if they saw one. The four pictures used as the pretest and posttest can be found in Appendix D. The ten trade books used in the study for the treatment group were chosen because all contained content about bullying. Five of these books had the term bullying or bully in the title, and five did not. I chose these books because they were easily 39 accessible in the school?s library. These were books to which the students had access but the teachers in their classrooms had not read them aloud. The books used for this study were: 1. Cosby, Bill. (1997). The Meanest Thing To Say. New York: Scholastic. 2. Lester, Helen. (1999). Hooway for Wodney Wat. New York: Scholastic. 3. O?Neill, Alexis. (2002). The Recess Queen. New York: Scholastic. 4. Richards, Kitty. (2004). Back Off, Bully Boys! New York: Simon Spotlight. 5. Penn, Audrey. (2008). Chester Raccoon & the Big, Bad, Bully. New York: Scholastic. 6. Nickle, John. (1999). The Ant Bully. New York: Scholastic. 7. Kroll, Steven. (2006). Jungle Bullies. New York: Scholastic. 8. Polacco, Patricia. (2001). Mr. Lincoln?s Way. New York: Scholastic. 9. Berenstain Jan and Stan. (1993). The Berenstain Bears and the Bully. New York: Random House. 10. Polacco, Patricia. (1998). Thank you, Mr. Falkner. New York: Philomel Books. The books with bullying content were classified as trade books because they were sold for profit and they were not marketed as textbooks. The books chosen were colorful picture books with illustrations of interesting characters and settings on every page. They were short stories that could be read in one sitting. The books chosen for the control group were also trade books that were three books from the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. These books were illustrated chapter books that did not contain pictures on every page, and they were 40 chosen for their popularity with children in the primary grades. Several of the teachers in the study used the Magic Tree House books in their classrooms. However, books chosen for the study were ones that had not been read to any of the participants during the school year. Unfamiliar books in the series were selected to keep students from being disinterested because they had heard the book previously read aloud. I chose titles with content that did not invite any discussion of bullying or bullies. The list of books for the control group was as follows: 1. Osborne, Mary Pope. (2003). High Tide in Hawaii. New York: Random House. 2. Osborne, Mary Pope. (2009). Dark Day in the Deep Sea. New York: Random House. 3. Osborne, Mary Pope. (2009). Moonlight on the Magic Flute. New York: Random House. The teachers in the control group were instructed to read and discuss the chapters. They were required only to stay within the 20-minute time frame that was the same as the session duration for the treatment group. More discussion was required depending on the chapter, and there was no limit on the number of chapters read in one sitting. I chose these three titles because they had no content about bullying or bullies. A complete list of books can be found in Appendix E. The treatment group teachers were given a list of scripted questions for each book to standardize the treatment. The number of questions ranged from one to nine, with an average of four questions for all the books. Examples of the questions for Cosby?s (1997) The Meanest Thing to Say follows below. 1. Have you ever been the new kid at school? 41 2. How would you feel about playing a game like the dozens? 3. What do you think Little Bill decides to do? 4. What do you think about Big Bill?s answer to the problem? An entire list of questions for all of the books can be found in Appendix F. There were four researcher-created posttests used in this study. The first posttest was the picture identification task, which used the same four pictures as the pretest. However, each student was given a different picture than the one that he or she had responded to on the pretest. The students were again asked to write about what was happening in the picture. Different pictures were given in order to avoid the possibility that students might recall and repeat their responses to the pretest picture. The teachers were instructed to ask the students to look at the picture and write a story on the back about what they thought was happening in the picture. The written responses to pictures presented in posttests were scored in the same manner as the pretests. A score of 0 was given if the response had nothing to do with the scene in the picture. A score of 1 was given if the student?s response demonstrated a partial understanding of the scene, and a score of a 2 was given if the student produced an in-depth response about what was occurring in the scene. For each participant, posttest results were compared to the answers on the pretest to determine if hearing and discussing books about bullying produced greater gains in students? ability to identify bullying when they saw it in scenes depicted by the pictures than hearing and discussing books with no bullying content (see Table 3.1.) 42 Table 3.1 Scoring for picture identification task on pre- and posttests 0 The response had nothing to do with the picture. 1 The response demonstrated a partial understanding. 2 The response demonstrated an in-depth response to what was occurring in the scene. The term bully was used. The discernment test asked, ?What do you think the authors were trying to teach you in their stories and what were the main ideas of the stories you listened to?? These written responses were scored as follows: -1 point for an answer on a topic other than bullying, 0 points for no response, and +1 if the answer identified bullying in some way. This test was designed to determine if the students in both groups were engaged enough in the read-alouds to understand the main idea, which is a literacy skill taught throughout second grade. The treatment and control groups? results of this test were compared to determine if reading aloud was an acceptable vehicle for teaching about such topics as bullying (see Table 3.2.) Table 3.2 Scoring for discernment posttest -1 Response did not reflect bullying 0 No response was given +1 Response reflected bullying The conflict resolution test was the third posttest. In this test, the students read a story starter and then wrote what they thought the two main characters should do in the situation. One of the characters was a bystander, and one was the victim of a bully. The purpose of the conflict resolution posttest was to determine whether students had learned behaviors for handling a bullying situation. Scores for the groups were compared to see 43 if listening to books and having discussions about bullying increased students? knowledge of ways for responding to bullying situations more than listening to and discussing books without bullying content. Responses to the conflict resolution tests were scored separately for both characters on a scale of -2 to +2 (see Table 3.3) and were based on Magda?s (1962) Story Sequence Analysis. The conflict resolution test was scored with both negative and positive numbers as indicators of students? negative or positive responses to bullying situations. Negative responses, for example, might be ones in which the student suggested that the victim become the bully in retaliation. A score of 0 was given to an answer in which the student gave a response that did not address the bullying situation problem in any fashion. Including an adult in the answer did not warrant a positive score, as adults are not always present to take care of these problems. An example of a positive response might be suggesting that the victim attempt to talk out the problem with the bully. More positive responses were ones in which the student devised a solution on their own and independently of any adult intervention (See Table 3.3.) Table 3.3 Scoring for conflict resolution posttest -2 Join the bullying Justify the bully?s action Retaliation that outweighs the insult -1 Ignore, avoid Slap/run away/ruminate about situation 0 No response Action that doesn?t affect bully +1 Controlling emotion Walk away Tell adult Make friends +2 Talk to bully about why wrong Demand recompense Organize kids against bully to discuss other options than bullying 44 The fourth posttest was the recall test in which the researcher asked five questions and audio taped the students? answers. Their homeroom teachers sent the students one at a time to my classroom during the intervention time to be tested. The questions were as follows: 1. Who were your favorite characters in the stories you listened to? 2. What was the main idea of the stories you listened to? 3. What did you learn from the stories you listened to? 4. Can you name any other characters others than your favorites? 5. Which story was your favorite? These questions were asked to determine if the students were engaged in listening to the stories and if they retained knowledge of the stories one week after the treatment and control activities. These questions were scored as follows. If the question was not answered or the answer did not pertain to any of the stories read, it received a 0. If the question was partially answered, it was given a 1. An example of a partial answer might be naming only one of the characters or part of a title of a book. A score of a 2 was given if the student gave a complete answer naming more than one character and giving details. Due to the age of the students, recall after one week was important not only as a measure of students? engagement in the read-aloud experience but also as an indicator of students? internalization and memory of information in the books read aloud. (See Table 3.4.) 