Book Review #1

Please Stop Laughing At Me Site

Citation

Blanco, J. Please Stop Laughing At Me. Avon, MA: Adams Media Group, 2003.

Reflection

She has written a personal narrative that not only opened my eyes to the extremity of peer abuse that can befall one personal in school, but also brought back memories for me of incidents I myself had going through the system. I was born with my right leg twisted backwards, which while fixed immediately means I do not walk straight, and many times during my school years this was one way people found to make fun of me; when I was in First grade I was pushed down the hill behind our school during recess and ended up hitting a rock at the bottom that not only left me with a broken tail bone but also injured my spine; in middle school, Sixth grade, I was stabbed by a fellow classmate with a fork, which has left me with nerve damage in my left hand making it virtual unusable during some nights when the pain is at an extreme. I do not think that my experiences are worse than hers, for in many ways they are not: she had a disorder that caused one breast to be smaller than the other and which people used to belittle and embarrass her, she was beaten by a group of kids and left bleeding and classmates spread horrible rumors about her in school. One connection I did have with her was that we both had parents who while they loved us did not understand the situation and thought our pain was due to blame on our own part. Her parents sent her to a psychiatrist for mental counseling, while mine just continued the abuse by always making me feel insecure for what they perceived as my 'weakness'. I realize now that my parents do love me and just wish I weren't as meek and insecure, but what I can;t bring myself to admit to them and is that in some small way they are to blame indirectly.

Philosophy

So how does this apply to my philosophy? 1) I want my students to be safe in my classroom, and never feel as if other students have the right to belittle or beat them for any reason, least of all being that they are different; 2) Not all peer abuse and bullying is identical and so when a student comes to me and describes an incident that left them feeling bad about themselves I am going to give it full consideration and get them any help they need and have the students involved sit down and explained why their behavior is inappropriate; 3) Many students do not realize that such behavior can actually damage the victim's potential in school by causing them to become introverted and shy, or even make them drop out of school because they don't get help, so as a teacher not only will my classroom be a refuge for students who are bullied, but every day will be a lesson in student tolerance and teach students that bullying does not help anyone involved; 4) One way of ensuring students realize that bullying is not allowed is by having strict rules and consequences for students who do bully another student in any way: this includes not only beating, teasing and spreading rumors about others, but also playing certain practical jokes on them, vandalizing their property, following them everywhere, or even copying or stealing their homework (and there are many more that students sometimes do which may not seem like bullying but which leave the victim feeling uncomfortable; 5) I will make sure to be a role model in my school and help create school, district, and statewide programs that identify student bullying and help to create policies to protect and also prosecute any incidents of this nature on school property or off.