Charmer

Bullying Prevention \ Resiliency \ Accountability

TLis a charming, quite charismatic 5th grader. They are used to being the center of attention and they are socially confident and academically strong. But, does TL have true resilience? When a new kid, Amalie, joins the class and, despite TL’s territorial leadership, the classmates find her to be a worthy friend and perhaps leader, complexities ensue. TL starts to engage in bullying behaviors, including some cyberbullying, as the group (including TL) comes to learn and understand resilience building coping strategies. The other members of the class are primarily represented by Gabe and/or Claire, and students from the audience in a couple of instances. The teacher in the play will be mostly an offstage voice, and there will be a moment when an educator from the audience will be engaged as a helper.

Learning Objectives

  • Resiliency will be defined.
  • Coping strategies to enhance resilience will be modeled using the mnemonic BUCK (Breathe, Use Helper words, Choose Calm, Know when to walk away).
  • Resilience will be shown to enhance impulse control, especially in aggressive behavior.
  • Resilience will be shown to enhance the awareness of and capacity for self-protection and protection of peers.
  • Resilience will be shown to result in improved cooperation and peaceful interaction between children.