45 Table 3.4 Scoring for recall posttest 0 No response Didn?t answer question 1 Partial response Only answered one part 2 Full response Complete details Copies of all four of the posttests can be found in Appendix G. Procedures As the researcher, I developed pretests, story choices, and posttests used in this study in a classroom during fall 2010. The students in this classroom were not involved in the study described in this dissertation which was conducted during spring 2011. Students with whom I worked with fall 2010 were asked for responses to the survey questions and pictures. I wanted to see if the wording of the questions and if the pictures were appropriate for second grade. The books were provided for the students to read on their own during silent reading time. The students and I then had a conversation about which stories they felt were their favorites and which stories they thought other students would like to hear teachers read aloud. As a result of this process, several books were excluded from the chosen list because children did not respond positively to them. To develop the posttests, I gave the students the discernment and conflict resolution posttests to determine if they were written in a format to which second graders could respond. The conflict resolution test was scored to determine whether the students knew what they should do in a bullying situation. The discernment test was scored to determine whether the students realized that all of the books were about bullying and why the stories were important. These results enabled me to reword questions and simplify the conflict 46 resolution test so that it would be easier for the students involved in the study to understand. Teacher Preparation It was necessary for me to become part of the study because one of the original classroom teacher participants had to drop out due to the illness of her child. I took the position of the teacher who dropped out. She was one of the control participants. Prior to beginning the study, I met with the three additional classroom teachers who would be completing the treatment or control activities to explain what would be occurring during the treatment and control sessions. All teachers were briefed on the experimental design and procedures used in the study. I met with both the control group teacher and the treatment group teachers at the same time for all meetings. The teachers agreed to conduct the sessions required for the study from 2:25 to 2:50 each day unless something came onto the school calendar that was not previously scheduled. The principal had given permission for the study to be conducted during the daily time scheduled for Social Sciences. At this time the teachers taught Science, Social Studies, Health, and Character Education. The principal agreed that activities and materials used in this study engaged students in Character Education and that the time designated for Social Sciences was the best period for these sessions. I explained that the treatment teachers would read one trade book aloud per day. They would read the book, holding it so students could see the pictures; when finished, they would ask the scripted questions and audiotape the students? answers. I also explained that some books were a little longer than others so that some days the reading would be finished in 20 minutes and other readings would take the full 30 minutes. I 47 explained that the control group teachers would read aloud chapters from three Magic Tree House books. On the days when reading for treatment groups took 20 minutes, control group teachers would read two chapters and discuss them, and when the treatment groups went longer, control readings and discussion would be for three chapters and take 30 minutes. The control group answers were not audiotaped. The tapes were analyzed for common themes about what to do when a student was bullied or what to do if a student witnessed a bullying situation. The discussions following the control groups? read-alouds were not designed to offer any type of insight to bullying so they were not given scripted questions or taped. The teachers were given all pretest materials and the books they were to read. Since there was only one copy of each of the treatment group books, teachers used one set of books the first week and then traded books with the other teacher for the second week?s readings. During the second meeting with the teachers, I gave out the lists of students that each teacher would be working with in their groups. Each student was given a randomly selected code such as KG1. These codes enabled us to link their pre and posttests and assure that they did not receive the same picture for the picture identification task. At this point, I also handed out the pretest survey that each student would be given. The teachers were also given the pictures for the pretest picture identification task. The pictures and surveys were marked with the students? codes as per the lists given to each teacher. These codes were solely for linking tests with students for analysis. It was determined that the students would be pretested with their groups so the students could 48 practice where to go for the session involved in the study. The students went into their assigned teachers? classroom. At the end of the study, I met with the teachers to pass out the posttests and to give directions as to how the posttests should be given in the classrooms. The students were given their posttests in their original classrooms with their homeroom teachers. At this time the absent teacher from the control group had returned and was familiar with what was happening and agreed to administer the posttests. The teachers agreed that during the week following the posttests, they would send their students one at a time to my classroom to complete the recall posttest. The answers to these questions were taped. The principal agreed to this was procedure, and the researcher was allowed to use the school time to posttest students. The teachers were instructed to give the posttests one at a time. They were instructed to give the picture identification posttest first, to give the same instructions as during the pretest, and to collect the assessments when they were finished. Then teachers gave the conflict resolution posttest. They were told to read the question to the students and have them complete the answer directly on the paper. They were told they were allowed to read the question but not to explain anything and to instruct children, ?Do your best.? Common Procedures The study was completed within three weeks including pre- and posttests. On the day before the treatment started, the students practiced going to their assigned classrooms for the study so they would know where to go for the next ten days. The students were divided into groups, lined up, and sent to their classrooms to practice where they were to 49 go for the study. Each participating teacher had been given a master list of their own homeroom students so they would know which classroom their students would be in during the study. This list was also given to the principal and secretary in case a need arose or a student was needed for early dismissal from school. Most of the students were not in their original classroom, nor with their homeroom teacher. On the first practice visit to their study classrooms, the pretests were given. On the first day of the treatment, both the treatment and control children were sent to their assigned classrooms and sit on the floor for a read-aloud. The children sat facing the chair that the teacher would use. All students were reminded to demonstrate proper behavior for a read-aloud. Because students usually participate in a daily read- aloud, this was routine situation, and children were comfortable because they were familiar with the teachers and their classmates. Every day during the two weeks of the study, I went to each teacher after school to make sure there were no problems or concerns about the sessions. The teachers reported that all students were listening attentively and that there were no discipline problems or distractions. The study went from Monday to Friday for two weeks. The posttests began the following Monday after the treatment. On the first day of the posttests, the tests were given. On the following Tuesday through Thursday, I gave the recall posttest. Treatment Group Procedures I provided the treatment group teachers audiotapes to record their sessions and five of the books from the treatment book list. They were given their story question scripts, and they used their own tape recorders to tape their sessions. The treatment 50 teachers read their trade books by holding up the pages facing the students so they could look at the pictures while they were listening to the teacher read the story. At the end of the reading, the teachers turned on the tape recorder and then asked the scripted questions for the story. They were told they were allowed to explain the questions if the students did not seem to understand them. Control Group Procedures The control group was not asked to use audiotapes. The control group teachers read aloud two or three chapters during the daily session time. The teachers showed the students the pictures as they became available in the book. At the end of the readings, the teachers asked open-ended, opinion-based questions, such as: ?What is happening in the story? What do you think is going to happen next? What would you do if you were Jack? What would you do if you were Annie?? For both treatment and control groups, the results of the pretests and posttests were simultaneously reviewed and analyzed. All pretest and posttest information available was considered in this process. The analyses as well as the findings they revealed will be presented and discussed in Chapter 4. 51 Chapter IV: Results The major purpose of this study was to determine if teachers could use school- owned children?s books about bullying and bibliotherapy to help second grade students learn how to deal with bullies in a positive way. The first section of the chapter reviews the rationale for the present study, while the subsequent sections of the chapter explain the statistical analysis organized according to the research questions. The final section provides a general summary of the results. Restatement of the Research Questions and Purpose for the Study Is it possible to influence the understanding of second graders so they realize what bullying is, why bullying is wrong, and what they should do if they or someone else experience bullying? Can bibliotherapy using children?s books with content about bullying change awareness and teach students strategies for coping if a bullying situation occurs? Teachers in this study used trade books with and without bullying content over a two-week period, and posttests were administered to determine whether reading books aloud and discussing them has an effect on students? knowledge of actions for positively resolving conflicts related to bullying. The research questions were as follows: 1. Do students who have completed a bibliotherapy treatment addressing bullying and control group students who heard narrative trade books with no bullying content differ in their recall of main ideas in the books they heard read aloud and discussed? 2. Do students who have completed a bibliotherapy treatment addressing bullying and control group students who heard narrative trade books with no 52 bullying content differ in their ability to apply knowledge about bullying to a bullying situation? A survey was created and administered to all student participants before the study to determine if these second graders had ever been involved in a bullying situation or if they were familiar with a bully. The treatment group students were engaged in bibliotherapy on the topic of bullying and discussions prompted by scripted questions for each book they listened to about bullying. Control group students listened to Magic Tree House books with no bullying content read aloud and then discussed them without scripted questions as prompts. After the two-week period of the study, the students were asked to recall facts from the stories, apply what they had discussed, and synthesize the information by detailing what they would do in a bullying situation. Data analysis involved two different statistical procedures, a one-way ANOVA and a 2x2 mixed ANOVA. The one-way ANOVA was completed to test the research hypothesis that the bibliotherapy approach would make a difference between the treatment and control groups. The 2x2 mixed ANOVA was used to determine if there was a within-subjects effect and a between-subject effect. The alpha level for all statistical procedures was set at the .05 level. