| September
27, 2001 Suffolk News-Herald |
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Booker T. students learn how to handle them |
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| MerMan encourages students to believe in themselves | ||
| as possible
if you are a witness or a victim of bullying. Bullies should also
tell someone so that they can get help to stop their behavior. Yell
-- if you are being bullied, yell as loudly as
possible. "A bully is looking for a person he thinks is weak," explained Merman. "Avoid these problems. Believe in yourself." The program included magic tricks by Merman as well as a presentation with Andre Baker, a student whose good self-esteem Merman wanted to display, and a short skit about bullying performed by Lamarr Coles, Brittany Smith and Meredith McLaughlin, the Booker T. Washington Elementary School Players. Merman explained that the majority of bullies are themselves suffering from being bullied. His MerMan Productions provides educationally based entertainment (magic shows with a message) programs, he had been approached about putting together Anti-Bullying |
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| By Margaret
Windley Suffolk News-Herald |
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| The magic
words of "Know, Go, Tell, Yell" resounded through the auditorium of
Booker T Washington Elementary School yesterday (Wednesday).
This was the formula in which MerMan (in real life Merrill Merman, a
Nor-folkian) led the youngsters to teach them how to handle the
situation when picked on by bullies.
The significance of the rhythmic chant was its educational impact for anyone in a bad situation -- whether a victim, a witness, or a bully. Merman clarified the meaning. Know -- know the situation so that you can know to avoid it ahead of time. Go -- avoid trouble if you see it coming. Tell -- tell somebody as soon |
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| Sessions.
About that time the information that there was an epidemic of
bullying hit the news, so he was inspired to review the information
available through psychology
books. "I did a lot of research on it," Merman said. "The only research is that there are a lot of books on victims. There's not so much on the bullies or witnesses." Patricia Montgomery, principal of Washington School, explained that bullying was not a big problem at school, but the school had chosen to do a program on it because it might be a big problem for the students in their neighborhoods or private lives. |
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| "It's a
pro-active kind of movement rather than trying to solve a problem,"
said Montgomery. "It's more informational at this
point." Certainly the students had learned from the assembly. Third-graders Fred Scott and Kaitlin Johnson had both bothered by bullies in their own lives. "When I'm playing with him |
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| [a bully of
his acquaintance], he keeps messing with me and messing with my stuff," Scott recalled. He now knows what to do--when he sees him, Scott will run in the other direction. Johnson thought of a friend of her brother's who was too playful. "He likes to kind of pick me up and throw me," Johnson said. "He's fun but he's sort of a bully." She also plans to run the next time she sees her bully. |
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| Merrill Merman works with Andre Baker of Booker T. Washington Elementary School in a program about bullies. | ||