Inner Balance
March
Exciting upcoming events at Dawson Middle School to be on the lookout for!
Spring Break
Upcoming STAAR Dates
First Ever DMS Parent U.
Bullying and Conflict Resolution
Spring Break Dates:
March 11-15
STAAR Dates:
8th Grade Math
7th Grade Writing
April 10th:
8th Grade Reading
May 7th:
Algebra I EOC
May 13th:
7th Grade Math
May 14th:
7th Grade Reading
May 15th:
8th Grade Science
May 16th:
8th Grade Social Studies
DMS Parent U
DMS Parent U Special Topic: Social Media
Tuesday, Mar 19, 2019, 12:00 PM
DMS Library
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
What is Bullying?
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
- An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
- Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
Types of Bullying
There are three types of bullying:
- Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes:
- Teasing
- Name-calling
- Inappropriate sexual comments
- Taunting
- Threatening to cause harm
- Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes:
- Leaving someone out on purpose
- Telling other children not to be friends with someone
- Spreading rumors about someone
- Embarrassing someone in public
- Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Physical bullying includes:
- Hitting/kicking/pinching
- Spitting
- Tripping/pushing
- Taking or breaking someone’s things
- Making mean or rude hand gestures
Where and When Bullying Happens
Bullying can occur during or after school hours. While most reported bullying happens in the school building, a significant percentage also happens in places like on the playground or the bus. It can also happen travelling to or from school, in the youth’s neighborhood, or on the Internet.
Frequency of Bullying
There are two sources of federally collected data on youth bullying:
- The 2015 School Crime Supplement - PDF (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics) indicates that, nationwide, about 21% of students ages 12-18 experienced bullying.
- The 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) indicates that, nationwide, 19% of students in grades 9–12 report being bullied on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey.
Conflict Resolution
Tips for managing and resolving conflict
You can ensure that the process of managing and resolving conflict is as positive as possible by sticking to the following guidelines:
Listen for what is felt as well as said. When you really listen, you connect more deeply to your own needs and emotions, and to those of other people. Listening also strengthens, informs, and makes it easier for others to hear you when it’s your turn to speak.
Make conflict resolution the priority rather than winning or “being right.” Maintaining and strengthening the relationship, rather than “winning” the argument, should always be your first priority. Be respectful of the other person and their viewpoint.
Focus on the present. If you’re holding on to grudges based on past conflicts, your ability to see the reality of the current situation will be impaired. Rather than looking to the past and assigning blame, focus on what you can do in the here-and-now to solve the problem.
Pick your battles. Conflicts can be draining, so it’s important to consider whether the issue is really worth your time and energy. Maybe you don’t want to surrender a parking space if you’ve been circling for 15 minutes, but if there are dozens of empty spots, arguing over a single space isn’t worth it.
Be willing to forgive. Resolving conflict is impossible if you’re unwilling or unable to forgive others. Resolution lies in releasing the urge to punish, which can serve only to deplete and drain your life.
Know when to let something go. If you can’t come to an agreement, agree to disagree. It takes two people to keep an argument going. If a conflict is going nowhere, you can choose to disengage and move on.
What does it mean to have a certified HeartMath Coach at Dawson Middle School?
Your Counselors can help your child boost resilience, composure and clarity!
The HeartMath Building Personal Resilience™ program is a focused and practical program, combining personalized coaching with scientifically validated tools to help your child self-regulate their body’s response to stress and build resilience. They will learn life-long skills you can use any time to increase well-being, personal and academic performance and quality of life experience.
Be sure to contact your child's grade level counselor for more details!
DMS Counselors
Amy Hurlburt
8th grade counselor
amy.hurlburt@southlakecarroll.edu
Katrina Tatum
7th grade counselor
katrina.tatum@southlakecarroll.edu
Lauren Canafax
7th and 8th grade counselor
lauren.canafax@southlakecarroll.edu
Website: https://www.southlakecarroll.edu/domain/812
Location: 400 South Kimball Avenue, Southlake, TX, USA
Phone: 817-949-5500
Twitter: @DMScounselors