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 19.0 was used to analyze data. Quantitative Results Second grade students were asked to complete a seven-question survey designed to determine if they knew what a bully was and if they had ever been in contact with one. The survey was administered one day before the treatment began. The questions were read aloud by their teacher to insure all students were able to understand what the 53 questions asked. The results of the survey are shown in Table 4.1. A one-way ANOVA showed the control and treatment groups were similar (F = .027, p = .87). The differences were not statistically significant. Using the ANOVA results and Box?s Test of Equality showed that there was equal covariance between the groups due to p = .826 which is greater than .05. This means the sphericity assumption had not been violated. Thus, the treatment and control groups did not differ in their knowledge of bullying at pretest. To assess learning about bullying as a result of the bibliotherapy treatment, students were given pictures of bullies in action, and they were asked to describe what they were seeing. They received points for using words like bullying, ganging up, hurting someone?s feelings, etc., demonstrating that they could identify aspects of bullying. Descriptive statistics are given in Table 4.1. A 2x2 mixed ANOVA compared knowledge of bullying before and after the study for the treatment group and control groups. Box?s test of equality of covariance matrices showed that covariances were equal, so that there was no violation of the sphericity assumption. The ANOVA showed no statistically significant difference in pre- to posttest scores on the picture identification task for the treatment and control groups (F (1, 66) = .493, p = .485). Possible reasons for the results from the picture identification tests will be discussed in Chapter 5. Table 4.1 Mean treatment and control group pre- and posttest scores Group Survey Pictures (Pre) Pictures (Post) Treatment .28 (.21) 1.51 (1.12) 1.49 (1.20) Control .29 (.20) 1.46 (1.09) 1.70 (1.02) 54 Findings Related to Research Question 1 Question 1: Do students who have completed a bibliotherapy treatment addressing bullying differ in their recall about the content of the books read aloud from a control group who read other narrative trade books? Null Hypothesis: Students will not differ in their recall about the content of books read to them during the experiment. To assess learning about the content of the books, children were asked five questions about main idea, setting, characters, and plot in the books read to them. For the analysis, the question scores were combined to determine the means of the five knowledge questions. Table 4.2 shows descriptive statistics for the treatment and control groups. Levene?s test supported the assumption of homogeneity of variance (F (1, 67) = 2.24, p = .14). While there was a trend in the data favoring the treatment group, the between-group differences were not statistically significant (F (1, 67) = 3.11, p = .082). Based on these results, we cannot reject the null hypothesis that there was no difference between treatment group and control group participants in learning main ideas and content from the books read aloud and discussed during the study. These results indicate that both groups were equally engaged in listening to, discussing, and recalling information from the books selected for treatment and control conditions. Table 4.2 Posttest of recall knowledge about bullying Groups Mean Standard Deviation Control 1.48 .50 Treatment 1.67 .41 55 Findings Related to Research Question 2 Question 2: Do students who have completed a bibliotherapy treatment addressing bullying differ in their ability to apply knowledge about bullying to an imagined bullying situation from a control group who read other narrative trade books? Null hypothesis: Second grade students, after completing a treatment of bibliotherapy, will not differ in their ability to apply knowledge about bullying to an imagined bullying situation from a control group who read other narrative trade books. To assess this question, children responded to a bullying situation by recommending actions for a victim and a bystander. Responses were scored across a range of -2 (justification of bullying), -1 (ignore or run away), 0 (no response), +1 (tell an adult), and +2 (confront the bully). Descriptive statistics are reported in Table 4.3. A negative score was found due to using both positive and negative scoring procedures. The scores for each student were compared because each student was asked to give their method of handling a bully if they were the victim and their method of handling a bully if they were a bystander. A variable was created which reflected the mean of the victim and bystander scores since these were two separate responses. The mean differences are reported in Table 4.3. Using an alpha level of .05, Levene?s test indicated that the assumption of homogeneity of variances was not violated, F (1, 67) = .32, p = .57. The ANOVA was statistically significant, F (1, 67) = 148.2 and two-tail p < .001 with the mean for the treatment group being higher than the mean for the control group. Additionally, the effect size was large ?2 = .689. The ANOVA results as well as the effect size support rejection of the null hypothesis that the treatment and control group would not differ in ability to apply knowledge about bullying to an 56 imagined bullying situation. Treatment group students were better than control group students at applying knowledge of bullying and providing positive resolutions for conflict in the bullying situation that was presented to them. Table 4.3 Posttest of conflict resolution of bullying Groups Mean Standard Deviation Control -.79 .59 Treatment .83 .51 Qualitative Results In addition to the statistical analyses of the pre and posttests, an examination of the audio and written responses included interesting pieces of information. After the reading of each individual trade book, specific questions were asked. On both of the audiotaped sessions for each book, the students responded with similar answers. In response to the questions following the reading of the trade books, both treatment groups responded with answers with the same theme. When they were asked what they should do if they are bothered by a bully, several responses were recorded. Some of these responses were tell teachers or coaches, don?t be scared, stand up for yourself, ask them nicely to leave you alone, try working out the problem with them, act like they don?t exist, be nice to them, and walk away. In addition, one insightful comment was ?Do not pass the meanness on.? Using discussion of each book made it possible for all students involved to glean information about the story even if they were not able to understand the concepts on their own. All students were invited to give responses. The treatment group leaders commented that they were surprised that even their lowest academically 57 achieving students would participate in the book discussions. The teachers could not determine if this occurred due to the engagement of the texts, the topic, or the discussion itself. The students who were able to verbalize these ideas were in turn able to help the other students hear possible solutions to problems that they may not have known about before the reading of the stories or the discussions of the stories. Through the responses to the conflict resolution posttest and the audio tapes, it was found that the students could discuss empathy and responsible ways to respond to bullying. The students verbalized ways to handle a bullying situation that did not include retaliation and were able to put those thoughts in writing. Many of the verbal and written responses included trying to talk to the bully, walking away from the bully, etc. Students recognized that violence toward a bully was not the best answer to solve a bullying situation. As the progression of discussions took place, the treatment groups began to change their answers as to how to address a bullying situation. From the audiotapes, from beginning to end of the bibliotherapy treatment, instead of using retaliation or tattling as a response to bullying more students began to say, the character in the story should have walked away, the character in the story should have asked what was wrong. Their responses indicated that they were beginning to realize there were reasons why a bully might be a bully. Summary In the analysis of data related to the first research question and hypothesis, there was no statistical difference between the treatment and control groups. The treatment group students were able to recall that the main idea of the stories was bullying, which 58 was expected because all of the books they heard and discussed were about bullying. The students in the control group were able to recall the main ideas presented in the Magic Tree House books since the books that did not contain content about bullying. This result demonstrates that both groups were engaged in the readings and were able to recall main ideas and facts about the stories. For the second research questions and hypothesis, the data analysis showed a statistical difference between the treatment and control groups. The students in the bibliotherapy treatment group with books about bullying were able to describe in detail what they should do if they were the victim or a bystander to a bullying situation, and the mean conflict resolution score for this group was a positive number. The control group students were not able to describe positive ways to handle a bully as a victim or bystander, thus there was a negative mean conflict resolution score for the control group. The only test given both as a pre- and posttest was the picture identification task. In this case, the control group scores went up pre- to posttest and the treatment group went down. Even though the changes in scores were very slight, they raised questions as to why this unexpected result occurred, which will be discussed further in the next chapter. 