Olweus Bullying Prevention

Program
SC School for the Deaf and the Blind (SCSDB) joined other

schools across the country who have recognized bullying

as a nationwide problem that can be addressed effectively
through prevention programs.
SCSDB campus staff members received training in the
Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.
http://www.violencepreventionworks.org/public/olweus_sc
ope.page

Why Deconstructing Olweus

Bullying Prevention in ASL
Classroom
Written policy on Bullying Prevention Program was

extremely technical.
Discussed at length in classroom.
Deaf worldviews vs Hearing worldviews.
Generative theme.
Film making project (bilingual approach).

Students Participated in the

Project
made use of students social locations, lived

experiences, and material realities, as a means for them

to critically engage with both the world and academic
knowledge and skills (Freire, 1974, in Au, p.3).

Consciousness is essentially produced through human

interaction with our environment (Allman, 1999; Marx

& Engels 1978, in Au, p.26).

The Art of Teaching

teaching is an art guided by educational values, personal

needs, and by a variety of beliefs or generalizations that the

teacher holds to be true (Eisner, 2002, p.154).

teacher can devote his or her energies and attention to

what is emerging in the class (Eisner 2002, p. 155).

utilizes the arts to promote critical learning and

incorporates students aesthetic expereices into pedagogical

practices to increase students communication to social
justice (Malenda, 2012).
5

ASL Goals
Interpersonal mode recognizes the exchange that occurs

when individuals negotiate meaning, usually in a face-to

face or person-to person context (for example,
conversation).
Interpretive communication occurs when individuals
receive information from a text or signed format (for
examples, understanding movies, television broadcasts or
presentations).
Presentational mode is the language a user creates to
purvey one way messages for consumption by a group of
people (audience), as in presentations or literary works
(for examples, storytelling, making presentations.)

The Black Onyx

The Aftermath
The Black Onyx was viewed by an audience consisting

of high school teachers, staff and students in late

January.
Positive Feedback was received afterward.
Increased self-esteem.
Promoted Bullying Prevention Awareness in lower
and middle schools and deaf-plus school.
Bullying incident reports declined during the
semester.

Making Connections to
Readings
Critical Aesthetic Pedagogic Approach:

value students voices and experiences in the classroom,

enabling
student
empowerment
and
challenging
schooling(Medena, 2012).
Participation in the Democracy and Curriculum:

people are able to learn a new self-respect, a deeper and

more assertive group identity, public skills, and values of
cooperation and civic virtue (Boyte & Evans in Beyer and
Apple, p. 191).

 The Art of Teaching

Teaching is an art in that the ends it achieves are often

created in process (Eisner 2002, p.155).

10

QUESTIONS

11

References
Au, W. (2012). Critical Curriculum Studies: Education, Consciousness and the
Politics of Knowing: Routledge

Beyer, L. & Apple, M. (1998). The Curriculum: Problems, Politics, and Possibilities(2nd Ed). Albany: SUNY Press

Eisner, E.Q. (2002). The Educational Imagination (3rd Ed.). New Jersey: Merrill
Prentice Hall.

Medina, Y. (2012). Critical aesthetic pedagogy: Toward a theory of self and social
Empowerment. Peter Lang: New York
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