Thursday, 25 November 2010

23rd November

After School

In the after school we worked on our transitions, and as a group decided that we would split up into two categories which are the bullies and the victims, we all came to a conclusion that we would use the idea of us all being at school and walking through the corridor (in between lessons), and each of us would stay in our characters from our scenes, and keep bullying the victims whilst walking through the corridor.

23rd November

5th Lesson

We carried on creating and developing our scene, Sarah and I choreographed and finished the dance, and developed our performance by adding stronge language such as 'GO DIE!' As this would really emotionally effect the audience.
We then performed our scenes to the rest of the class and got feedback.

16th November

4th Lesson

Started to create our scene (exclusion)
We started by brainstorming ideas we could do to show exclusion, and came to an conclusion that Sarah and I could to a dance to show our friendship as we are the bullies, then Abbie would come in the dance half way through and try to start to talk to us, but we completely ignore her, and she then mimes a bit of the song, which is Everytime by Britney Spears, then after she will read out her monologue.

9th November

3rd Lesson

We first discussed the work that we did in the previous lesson, and decided that the bullies letters should be changed as they all killed themselves at the end of their letters, when we thought this was a bit unrealistic, so we decided that all the endings should be different.

We also decided the structure of the performance:
Victim diary entry
Verbal abuse - Katie, Abbie F, Jame and Joe
Cyber Bullying - Lauren, Grace and Leanne
Paranoia - Hayley, Leah, Taz and Chloe
Physical - April, Alys, Autumn and Becky
Exclusion - Rachel (me), Sarah and Abbie E
Suicide

3rd November

2nd Lesson

We decided that we would use a narrative in the performance, to show exactly how the victim was bullied, as we thought this could be really effective, and touch the audience. We also found out that the date of the performance would be the 7th December.
We first split up into two groups, one group focusing on the victim and the other group focusing on the bully, the victim group decided to take the idea of using dates from the video clip we were shown, and make it more like a diary entry. Whilst the bully group took the idea of writing a letter to the victim and reading it out at their funeral.

Bullying:

Sarah introduced us with an stimuli, which were a video clip, a newspaper article and a poem.


The Video was very simple, and only included an upbeat song which had emotional lyrics, which told a story of people being bullied. It also included pictures of real life victims of bullying and their birth and death dates, the date were extremely effective as it shown you when they took their life and how young they were, also as a lot of them were around our age or even younger, this really touched me, moreover it included there real names.


The Newspaper Artile was about a young girl who was not just bullied by her peers but also by herself, and this led to her committing suicide, this was a really touching story as her friends and even her head master had she was doing it for 'attention' and they said she 'had brought it on herself', this really annoyed me because someone who was just doing something for 'attention' would not go to such an extent to killing themselves, when really it was a 'cry for help'.

Bullied schoolgirl hanged herself with tie

AN "EXCEPTIONALLY GIFTED" 13-YEAR-OLD BULLYING VICTIM WHO DREAMED OF BECOMING A PILOT HANGED HERSELF FROM A BUNK BED USING HER SCHOOL TIE, AN INQUEST HAS HEARD.

Cherelle Ardle was having "extreme problems" with bullying at her school and was finding it difficult to interact with other pupils, the hearing was told.
She had been locked in a cupboard and dragged down the stairs and once needed hospital treatment after a playground fight.
On the evening of December 3 last year, her lifeless body was found by stepfather Dale Evans in her bedroom at her home in Kennard Street, Ton Pentre, South Wales.
The inquest heard how the teenager wrote a suicide note on a blank page of a maths exercise book.
The note ended with the words: "I'm about to hang myself. If I keep writing after this, it hasn't worked."
Mr Evans told the inquest in Miskin, South Wales: "She was being bullied at school. There had been some trouble at school that day and I picked her up early.
"She went up to her room and had a bath but then stayed in her bedroom. I went to check on her at 8.30pm and found her hanging."
Trudy Robinson, a respite foster carer, who looked after the girl one weekend each month, told the inquest: "She was having extreme problems with bullying at school.
"She had been dragged downstairs and locked in a cupboard and had been taken to hospital on one occasion."
She described the girl as "exceptionally gifted academically and beautiful to look at", adding: "She was a joy to look after and liked to help in every way she could.
"She had just joined the Air Cadets and she had told me she wanted to be a pilot which I thought was a fabulous idea."
The inquest heard the Treorchy Comprehensive School pupil went to her bedroom after a row with her mother Deborah Evans over missing money from a money-box, which she eventually admitted taking.
Det Insp Nigel Cottle said: "Cherelle was generally the victim of bullying at school but on certain occasions she was the assailant in her own right. She had no problems with teachers but she had difficulty interacting with other pupils."
In a statement to police, her mother spoke of concerns about the bullying and said she felt it "impacted on Cherelle's quality of life".
The inquest also heard the girl was involved in a relationship with an older man, which was subject to an ongoing investigation by South Wales Police.
The coroner Philip Walters described the girl, from Ton Petre, Rhondda, as an intelligent and articulate teenager.
Recording an open verdict, Mr Walters said: "I really don't know why this has happened. It might be due to one thing, it might be due to a number of things.
"What I am satisfied is that I honestly don't think that this young lady intended to end her own life."
He said he was convinced the suicide note was a "cry for help" or was possibly to draw attention to herself.
Mr Walters also issued a warning to others who might be similarly tempted.
He said: "Young people are often not aware that if you tie a ligature around your neck it takes as little as five seconds to render you unconscious.
"Thereafter, death can occur any time up to quarter-of-an-hour.
"If you go down this route, this is final. There is no coming back."

 
The Poem...

'I am'
I am the person you bullied in school
I am the one who didn't know how to be cool
I am the person you alienated
I am the person you ridiculed and hated

I am the person who sat on their own
I am the person who walked home alone
I am the person you scared every day
I am the person who had nothing to say

I am the person with hurt in their eyes
I am the person you never saw cry
I am the person living alone with their fears
I am the person destroyed by their peers

I am the person who drowned in your scorn
I am the person who wished they hadn't been born
I am the person whose name you don't know
I am the person who just can't let go

I am the person destroyed for 'fun'
I am the person, but not the only one
I am the person who had feelings too
..and I am a person, JUST LIKE YOU!!!
This poem was very effective as every line starts with 'I am', this makes you realise how you would feel if you were being bullied, also as it ends with 'JUST LIKE YOU' shows you that everyone is equal and should not be bullied for not being 'cool' or looking 'different'.