59 Chapter V: Discussion This chapter reviews the results of the present study, considers the limitations of the study, discusses the educational implications, and connects the current research to the previous research. This chapter also explains the need for future research. The results of this study demonstrated that second graders have a working knowledge of bullying. Both the students in the treatment and control groups were able to answer questions on a survey and demonstrate that they were familiar with the term bullying. Some had in fact been bullied either before or during second grade, and many could identify a bully in their classroom or school. They were able to identify a bullying situation through pictures. Both groups were able to recognize bullying in the physical sense. Students in the treatment group were able to participate in discussions of trade books on the topic of bullying and give reasonable answers to specific questions about the stories. They identified who the bully was in the story, identified the actions that made those characters the bully, and recognized that those behaviors were not appropriate. After the study, students in both the treatment and control group were able to recall facts from the stories they listened to and were able to determine the main ideas of the books to which they were exposed. This demonstrated recall, listening comprehension, and engagement. This supports the view that discussion in conjunction with reading encourages several important reading skills. The treatment group was able to show positive reasoning skills regarding what to do if they encounter a bully and demonstrated a positive rather than negative response toward the situation when witnessing the bullying of others. Audio tapes of book discussions showed that they were able to discern bullying in a fictional story, define why it was inappropriate, and 60 verbalize why the characters should not have acted in a bullying manner. The students were also able to identify and summarize through writing the positive reactions of bystanders during a bullying situation. The discussions brought to light more effective ways to handle bullying situations, and the students felt they would be able to use those strategies in their own daily lives. Students? written responses showed that they knew how to apply the learned knowledge of how to react to a bully in a positive way as either a victim or bystander. Students in the treatment group were able to demonstrate their understanding that bullies sometime become bullies as a result of being bullied themselves. They were able to discuss empathy and responsible reactions to bullying. The students listed ways to react to a bullying situation that did not include retaliation and did not always include talking to an adult. Many responses included trying to talk to the bully, walking away from the bully, etc. It was obvious that they understood that violence toward a bully as an answer to bullying was not the best way to respond to a bullying situation. Several of the stories read to the treatment group told of students who were bullies due to events not under their control. In one story, the child was bullied by his father; in others someone had been mean to a character, and so the character thought it was okay to behave in that same way toward others. When the students were asked if they thought that all bullies want to be mean, in every discussion, the students said no. This demonstrated that most students understood that bullies may be acting out of some problem that they have at home or some other issues. This recognition invites empathy towards even a student who is hurtful or harmful. If students at this age can begin to use reasoning enough to ask themselves why a student is being a bully, this may deter 61 bullying in their future and also help to deal with a bullying situation in a positive way instead of retaliating. They learn to treat the bully as they would like to be treated. All in all, the written and audio responses suggest that bullying can begin to be combated at an early age if students are taught to think about the reasons someone might bully and to think about how they, themselves would want to be treated if they were in a bullying situation. It was comforting to know that 7-8 year olds can show empathy to people who have mistreated either them or someone they know. The audio responses can be found in Appendix H. Limitations One limitation to this study is that all of the assessments were created by the researcher. This is a concern because the assessments were piloted in a limited way. This means there is little reliability and validity data for the assessments. In addition a limitation was using the pictures for the pre- and posttests. I chose four pictures for the pretest and the same four pictures for the posttest. All participants were given a different picture pretest to posttest. A better alternative might have been to assign either one picture to the control group and one to the treatment group and then reversed them for the posttest to determine a more valid answer. A different outcome might have been achieved if the pictures were used differently. A second limitation is that this study was limited to one school in Alabama. It was also limited to only four classes, which gave a small sample size of student participants. This is problematic because a larger sample size might have shown stronger effects. In addition, the researcher was also in charge of a control group. I do not believe 62 this was detrimental to the study, but this might have led to more discussion between the students in the experimental and control groups. Other possible limitations have to do with the possibilities for cross contamination between the treatment and control groups. One of these possibilities was that the books about bullying used in the bibliotherapy treatment could be checked out of the library, and the students in the control group had access to them. If there was discussion about what was going in the different groups, the children could have gone to the library to check the books out on their own to read. The books might also have been located in their teacher?s classroom library. Access to books about bullying may have skewed the results for the control and treatment groups. The initial survey was another factor that may have affected outcomes of the study. During the survey, all students were asked questions related to bullies and bullying, which may have alerted students in the control group to the topic and piqued their interest in bullying. In addition, treatment and control group students were together during physical education classes and at other times of the school day, which could have led to discussion between the groups. This may explain the results from pre- to posttest with the control group and the picture identification test. The control group scores went up while the treatment group scores went down, perhaps because the control group students figured or found out that the focus of the study and books for the treatment group were about bullying. Time for and timing of the study were other limitations. The brevity of the study limited its potential to produce statistically significant differences between outcomes for the treatment and control groups. The total amount of time allocated for the study was sixteen days. The pretests were given one day prior to the beginning of the treatment. 63 The treatment and control activities lasted only ten days, and the post assessments were completed within five days of the treatment. There was also no opportunity to gather data to determine if the treatment had any effect over time because the study took place at the end of the school year. An additional problem was related to the differences between the books and procedures for the treatment and the control groups. The control group listened to and discussed books from the Magic Tree House series, which were chosen because they were a known favorite of students in this particular school. As the researcher, I wanted to make sure the students in the control group would enjoy participating in the study so I chose these popular chapter books. For the treatment group, I collected picture books with short stories about bullying. Another difference was that the control group teachers and students were not given scripted questions to prompt book discussions. They were only asked to discuss their favorite parts and any questions they had about the chapters read. In the treatment group, on the other hand, students? conversations about stories were guided by scripted questions provided to teachers. Outcomes for the treatment and control groups may have been limited because the books and procedures for each were not parallel. Another possible limitation was the use of only two groups. To better test the effectiveness of the bibliotherapy treatment for producing differences in outcomes, a third group could have been taught about bullying using a different method such as engaging students in lessons that provided information about bullies and bullying but did not use children?s literature to present that content. However, the point of this study was to determine if students? knowledge of behaviors and options for conflict resolution related 64 to bullying might be easy to teach with trade books already available to teachers instead of with lessons that must be planned and prepared or a program that must be purchased and that teachers must learn to implement. Whether bibliotherapy using trade books on bullying in the school?s media collection is comparable to an explicit program might be a subject for future research. Educational Implications This study demonstrates the possibility of changing second graders? discernment and knowledge of conflict resolution behaviors related to bullying situations through interactive discussions of trade books with stories about bullies. Students? book discussions demonstrated the evolution of their ideas as to why a bully might be a bully, why it is important to determine the cause of bullying, and how to treat others in a positive way. There is a wealth of knowledge about bullying available to students and teachers in trade books with colorful characters and stories that can provide catalysts for classroom discussions and teachable moments that might not happen during lessons designed by teachers or produced as a commercial curriculum. Themes about bullying and other behaviors that generate conflicts for students can be brought to life with trade books, which are easily accessible in the school or public library where shelves are full of interesting and meaningful materials that can become the core for a curriculum or an enrichment for an existing curriculum aimed at children?s social and emotional education. Results of this study also establish that most students, at least at this school, are well aware of bullying even at the primary grade level and indicated that students in the early grades may learn about bullying and conflict resolution as participants in discussions about trade books that address these topics. Bullying situations in the higher 65 grades may be reduced or eliminated by early