Monday 28th March 2011:

Today, I created my screen-printing image (‘Some kid made me angry once, so I slammed her into a locker’) on tracing paper and prepared my screen which I will use for printing tomorrow. So far it looks quite effective, so hopefully it turns out well.

I also annotated more of my sketchbook pages so that I could reflect on ideas and think of how to develop these. For example, the idea of placing an image of a victim behind the tracing paper with my lino print on (which says, ‘I felt insecure, but didn’t fight back).

I also researched the effects of bullying/ what it can lead to, and specifically looked at eating disorders, psychotic illnesses and suicide. One fact, which I found quite shocking, was that 91% of teens surveyed said they had been bullied, and 46% said they believed that bullying had contributed to their eating disorder. (Beat - British charity survey). I also found out that in a journal, they have linked teen bullying with anxiety disorders (in victims of bullying) and antisocial personality disorder (in bullies themselves).

So far, after researching these effects, I want to focus on the eating disorder part, and particularly anorexia. I found an image by Salvador Dalí, ‘The Burning Giraffe’, with a really skinny lady in it with draws coming out of her body. Dalí described this as ‘a kind of allegory which serves to illustrate a certain insight, to follow the numerous narcissistic smells which ascend from each of our drawers’, and related this to Sigmund Freud’s theory, where Dalí says ‘…now filled with secret drawers only to be opened through psychoanalysis.’ This also relates to the psychology part of my project. I then decided to draw this image, which I will then photocopy and work into (eg: adding ‘emotions’ coming out of the draws or what they may have been called in order for them to become anorexic, etc).

Target for today: Research and study what bullying can lead to further, to see the effects of bullying, and produce images in sketchbook relating to these. Start screen-printing process. Annotate sketchbook pages to evaluate and reflect on work so far.

Target for tomorrow: Create various surfaces to screen-print on to. Work into own ‘Burning Giraffe’ images and prepare questions, etc, for tomorrow (for Head teacher at primary school).

Sunday 27th March 2011:

Today, I read the first chapter of the ‘Bullying’ book, ‘Bullies and Victims’. It may have made sense to read this chapter first, however, I feel that gaining in-depth insight first helped me to understand the importance of anti-bullying and how affected the bullies and victims can become.

This chapter spoke about ‘the tell-tale signs’ (of spotting someone who is being bullied). Some of the signs included: be unwilling to go to school (and making excuses), come home starving (because their lunch money had been taken), start stammering, bullying others, stop eating or be obsessively clean (as a reaction to being called ‘fatty’ or ‘dirty’). I feel that this signs are really important and will change depending on the victim, the bully and the situations which occur. However, I do think that many of these could lead to issues in the future – eg: unable to trust anyone, being scared of new situations, or perhaps illnesses such as ‘anorexia’ could take place. Even extreme cases such as suicide need to be remembered. I think it will be beneficial to explore these issues further (especially those which can affect someone for life), to illustrate the dangers of bullying.

Target for today: Read more of ‘bullying’ book to see how victims can be affected by bullying.

Target for tomorrow: Research and study what bullying can lead to further, to see the effects of bullying, and produce images in sketchbook relating to these. Start screen-printing process. Annotate sketchbook pages to evaluate and reflect on work so far.

Saturday 26th March 2011:

Today, I looked at one of the completed questionnaires and used some of the words listed (which they had been called by a bully). I then noticed that this particular person had been bullied through a website, etc (cyber bullying), and so felt that it would be appropriate to illustrate this bullying incident through the use of technology. I took a photo of ‘texting’ from a bully to the victim with harsh words such as ‘fat bitch’, ‘f***ing slut’ and ‘whore’. I then took a print screen of these same words being said in an MSN conversation. I think that these work well, however, they were just quick ideas and I would’ve changed a few things if they were for the final pieces. They have been quickly edited to remove any names (and this is quite noticeable), and they probably don’t look very realistic/ professional. However, if they were produced to a high quality, I think they would be quite effective because MSN and texting are very popular among teenagers, and these single images will say a lot within themselves. Perhaps I could also briefly look at websites such as Facebook and take print screens of ‘bullying’ on there.

