Teaching Prevention Creatively with Compassionate Community Connections

Prevention starts with community connections. As school counselors and professional educators, we must place relationship building at the forefront when we are working with our students. Community connections can be with anyone from community service boards, community outreach, education foundations and local law enforcement.

My school division is lucky enough to have amazing school resource officers (SROs) who want to be part of our school family. As a school counselor, I enjoy working and teaching as a team. Seeing us working collaboratively shows students what it’s like to work effectively as a team, that we love and care for our students. They can see us as helpers in our community.

My sheriff’s department and counseling department work hand-in-hand in preventing substance abuse. We have supportive connections with our area community services board that links our students and families to needed resources. Our SROs teach using the D.A.R.E. Program that our King George County Sheriff’s Department provides and I supplement with our counseling curriculum. (Top photo shows SRO Deputy Breanna Marini, King George County Sheriff’s Office, engaging with a student.)

My first prevention highlights are initiatives done during Bully Prevention Month and Red Ribbon Week. During classroom lessons on choices and the importance of being drug free, I discuss healthy lifestyle choices. I focus on healthy diet, hygiene and the importance of exercise. This lesson crosswalks with my SRO’s D.A.R.E. Curriculum of “How can we tell what is safe to touch and eat?” By working collaboratively and communicating, we are able to have a community that is consistent with what it is being taught to our students.

My school and sheriff’s department work collaboratively with Healthy Heart Day and Bully Free Block Parties, and take part in other lessons like cyber safety. Each year, our SRO runs off that wretched bully Cruella Deville on the 101st day of school! (Below, Cruella poses with SRO Deputy Meghan Floriendo, King George County Sheriff’s Office.)


A favorite bully prevention lesson is the book “One” by Kathryn Otoshi (I primarily work with K–2 students, but I have also used this for third grade). The story “One” is about how to be an upstander. Students listen and learn throughout with the author's use of simple but engaging and relatable numbers and colors, like Blue and One. At the same time, students are learning about accepting each other’s differences and how sometimes it takes just one voice to make everyone count. It’s a creative story that shows how we can all stand up together and make a difference.



Following the read aloud, students act out “One” as a play and I read it aloud again. We use six colored paper dots and a numeral 1. The remainder of the class is the audience who are in charge of sound effects and reading along with me. This allows the students to hear the story again, but in a different way. The students each design a numeral 1 and we create a hallway bulletin board displaying them.
 


Another favorite bully prevention lesson is the wordless Disney Pixar short “Lou.” Every time I show this, the room is so quiet and everyone is watching intently. In the short film, Lou (a playground Lost and Found Box) tries to manage unkind, toy-stealing and rude behaviors at recess by a bully named JJ. It’s a creative animation that allows you to see that you may not know what motivates a bully, but if you can find out those motivations, maybe you can resolve things. Students are able to connect with Lou and JJ and have a discussion of the roles they played, if their roles changed, and what students can do if they see this type of behavior happening around them. Teachers and students enjoy this lesson.

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members." – Coretta Scott King.

May we all share our knowledge of prevention, kindness, compassion and connections with our community to help our children grow up in a better place.

Sarah M. Ritchie is an elementary school counselor and Division Teacher of the Year at King George Elementary School, King George, Va.; and VSCA Communications and Public Relations chair. Contact her at vscacommunications@gmail.com.