interventions using bibliotherapy and trade books about bullying. If students can put themselves in another person?s shoes in the imaginative world of stories, they may realize the pain and suffering that bullying causes, learn how to deal effectively with bullying, and develop empathy and understanding for perpetrators and victims of bullying. By providing opportunities for students to discuss bullying situations, teachers may help children with bullying tendencies see that their behavior should change. Findings from this study also suggest that students? discussions of bullying may or may not take place in meetings with guidance counselors that occur on an infrequent basis and that teachers may have a greater impact on students? attitudes and behaviors related to bullying because they are with students most of the school day. Connections to Previous Research These research results demonstrate that using bibliotherapy brings a richer understanding of how to effectively handle a bully or a bullying situation. The ability of the students to verbalize and write responses to bullying situations supports the recommendations from Prater et al. (2006) that bibliotherapy allows students to put themselves in the character?s shoes and helps them understand and empathize with the characters. This experiment also adds to the body of research reviewed in Chapter 2 that demonstrated the effectiveness of bibliotherapy for changing attitudes and behaviors regarding specific topics. In this study, students? first responses to bullying situations were often retaliating or telling a teacher. However, students in the bibliotherapy treatment group were better than the control group at verbalizing other ways of handling a bullying situation such as talking with the bully or walking away. This study also provided evidence that bullying is occurring in schools whether principals are aware of it 66 or not as indicated in Flynt and Morton?s (2004) study. In this study, participants who were not yet eight years old reported experience with and knowledge of bullying. If bullying was happening in this primary school, then it is probable that it has been and is happening in other primary schools across the country. This study added to the existing literature on bullying by collecting data with second-grade students. Hughes et al. (2009) surveyed third, fifth, and seventh graders. They examined children?s responses to witnessing bullying. The present study also examined children?s responses to determine if second-grade students knew what to do if they witnessed bullying. The study conducted by Hughes et al. (2009) study did not involve conflict resolution as did this study. The results showed that most of the second graders in this study responded with ways for resolving conflict by helping a victim rather than joining the bully in victimizing. By using the survey and other materials developed for this study, teachers may be able to assess whether bullying is a problem in their school, grade level, or individual classes. Bauman et al. (2008) stated that the teachers they contacted had not received anti-bullying training. Materials for this study included scripted discussion questions for each of the trade books on bullying that were read and discussed in the treatment group. Teachers who have and have not had anti-bullying professional development may find these books and questions useful as guides for addressing and discussing bullying in their classrooms. This study built upon the work of Shrank and Engels (1981), who claimed that bibliotherapy could change attitudes. The qualitative data collected from the audio tapes of book discussions demonstrated that students? attitudes coould change from agreeing 67 with the bully?s actions to understanding the actions were indeed bullying and then realizing factors that can cause a bully to become a bully. Gavigan and Kurtts (2011) reported using bibliotherapy in guided reading for pre-reading activities and post-reading discussions. In the current study, treatment group teachers extended the work of these researchers. They used interactive read alouds and discussions as pre-, during, and after reading activities and achieved results showing that their students were better at recognizing bullying and determining what to do in a case of conflict related to bullying than students in the control group. This study added to findings from studies conducted by Prater et al. (2006) and Stamps (2003) by demonstrating that bibliotherapy can help students develop strategies to contend with bullying as a problem in their lives. These findings with second graders may extend support for wider applications of the biblotherapy as bullying is now considered a national problem. Having been part of this study as a researcher and teacher, I hope that students will recall discussions about bullying, what to do if they encounter bullying, and how to use positive techniques to diffuse future conflicts. Directions for Future Research Bibliotherapy and bullying as topics that may be productively linked by teachers in classrooms have not been thoroughly investigated by scientific studies. When I examined the research literature on which to base this study, few experimental studies on bibliotherapy were found, and findings were mixed across these studies. In many cases, bibliotherapy was determined to be effective for outcomes related to one variable such as attitude change but not to others such as academic achievement. Bullying is a topic that is receiving attention nationally and worldwide. Due to news ranging from accounts of 68 cyber-bullying to bus aides being bullied by children, bullying has become a hot topic that is very much in the public eye. However, when I looked for empirical studies related to bullying, I found many surveys, questionnaires, and opinion polls but few experiments that had been done to examine what is effective for preventing bullying. Even fewer studies of bullying have been conducted with children of a young age. Many principals, teachers, and counselors do not think that bullying occurs in their school. However, as reported by second graders in this study, bullying is a problem that endangers even young children. Teachers need practical ways to define it, derail it, and denounce it. The following are suggestions for further research. 1. We continue to lack a universal definition of bullying. Olweus began his research in the 1970?s in Norway. Researchers in the United States need to take a critical look at what bullying is in the twenty-first century. We need a critical distinction between physical bullying and emotional bullying (Hamaarus & Kaikkonen, 2008) and between bullying and ordinary self-expression in childhood. There are different levels of acceptance in different areas and cultures. In some areas, speaking your mind may be considered bullying. This definition needs to be fleshed out so there is a common ground on which to build. We also need further thought about effective and ethical responses to bullying. Retaliation and tattling may be allowed in some areas, but these are not constructive responses or responses conducive to limiting the problem. 2. Once a system of addressing bullying is established, it needs to be tested to determine if it is effective. Many stakeholders in a school community have opinions regarding how bullying should be acknowledged. All stakeholders 69 should be included in the discussion. Methods should be tested to determine which methods have the most success. This is where the experimental research is important. This study found that bibliotherapy may be used to effectively combat bullying, teach effective response techniques to students, and create a learning environment that may minimize bullying. In this research, tolerance can also be taught, and differences between cultures and relationships can be discussed because some instances of bullying owe to a lack of acceptance of other cultures and lifestyles. Tolerance is important to ensure bullying is not confused with self-expression without intent to harm. Stating one?s beliefs aloud should not be considered bullying. The discussion needs to begin here. This is why a clear but nuanced definition of bullying is essential. 3. Research into the effects of bibliotherapy on bullying should be carried out at various age and grade levels. Bullying changes over time; first graders do not view bullying in the same manner as junior high or high school students. There are different situations at different grade levels that need to be addressed at those levels. Different methods of managing bullying should be tested for different age levels to determine what is appropriate. Bibliotherapy could be effective at all of these ages and grade levels given the immense catalogue of books that are available on the topic of bullying, but other techniques may be important for presenting books. For example, older students might be better served by silent reading to experience bullying situations vicariously. 70 4. Longitudinal studies should be carried out to determine whether students who are part of a bullying prevention program continue to demonstrate positive reactions to bullying situations. Researchers should reevaluate the skills taught in earlier grades as the students grow older to see if the same strategies persist as the students mature and become involved in different situations. 5. To insure that bibliotherapy is the best or most engaging way of discussing bullying with students of a young age, additional studies using direct instruction of bullying through bibliotherapy should be conducted. Direct explanation and modeling could be used as an alternate method to bibliotherapy to determine whether those responses are the same or more beneficial. Additional Important Information Since this study was completed, the counselor at my school has added bullying as one of her monthly topics. She has also created a bullying bulletin board to remind students about what bullying is and is not. All of the teachers have been given a list of the books on bullying used in this study and have been encouraged by the principal to include readings and discussions of those books in lesson plans and classroom activities. 71 References American Medical Association. (2002). Educational Forum on Adolescent Health: Youth Bullying. Retrieved May 12, 2013 from https://www.ama-assn.org/amal/pub/upload/mm/39/youthbullying.pdf American Psychological Association. (2013). Retrieved September 22, 2013, from http://www.apa.org/topics/bullying/ Anderson, Nancy A. (2013). Elementary Children?s Literature Infancy Through Age 13. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Arnold, M. (1962). Story Sequence Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press. Atlas R., & Pepler D. (1998). Observations of bullying in the classroom. The Journal of Educational Research, 92(2), 86-99. Bauman S., Rigby K., & Hoppa K. (2008). US teachers? and school counselors? strategies for Handling school bullying incidents. 