I also looked at another questionnaire (of someone who had admitted to being a bully themselves), and took a description of a time from when they were a bully, to make into a typographic image. I chose the sentence, ‘Some kid made me angry once, so I slammed her into a locker’. This is quite a severe incident and I have tried to make certain words (eg: angry, slammed), stand out a lot typographically in my image to show this. I will then take this image and produce it using the process of screen-printing. I will experiment with different colours and backgrounds to see what works best, whilst remembering the background story behind the words. I think the image works quite well so far just on paper, and perhaps I could experiment with this as well (maybe work into it, etc).

Target for today: Take photos/ print screens of technology and bullying through these forms and create image for screen-printing.

Target for tomorrow: Read more of ‘bullying’ book to see how victims can be affected by bullying.

Friday 25th March 2011:

I continued recording the questionnaire results. I found out that 13 out of the 20 respondents know someone who was/ is being bullied. This is quite a high number, yet again showing how common bullying is. Also, 12 said that they feel that schools, etc, don’t have effective anti-bullying policies. This could be something to further look into and see how my organisation and awareness campaign could tackle this issue. An interesting result was that for the question ‘why do you think that people bully?’, 18 votes were given to ‘to make themselves feel better than others’. This could perhaps show that maybe the bullies have their own insecurities which need addressing. However, the next highest voted answer was ‘to impress others’, so maybe this is something else to look at which doesn’t include underlying psychological reasons. I was very surprised that, out of 20 people, only 3 people said that they had been a bully to someone else. I don’t think that this is true as I feel that everyone has been a bully to someone else at least one, even if unintentionally. However, 14 of the remaining 17 answered ‘not that I’m aware of’ rather than ‘no’, suggesting that perhaps they recognise that they may have been a bully without realising. 12 people agreed that the bully could be just as much a victim as the victims themselves, showing that maybe there are psychological reasons behind why someone bullies. Many people felt that friends would be the best people to help those being bullied, and that professionally trained people would be best to help those who bully. This suggests that my organisation needs to make the friends of victims aware of bullying so that they are there to help, and also that maybe the organisation should act in a friend-like way to those who need support. Also, perhaps professionally trained people should be those who help the bully, and this would need to be noted if my organisation were real.

I also added the images of the prints (which I didn’t print into my sketchbook) into my sketchbook so that I am able to compare these to the prints in my book and see which ones work well, and what backgrounds look good with the writing in the print.

One thing which I haven’t been doing is keeping track of what ideas I have suggested throughout my formative evaluation, and which ones I haven’t yet pursued. I decided to go through my writing and take note of any ideas, which I could focus on and create work for. A few examples are: looking at the graphic designer, Milton Glaser and create pieces with words coming from images of people (eg: their emotions) inspired by this designer’s work, looking at the work of Ros Rixon, and creating pieces related to bullying inspired by this work, looking further at the different stages of the anti-bullying strategy mentioned in the ‘Bullying’ book, and edit the photos which I have taken digitally to make them more interesting. I have listed all of these ideas, and more, and will try and follow as many of these through.

Target for today: Continue to record questionnaire results, add images of prints to sketchbook, and look through blog/ formative evaluation notes to see what ideas I have suggested but not yet pursued.

Target for tomorrow: Take photos/ print screens of technology and bullying through these forms and create image for screen-printing.

