Introduction to the topic:

We started this topic when Sarah took the lesson and we found out our next task. Which was to create an Anti-Bullying assembly for the High School. it had to be 20 minutes long due to the time limit of an assembly, and this length of time would allow us to get our message across to our target audience. We were given 3 stimuli's, the first was a YouTube clip. After watching the clip we discussed how it made us feel. We reflected on individuals thoughts and feelings, some things that arose were:

• Shock - the age of the victims, they were still children/young adults - some were the same age as us.
• the clip itself was upsetting yet the music contrasted it - quite a jolly song.
• makes you feel considerate towards the family
• guilty - have we ever said anything that could be considered as bullying? guilty for the fact that humans could do that to each other, maybe not even intentionally.

We then went on to read the following 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!!!

My personal initial response to this was guilt. i felt guilty that people just like you and me could possibly segregate people in this way, to neglect people and to make them feel like that. Also i felt that the sentences were very short, the vocabulary used was also very simple. i think this shows the character trying to get her thoughts across - the short sentences portray thoughts. Also i think this was a way to put across the moral of the poem.

We then discussed this poem as a group and gave feedback on what we thought:

• Strong use of words
• The repetition of the 'I am the person…' shows that the bullying was on going.
• Swapping levels during the poem
• Metaphorical - "drown in your scorn"
• Being treated as an object - "Destroyed for fun"
• Suffering in silence - guilty because they're alone. 
• The feelings leading up to suicide
• Courageous - to fight back, stand up for themselves. Inspiring.

Also, we went on to read a newspaper article, the feedback from the class mixed feelings:

• Pushing the blame on her - attention seeking - she bullied herself
• they are still taking a stab at her even though she is dead.
• Annoying how they say it was her fault- she brought it on herself
• Possible she had a disability?
• Friends say she is doing it for attention when they don't know.

We then went onto discussing the idea on what we shall perform to the high school. We first thought about the characters we could use:

• victim
• bully
• best friend
• boyfriend/girlfriend
• parents

Then went on to think how we could portray what happens in their lives and how they're feeling:

• diary entry
• newspaper article
• letter
• television interview
• radio interview