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Smokowski, P., & Kopasz, K. (2005). Bullying in school: an overview of types, effects, family characteristics, and intervention strategies. Children & Schools, 27(2), 101-110. 73 Stamps, L. (2003). Bibliotherapy: how books can help students cope with concerns and conflicts. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 70(1), 25-29. Stevens, Michael J., & Pfost, Karen, S. (1982). Bibliotherapy; Medicine for the soul. Psychology, A Quarterly Journal of Human Behavior, 19(4), 21-25. Textbook. 2013. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved October 18, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/textbook. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: A proven school-based program to reduce bullying. (2005, April).The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter,3-6. Trade book. 2013. In Merriam-Webster.com Retrieved October 18, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tradebook. US Department of Health and Human Services (2006). State laws related to bullying among children and youth. Retrieved May 12, 2011 from www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 74 Appendix A 75 Prattville Primary School___________ 216 Wetumpka St. Prattville, Alabama 36067 Phone: 334-365-6277 Fax: 334-365-0116 February 22, 2011 Institutional Review Board c/o Office of Human Subjects Research 307 Samford Hall Auburn University, AL 36849 Dear IRB Members, After reviewing the proposed study, ?The Effects of Reading Aloud on Bullying and Conflict Resolution?, presented by Mrs. Nancy Nix, a graduate student at Auburn University, I have granted permission for the study to be conducted at Prattville Primary School. The purpose of this study is to determine if reading aloud can have an effect on primary students awareness of bullying and conflict resolution skills. The primary activity will be for the teachers to read books about bullying. Only students in the second grade are eligible to participate. I understand that reading will occur for two weeks during normal classroom instruction. This is a daily event, with lessons lasting from 15 ? 20 minutes. I expect this project will end no later than May 15, 2011. Mrs. Nix will contact and recruit our students and will collect data at Prattville Primary School. I understand that Mrs. Nix will receive parental/guardian consent for all participants, and have confirmed that she has the cooperation of the classroom teachers. 76 Mrs. Nix has agreed to provide to my office a copy of all Auburn University IRB-approved, stamped consent documents before she recruits participants on campus. Any data collected by Mrs. Nix will be kept confidential and will be stored in a locked filing cabinet in her AU advisor?s office. Mrs. Nix has also agreed to provide to us a copy of the aggregate results from her study. If the IRB has any concerns about the permission being granted by this letter, please contact me at the phone number listed below. Sincerely, Mr. James Abraham Prattville Primary School (334) 365-6277 77 Appendix B 78 (NOTE: DO NOT AGREE TO PARTICIPATE UNLESS AN APPROVAL STAMP WITH CURRENT DATES HAS BEEN APPLIED TO THIS DOCUMENT.) PARENTAL PERMISSION/CHILD ASSENT for a Research Study entitled ?The Effects of Reading Aloud on Bullying and Conflict Resolution? Your child is invited to participate in a research study to determine if reading aloud can have an effect on primary student?s awareness of bullying and conflict resolution skills. The study is being conducted by Nancy Nix, doctoral student, under the direction of Dr. Bruce Murray, Associate Professor in the Auburn University Department of Curriculum and Teaching. Your child was selected as a possible participant because he or she is in second grade. Since your child is age 18 or younger we must have your permission to include him/her in the study. What will be involved if your child participates? If you decide to allow your child to participate in this research study, your child will be asked to listen during read-aloud time to stories about bullying. Your child?s total time commitment will be approximately 15 ? 20 minutes a day for 10 days. Your child?s answers may be audio taped for accuracy. Are there any risks or discomforts? The risks associated with participating in this study are none. These are trade books that your child may already be familiar with. Are there any benefits to your child or others? If your child participates in this study, your child can expect to learn conflict resolution strategies in how to deal with bullies and bullying situations. We/I cannot promise you that your child will receive any or all of the benefits described. 79 Parent/Guardian Initials ________ Participant Initials _________ 80 If you or your child changes your mind about your child?s participation, your child can be withdrawn from the study at any time. Your child?s participation is completely voluntary. If you choose to withdraw your child, your child?s data can be withdrawn as long as it is identifiable. Your decision about whether or not to allow your child to participate or to stop participating will not jeopardize you or your child?s future relations with Auburn University, the Department of Curriculum and Teaching. Your child?s privacy will be protected. Any information obtained in connection with this study will remain anonymous or confidential. The data collected will be protected by confidentiality. Information obtained through your child?s participation may be used to fulfill Mrs. Nix?s dissertation requirements. If you (or your child) have questions about this study, please ask them now or contact Mrs. Nix at (334) 365-6277. A copy of this document will be given for you to keep. If you have any questions about your child?s rights as a research participant, you may contact the Auburn University Office of Human Subjects Research or the Institutional Review Board by phone (334) 844-5966 or email at hsubjec@auburn.edu or IRBChair@auburn.edu. 81 HAVING READ THE INFORMATION PROVIDED, YOU MUST DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT YOU WISH FOR YOUR CHILD TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS RESEARCH STUDY. YOUR SIGNATURE INDICATES YOUR WILLINGNESS TO ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO PARTICIPATE. YOUR CHILD?S SIGNATURE INDICATES HIS/HER WILLINGNESS TOPARTICIPATE. _______________________________ ______________________________ Participant?s signature date Investigator obtaining consent date _____________________________ _______________________________ Printed Name Printed Name ____________________________ Parent/Guardian Signature date ____________________________ Printed Name ___________________________________ 82 Co-Investigator date ____________________________________ Printed Name 83 Appendix C 84 Interest Survey 1. Have you ever heard the word ?bully?? ? ? 2. Has a bully ever frightened you? ? ? 3. Would you know what to do if a bully frightened you? ? ? 4. Have you listened to any stories about bullying? ? ? 5. Do you think there is a bully in your class? ? ? 6. Do you think there are bullies at your school? ? ? 7. Has a teacher, parent, or counselor ever talked to you about bullying? ? ? 85 Appendix D 86 87 88 89 90 Appendix E 91 Book List Berenstain Jan & Stan. (1993). The Berenstain Bears and the Bully. New York: Random House. Cosby, Bill. (1997). The Meanest Thing to Say. New York: Scholastic. Kroll, Steven. (2006). Jungle Bullies. New York: Scholastic. Lester, Helen. (1999). Hooway for Wodney Wat. New York: Scholastic. Nickle, John. (1999). The Ant Bully. New York: Scholastic. O?Neill, Alexis. (2002). The Recess Queen. New York: Scholastic. Osborne, Mary Pope. (2009). Dark Day in the Deep Sea. New York: Random House. Osborne, Mary Pope. (2003). High Tide in Hawaii. New York: Random House. Osborne, Mary Pope. (2009). Moonlight on the Magic Flute. New York: Random House. Penn, Audrey. (2008). Chester Raccoon & the Big, Bad, Bully. New York: Scholastic. Polacco, Patricia. (2001). Mr. Lincoln?s Way. New York: Scholastic. Polacco, Patricia. (1998). Thank you, Mr. Falkner. New York: Philomel Books. Richards, Kitty. (2004). Back Off, Bully Boys! New York: Simon Spotlight. 92 Appendix F 93 Scripted Questions for Treatment Group Book Title: The Meanest Thing to Say, Bill Cosby 1. Have you ever been ?the new kid? at school? 2. How would you feel about playing a game like ?the dozens?? 3. What do you think Little Bill decides to do? 4. What do you think about Big Bill?s answer to the problem? 5. Have you ever known someone like Michael Reilly? 6. I wonder what is going to happen at school the next day. What do you wonder? 7. How did Little Bill?s way of dealing with Michael Reilly pan out? 8. What type of person was Michael Reilly? 9. What do you think about Little Bill?s solution to the problem? Book Title: Hooway for Wodney Wat, by Helen Lester 1. Have you even been in school when a new student has come in acting like Camilla? 2. Do you know anyone like Rodney who has trouble talking? How should you treat that person? 3. What did you learn about Camilla? 4. Why was Rodney their hero? Book Title: Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes 1. Why did Jo, Rita, and Victoria make fun of Chrysanthemum? 2. What do you think the teacher could have done differently to help Chrysanthemum? 3. What happened to change Jo, Rita and Victoria?s ways about Chrysanthemum? 4. What did you learn from this story? 94 Book Title: Back Off, Bully Boys!, by Kitty Richards 1. Why did Angelica not like the idea of having to be nice to everyone? 2. Why was it OK for Angelica to not be nice to the Bully Boys? 3. Is it OK to be bossy? 4. Is it OK to be a bully? 5. What is the difference? 6. What did you learn from this story? Book Title: Chester Raccoon & the Big, Bad Bully, by Audrey Penn 1. How was this story different from the others you have been listening to? 2. Do you think all bullies want to be mean? 3. What are some things you can do if a bully bothers you? Book Title: The Ant Bully, by John Nickle 1. What lesson did Lucas learn from the ants? 2. How do you think Lucas will use what he learned? 3. What do you think Sid the bully will learn? Book Title: Jungle Bullies, by Steven Kroll 1. How does this story teach us to act around bullies? Book Title: Bully Trouble, by Joanna Cole 1. What do you think about how Robby and Arlo made Big Eddie stop picking on them? 2. What are some ways you could stop a bully from picking on you? 95 Book Title: The Berenstain Bears and the Bully, by Stan and Jan Berenstain 1. Why do you think Tuffy was a bully? 2. What do you think about Brother?s plan? 3. What do you think about Mother?s plan? 4. What do you think Sister and Tuffy learned? Book Title: The Recess Queen, by Alexis O?Neill 1. Do you know any Recess Queens? 2. What would you do if there was a recess queen on your playground? 