Bullying in the Classroom? Here is a little gift for adults!

Title: Confessions of a Former Bully

Author: Trudy Ludwig

Illustrator: Beth Adams

Copyright: 2012

Publisher: Random House Children's Books 

Guided Reading Level: U 

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Summary: In this clever book, author Trudy Ludwig offers a modern approach to dealing with bullying in the classroom.  The concept of bullying in this book also has a modern concept - as the definition of bullying has changed over past years as more and more types of bullying have been created (like cyberbullying). Ludwig offers readers a brilliant book filled with important facts about bullying, diversity, and tips about how to deal with bullies for adults and children. Within the story, the main character, Katie, gets in trouble for bullying and has to talk to the school counselor. When Katie talks to the school counselor she finds out that she was bullied, and more people around her were bullied that she did not realized were bullied before. The book has many pictures and graphic organizers about bullying, which is incredibly helpful for students, and makes the book even more entertaining to read.

Suggested Delivery: Classroom Read Aloud

This book would be perfect for reading out loud to your classroom when you know bullying is prominent in your students' lives. It would also be a great idea to just read aloud the story to the class in between different units, especially during October, National Bullying Prevention Month.  

Key Vocabulary:

• Convicted
• Cyberbullying 
• Gay**
• Gossip
• Neutral
• Tine

Electronic Resources:

• Have students watch this video either before the book is read to the class, during the reading, or after the book has been read to the class. 

• Students can play this game about bullying on their free time. The game is on PBS Kids and it is appropriate for a young age group.

Increasing Comprehension Skills:

Before Classroom Read Aloud:

• I would create a word wall. Then I would have students look these words up in a dictionary and create a sentence for each word of their own definition of the word. The students can also complete crossword puzzles for each word before learning the definitions and then the teacher could go over the answers with the class before the book is introduced. The word "Gay" is used in the book a couple of times, and I would go to the website hyperlinked to the word above to explain to children how hurtful the book can be. Diversity is within this concept, so students will benefit from learning this word.

• Brainstorm different types of bullying with the class as a whole before the book is read to the class. This will help assess students' prior knowledge of the concepts covered.  

During Classroom Read Aloud:

• Point out words in the text while reading the text, and use a Word Detective sheet for vocabulary homework.

• Have students create Text to Text, Text to Self, and/or Text to World connections to bullying. Have them make a chart in their journals, or create a chart as a group. There are plenty of chart ideas and here is website with some great ones:

Making Connections

After Book is Finished:

• Have students briefly act out a bullying scene - appropriately. Have them use all the key words in the correct context. They will love being creative with this, just make sure all students act appropriately and make sure class rules are enforced.

• Have students make a brochure regarding what students should do about bullying. This will not only help their peers if the brochure is displayed, but will also help students summarize material learned in the book.

Writing Activity:
Have students write a hypothetical letter to a bully, or write a hypothetical letter to someone being bullied. Students should be able to express their knowledge of the context read to them in the letters.

Tiffany Tidbit -  This book is awesome! I absolutely loved the little tidbits of informations, graphic organizers, and illustrations.  The story line was great too!  I gave this to my mother to use for her third grade classroom for classroom management, as I purchased this book too!