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Overview
This book serves as a guide for readers interested in improving school climate. Using 15 years of consultation and research in a variety of United States and foreign schools, the authors strip down the elements needed to create a healthy and productive school climate. The book challenges many commonly held notions about violence prevention and outlines a simple and inexpensive formula for creating sustained change in any school. The book stresses understanding of the underlying processes involved in the bully-victim-bystander power dynamics, the value of altruism, and the use of natural leaders to begin and sustain change in a school climate. A note on the book's cover: Positive vibrations is taken from a Bob Marley song: "Rastaman vibration positive, you can't live that negative way." The song rallies people to be positive and strong, and to speak honestly and stand up for their rights, while taking care of themselves. Although jamaican in origin, it has universal application to be a gentle warrior in one's personal life for the good of self and others.
Synopsis
This book serves as a guide for readers who are interested in improving school climate. Using fifteen years of consultation and research in a variety of U.S. and foreign schools, the authors strip down the elements needed to create a healthy and productive school climate. The book challenges many commonly held notions about violence prevention and outlines a simple and inexpensive formula for creating sustained change in any school. The book stresses the importance of understanding the underlying processes involved in the bully-victim-bystander power dynamics, the value of altruism, and the use of natural leaders to begin a way to create substantial change in any school.
About the Author:
Stuart W. Twemlow, M.D., is professor of psychiatry, Menninger Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
About the Author:
Frank C. Sacco is president of the Community Services Institute, Springfield and Boston, Massachusetts
Editorials
ForeWord Reviews
[This book] is a comprehensive look at the myths related to past programs, and it presents a new, radically different program....With an academic tone, each chapter tackles a challenging aspect of understanding bullying and violence....Drawing on numerous international studies, this book's universal appeal is both provocative and in-depth....a rich resource for addressing both the dynamics and the personal nature of bullying.Arthur Horne
Representing a decade and a half of conscientious bully prevention research and program development, Twemlow presents an excellent overview of their Peaceful School Program intervention and impact. They illustrate myths and fallacies of bullying and explain in detail how to develop effective connections and collaboration with schools - program buy-in - that is essential for any program to have an impact. They provide an overview of understanding the process of creating school climate change and teacher engagement including approaching the problem by understanding power struggles and how the entire social climate must change to impact the problem. They explain the concept of mentalization and how important this construct is for impacting bullying, and methods to engage in indentifying, evaluating, and acting to reduce the problem of bullying in classrooms and schools. Their specific steps for establishing a game plan of clear, easy to follow, and well-studied processes guide educators through the course of action for effective change. They also describe how to discuss "undiscussables" - those touchy subjects, such as teacher or administrator bullying, that maintain the problem and have to be understood for comprehensive change to occur. Their review of measures of bullying, and the examples of surveys, are very informative and user-friendly. In short, this is a book for all people interested in reducing bullying in schools and communities.The authors' use of clear examples from their work in schools ranging from kindergarten to high school, combined with their focus on changing the school climate through respectful and conscientious engagement with teachers, and a program carefully constructed to address the concerns of the specific school, provides the reader with an excellent understanding of the current state of bullying in schools as well as hands-on methods for engaging schools and communities to effectively address the problem. This is an excellent engagement in the bully prevention process and one