3. Why was Kate Sue not scared of Mean Jean even after Mean Jean yelled at her? Book Title: Mr. Lincoln?s Way, by Patricia Polacco 1. Why was Mean Gene not mean anymore? 2. Is it possible that children are bullies because their parents are? What do you think about that? 3. What do you think Eugene meant when he told Mr. Lincoln, ?You showed me the way out?? Book Title: Thank you, Mr. Faulker, by Patricia Polacco 1. Why were the kids so mean to Trisha? 2. Bullies come in many ways, don?t they? 3. Is it good or right to make fun of anyone who is different than you? 4. Discuss ways people are different and why bullies would think it is OK to make fun of that. 96 Appendix G 97 Recall posttest 1. Who were your favorite characters in the stories you have been listening to? 2. What were the main ideas of the stories you were listening to? 3. What did you learn from the stories you listened to? 4. Can you name any of the characters from the stories you listened to? 5. Which story was your favorite? Conflict resolution posttest Mike and Chrissy were planning a fun day of skating at Wonder World. They get there, put on their skates and start skating around the rink. All of a sudden a big boy comes around the rink and knocks both Mike and Chrissy down. Mike says, ?What was that?? Chrissy says, ?I don?t know but it sure hurt!? Mike and Chrissy got themselves up and continued skating. After a while they decide to stop skating to get a drink from the refreshment stand. While they are there, the same big boy knocks into Chrissy and makes her spill her soda all over herself. When Mike gets up, the big kid says, ?And what are you gonna do about it?? Write down what you think Mike should do next. Then write down what you think Chrissy should do next. 98 Discernment posttest In the stories you have listened to, what were the main ideas of the stories? What were the authors trying to teach you? 99 Appendix H 100 Hooray for Wodney Wat Have you ever been in a school when a new student has come in acting like Camellia? 2 children answered ?No.? Do you know anyone like Rodney who has trouble talking? 1 child answered Brianna 1 child answered Hasan (Mrs. Cook explained that Hasan was not from Prattville). 1 child answered Cooper How should we treat that person? How should we treat that person just because he can?t talk like us? Be nice to him and not like a bully Be nice and not act mean. It could make them upset. We need to respect them. What did we learn about Camellia? She?s being a bully to Rodney. She?s a really mean rat. She?s a really mean bully. She?s smart. She was really mean to Rodney. 101 Why was Rodney their hero? Rodney saved their lives by telling Camellia to ?go west? when he really meant to tell her to go ?rest.? They got rid of Camellia. (The teacher asked why was that a good thing?) She was being such a bully. She was being mean to everyone in the class. (The teacher said, ?Now that she?s gone, how is this a problem solved??) She left to go west. Berenstein Bears and the Bully Why do you think Tuffy was a bully? He likes to hurt people. Because he got in trouble at home and hurt at home by his parents so he just wants other people to know how he?s feeling at home so he punched other people & stuff like that. He was trying to hit a baby bird with stones to make it not fly. What do you think about Brother?s plan? It was a good idea to teach his sister to protect herself. I think it was a little too violent. What do you think about Mother?s plan? First, what was mother?s plan? 102 To just avoid Tuffy and stay completely away from her. If you avoid the bully they won?t bully you anymore. If you stay around the bully the more you can be beat up. What do you think Sister and Tuffy learned in this story? Tuffy learned that being a bully isn?t really nice. Sister learned that if a bully beats people up she has to try to stop them. Sister learned that once somebody does something to you hurtful you don?t have to do it back. We should avoid bullies. At home if someone is doing that to you, you shouldn?t turn around and to that to other people. The Ant Bully What lesson did Lucas learn from the ants? Not to take it out on others just because he was being bullied. He learned that bullying ants was not a good idea and he joined them. He learned not to try to drown the ants. They?ll tell the ant mother to shrink him. (The teacher asked by shrinking him, what was that teaching him?) He was able to see how hard the ants worked on things. 103 How do you think Lucas will use what he learned from his time with the ants? He learned not to bully ants because they might attack him. What do you think Sid the bully learned? Sid will learn some of the same things Lucas did when he was shrunk. Not to bully others. Back Off Bully Boys Why did Angelica not like the idea of having to be nice to everyone? She?s always been bossy and thinks that since she?s the older kid she can boss the other kids around. She?s been bossy her whole life and it?s hard for her to change. It was hard for her to do. She?s not used to it; she?s used to bossing everyone around. Why was it okay for Angelica to not be nice to the bully boys? ?Cause they were bad, they were the bullies. The baby said that she should be mean to people who are mean to her, but if they?re not mean it?s not a reasonable reason to go out and boss them. The bullies were being mean to the babies and the babies wanted Angelica?s help because she was older. 104 Is it okay to be bossy? No, because if you boss someone they could take it out on other people. No, because if you?re bossy it might hurt other people?s feelings. No, if you boss people around it might teach them to be bossy. Is it okay to be a bully? No, because sometime bullying can lead to someone getting hurt very badly. No, because you are hurting other people?s feelings. No, you could teach other people how to be a bully. What?s the difference between being bossy and being a bully? When you?re bossy you?re telling people what to do and when you?re being a bully you?re hurting someone. Bossy is when someone tells you what to do and says ?give me that or give me this? and bullying is when someone hurts you really, really, really bad. What?s something you learned from this story? Sometimes it?s okay to be a bully to protect your friends. (The teacher asked if it?s okay to bully to protect your friends or okay to be bossy to protect your friends.) I?m thinking it?s both. Being bossy can protect someone, being a bully hurts someone. 105 To not bully or be bossy. If you?re bossy or a bully other people can be bossy or a bully. Thank You, Mr. Faulker Why were the kids so mean to Tricia? Because she didn?t know how to read, all she did was draw. Because she wasn?t so smart. Because she didn?t know how to read, all she did was draw and they called her dummy. How do bullies come in many different ways? Describe a bully for me. Some bullies get hit by their Mom and Dad and they take it out on other people. Some are mean. They hit other people. Some call you names, and not touch you. Is it good and right to make fun of someone who is different from you? No. if you do that they might take it out on other people. No, because we are all different. Talk about ways people are different and why bullies thinks it?s okay to make fun of that. What?s one way someone may be different from us? How is the little girl in the story different? She couldn?t read. She wasn?t as smart as everybody else. Why do you think a bully thinks it?s okay to make fun of that? 106 He wants people to join in ?cause he thinks he?s right. What?s a bully?s main goal? To get people to like him better and do what he does. How else is somebody different? Because they wear glasses or different clothes. Bullies think it?s okay to boss people around just because they?re different. Do you think it?s okay to bully people around just because they?re different? A loud chorus of ?No.? Jungle Bullies How did this story teach us to act around bullies? Share with bullies The animals told him not to be a bully & not to treat them this way. Stand up for yourself. Look at them and say don?t do whatever you?re doing. I don?t like the way you are treating me. Don?t say anything mean back to them. Tell the bully to stop bullying. 107 Chester Raccoon and the Big, Bad Bully How was this story different from the other stories I have been reading to you? The animals got together as a group and stood up to the bully. The bully was shocked that the friends were inviting him to do something with them. Kind words helped the bully not to be so mean any more. In the other stories the bully kept being a problem but in this story the friends got together and solved the problem with the help of one of the mothers. Do you think all bullies want to be mean? Sometimes, but not all the time. Some do it just because someone is bullying them, or they have been taught to be mean. A lot think because they are bigger, they are better and can do what they want. What are some things you can do if a bully bothers you. Tell a grownup, walk away and ignore them, tell your parents, be nice to them, act like they don?t exist, tell the bully to leave them alone. The Recess Queen Do you know any recess queens? Or in our case, any PE queens that act like queens. Six children answered yes. What would you do if there was a recess queen on our playground. 108 Tell her it?s not your playground, we all are here to play and share. Tell teachers or coaches. Don?t be scared, stand up for yourself. Ask them nicely to leave you alone. Stand up to them. Try to work something out with them. Why wasn?t Katie scared of mean Jean even after mean Jean yelled at her? She?s a brave kid and she stands up to people. She was smart and scared of nothing. She was at school to have a good time and play. She could have been bullied at the school she came from and her parents could have taught her how to react to and treat a bully. She came from a family that raised her to be nice to others. Mr. Lincoln?s Way Why wasn?t Eugene mean anymore? Mr. Lincoln hung out with the birds because that?s what he liked. He was trying to get him interested in something he liked. Mr. Lincoln said nice words to Eugene & he liked that. 109 Is it possible that children are bullied because their parents are? Yes, in the story the parents called the Mexicans names and so did the boy. They aren?t being raised right. The more people that are mean to each other the more people will continue to be mean to each other. If they know their parents are wrong, they shouldn?t do it because we know right from wrong. The parents could have been bullied when they were children and don?t know any different way to act. The Meanest Thing to Say Has anyone ever been a brand new kid at a brand new school? 4 children raised their hands How do you feel about playing the dozen game? It would make me feel sad. It would make me angry if someone played that game. What do you think Little Bill decides to do? Ignore him. He was trying to think of mean things to say to the other kid. 110 Bill decides to say ?So? every time Michael says something mean. What do you think about Big Bill?s answer to this problem? It was a good answer because it worked. Michael got mad & he gave up. It started not to be fun for Michael because nobody was arguing back. Have you ever known somebody mean like Michael? 7 children raised their hands Raise your hand if you thought saying ?So? was going to work. Five children raised their hands. Raise your hand if you thought it was not going to work. Five children raised their hands. How did Little Bill?s way of dealing with Michael pan out? Michael thought Little Bill was ignoring him. Michael got mad because Bill wouldn?t argue back. Michael left because it wasn?t fun. What kind of person do you think Michael was? At first he was a bully, and at the end of the story he was being nice to everyone. What do you think about Little Bill?s solution to the problem? I thought it was good because it kept Michael from saying mean things at the end. His game backfired on him. 111 By ignoring him, Michael had a chance to cool down. I think it was really good, because Michael finally stopped. Thank you Mrs. Nix for all the good books about bullying. Second Treatment group ??..you rself and they might let you have it back Just be brave and don?t be scared. Stand up for yourself and don?t be scared Be brave and do it, don?t be scared. To ask if they can share it with you. Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully How was this story different from the others you?ve listened to? You?ve only heard one other story ? Jungle Bullies. They asked for their spot back & they shared and they asked him if he could stop bullying. The animals in the other book were jungle animals and Chester & the raccoon are animals that live in the woods. The teacher asked, ?Do you think all bullies want to be mean?? 112 Children answered ?No.? They don?t want to be mean, they are bullies because they are jealous of other people or something is bothering them. Sometimes they want to be mean because sometimes other people, like their parents, are being mean to them. What are some things you can do if a bully bothers you? Tell a teacher To work it out with the bully To walk away Stand up to him Recess Queen In the Recess Queen, do you know any recess queens? Children answered yes, but did not give names. Teacher asked them to tell about them. They call us names, tells other kids to be mean What would you do if there?s a recess queen on the playground ? boy or girl. I would tell a teacher or stand up to him or ask him to stop being mean. Tell my Mom or work it out with him I would tell the coach what he or she is doing Why wasn?t Katie Sue scared of Mean Jean even after Mean Jean yelled at her? 113 She wanted to play with her & tried to soften her out so that she would play with other kids Mr. Lincoln?s Way In Mr. Lincoln?s Way why wasn?t Mean Jean mean anymore? Mr. Lincoln gave him a book and he was too interested in that to be mean anymore. When he discovered mean Jean liked birds & they built the atrium and they helped the duck get all the way to the pond. Is it possible that children are bullies because their parents are? Yes, because kids follow their parents steps Yes, because like when their parents say something they go to school and say it back to each other Yes, if somebody?s parents say bad words to them they go to school and turn around and say it to some little kid. Next question was cut off on tape. Have you ever been a new kid at school? Yes How do you feel about playing a game like the dozens? Not happy 114 What do you think Little Bill decides to do? Do what his Dad says and say ?So.? What do you think about Bill?s answer to the problem? I thought it was a good thing he did Have you ever known someone like Michael Riley? Teacher asked for hands to be raised (at least one child said yes) What do you think happened at school the next day? They would play more basketball How did Little Bill?s way of dealing with Michael Riley pan out? They became friends What type of person was Michael Riley? He was mean What do you think about Little Bill?s solution to the problem? It was good (Tape was stopped, when started again a child was answering) I wouldn?t feel happy (Another child started an answer, but tape was stopped) 115 Next voice on tape was the teacher saying, ?we read Hooray for Wodney Wat? Have you ever been in school when a new student has come in acting like Camilla acted? Yes. When asked, ?How did it feel,? child answered ?Horrible.? Second child answered ?no.? Third child answered ?yes,? When asked how it felt, answered ?Not so great.? Fourth child answered ?yes,? When asked how it felt, answered, ?Very bad.? Do you know anyone like Rodney who has trouble talking? How should you treat that person? My sister?s friend, and we help teach her how to say the words. I don?t know any people like that, but I think you should treat them nicely. I don?t know anybody that talks funny, but if I did I would play with them and be nice to them. I would be kind to them and help them out and see if I could help them pronounce their ?R?s? right. What did you learn about Camilla? She thought she was the greatest of all. She said she was the best at everything, but she was only good at being a bully. She?s a bully and she?s not nice at all. Why was Rodney their hero? 116 Because he tricked Camilla because he didn?t know his ?R?s? but Camilla didn?t know that and he said everybody take a ?west? but he actually meant ?rest? not go west and Camilla actually went west cause she didn?t know that Rodney didn?t know how to pronounce his ?R?s.? Berenstein Bears and the Bully Why do you think Tuffy was a bully? Cause her parents were mean to her Cause other bullies were mean to her What do you think about Brother?s plan? I think it was sorta good, if she did it for something good, she shouldn?t be in trouble for using subterfuge to protect something. I think it was awesome It was not a very nice idea, you should really say nice things & they?ll be nice back I think it?s not a very nice idea, you should ask if they want to play or be their friend and if they didn?t then tell a grownup. What do you think about Mother?s plan to avoid Tuffy? I think it was very good I think it was very good because if she just kept hanging around her she would just get beat up more. 117 I think it was good I think it was the best idea I ever heard What do you think Sister & Tuffy learned? A very good lesson - not to be mean to each other. Not to be mean to each other or you might get in trouble, too. They both learned that if your parent or somebody make you mad you shouldn?t take it out on someone else I think Sister learned that if someone is bullying you, you shouldn?t bully them back. I think they should just make up and be friends and be nice to each other that way they wouldn?t hurt each other and make both of them mad and get into a big fight I think Tuffy?s parents were mean to them and they passed it on and it would have kept on if Sister Bear hadn?t stopped it In the Ant Bully, what lesson did Lucas learn from the ants? Not to be mean back to the ants If somebody is mean to you, don?t pass it on How do you think Lucas will use what he learned? To not bully the ants cause they actually have a lot of worth doing what they did What do you think Sid the bully will learn? 118 Not to be mean back to Lucas Not to be mean to kids that he THINKS are weird. Not to mess with Lucas or he?s going to get shrunk again Not to mess with other little kids or you might get in trouble with his parents In Back Off Bully Boys why did Angelica not like the idea of having to be nice to everyone? Because she?s used to being mean and bossy to other people. Because she always mean to little kids ? she?ll tell them the sandbox is kitty litter or has treasure in it Because she?s always mean to the little kids and they dared her and she tried until the bully boys came She?s mean to her brothers Why was it okay for Angelica not to be nice to the bully boys? Because if you are nice to a bully they will probably keep on bullying you and if you don?t and you dare them and something that they hate really bad and you dare them and something they hate really bad and you dare them to do that they could bully you. Because they are always mean and are used to being mean. Angelica was doing the dare and they made a deal that she gets all five ice cream cones if she is mean back to the bully boys. Is it okay to be bossy? 119 A chorus of ?no?s? Who can tell me a little bit more about that ? why is it not okay to be bossy? Because if you boss people around they?ll get mad and start telling you what to do. The teacher repeats the question. Because they might tell on you. They might laugh at you to get you to stop. They might do the same thing that you did. Is it okay to be a bully? No - from several children The teacher asked why is it not okay? No one would want to play with you. No one would like you. You?ll get in trouble. What?s the difference between being bossy and being a bully? Bossy is you boss people around and bully is you take their bottles from little babies and put sand in their hair If you?re bossy you tell other people what to do but if you?re a bully you be mean to other people. If you?re bossy you tell people what to do. If you?re a bully you beat people up. What did you learn from the story Back Off Bully Boys? To not bully people 120 That if there?s other kids that you don?t know and they come up to the playground and start being really mean and they do it for like five days that you dare them to a competition and whoever wins gets to keep the pretty playground and the other one gets to go the old rusty playground. To not be mean. In Thank You Mr. Faulker, Why were the kids so mean to Tricia? Because she couldn?t read in 5th grade or 3rd grade Because they thought she was despicable. Bullies come in many ways, don?t they. There are many kinds of bullies. What can you tell me about that? That bullies can call you names, they can hit you, they can hurt you, they can do many different things to you. Is it good or right to make fun of anyone who is different from you? No, because it?s being mean to other people. Several other children also said no, but couldn?t verbalize a reason. Would you want someone to be mean to you because you are different from them? Several children said NO Talk about ways that people are different and why bullies think it?s okay to make fun of that. You can be a bad drawer and other people can be good. 121 People can be a good reader, some people can?t. Some people are smarter than others and some don?t know stuff. If you have funny hair, and you don?t. Why do bullies think it?s okay to make fun of people for those reasons? Because they?re different. Because they?re really, really, really mean. They might not have been taught to be nice so that?s the only way they know how to act.