Thursday 24th March 2011:

I evaluated my organisation name/ tagline ideas in my sketchbook today. So far my favourites are ‘Pick On Me’, ‘Pick Me Up’, ‘Victimeyes’, ‘Easy Target’ and ‘Sticks and stones’. ‘Pick On Me’ could be saying pick on me (the organisation) instead of on a victim and it’s quite a memorable name. ‘Pick Me Up’ relates to the phrase ‘pick me up’ which is something which makes you happy. I also like how it has the word ‘pep’ (like ‘pep talk’) in it. ‘Victimeyes’ is quite different and unique and could represent being a victim and having all eyes on you. It could also represent that the bully is being watched and that they should stop hurting the victim. It’s simple, but maybe too cliché and childish. ‘Easy Target’ represents the victim well, however, it may not relate directly to the actual bully, which the organisation also helps. ‘Sticks and Stones’ relates directly to bullying and most people will recognise this. It’s quite catchy as well. One that I’m not too sure about is ‘Beat It’ as this is maybe quite aggressive and ‘cheesy’, and it may promote the wrong message. Also, there is already an organisation called ‘Beat Bullying’, and so this may be too similar.

So far my two favourite tagline ideas are ‘Words will always help me’ and ‘You’re not alone’. I like words will always help me because it sounds like ‘words will never hurt me’, which relates to bullying and so people will know what the organisation is about, however, it may be too long. I also like ‘You’re not alone’ because this is one of the main things that the victim (and distressed bully) need to realise and shows that the organisation can help. It’s also catchy and not too cliché.

I also started looking through and recording the results from the completed questionnaires. I will continue with this tomorrow but so far I’ve found out that 17 out of 20 people (aged 18-20) have been bullied and that most of them have been bullied at primary and secondary school. This shows just how many children/ teenagers do get bullied within schools. Also, mainly ‘peers’ was answered to the question: Who do you feel bullies/ has bullied you the most? - showing that there were a lot of others their own age who bullied and that perhaps these people need to be helped just as much as the victim needs to be. Only 3 out of the 20 respondents were boys, and so I was surprised that most of the 17 people who had been bullied, had been bullied by both boys and girls. I would have expected that as most of the ‘victims’ were girls, they would mostly have been bullied by their own gender. One other result, which shocked me, was that they had all said that the bullying had been done in front of others. This shows that even when other people are there, the bully still picks on the victim – perhaps showing that many bystanders aren’t aware/ they’re too scared to help, and/ or that the bully bullies to impress others.

I also looked at the results for the part of the questionnaire where I asked for opinions on organisation name/ tagline ideas. They were able to tick two name ideas, and/ or suggest their own name. ‘Sticks and Stones’ had the most votes (11), with ‘Beat It’ and ‘Victimeyes’ next with 6 votes each. One suggestion was ‘Fight Back’. This is a good name, however like ‘Beat It’, it could promote aggression, which I don’t want to do. I think that ‘Sticks and Stones’ is the best name and I have decided to call my organisation this. For the tagline (where they were able to choose one idea and/ or suggest their own), ‘You’re not alone’ was the obvious choice, with 12 votes, and the other ideas only having 1 or 2 votes. I liked this tagline already and also feel that it goes well with ‘Sticks and Stones’, as it rhymes slightly – ‘Sticks and Stones. You’re not alone’. Therefore, I think that this is the tagline which I’m going to use.

Target for today: Look through questionnaires and start recording results and evaluate organisation name/ tagline ideas in sketchbook.

Target for tomorrow: Continue to record questionnaire results, add images of prints to sketchbook, and look through blog/ formative evaluation notes to see what ideas I have suggested but not yet pursued.

Wednesday 23nd March 2011:

Today I looked through some of my questionnaires to see what words I could use within my sketchbook work. One, which caught my eye, was from someone who was bullied in her old band and was called ‘attention seeking’ and ‘a bitch’. I decided to write ‘attention seeking bitch’ using images of teenage related objects, such as makeup and musical equipment (as this would relate to her being bullied in her old band). I wrote ‘attention’ using ‘make up’ objects such as lipstick and makeup brushes as this could relate to wanting attention. And I wrote ‘seeking’ using musical equipment, such as microphones and guitars, as this would relate to her being bullied in her old band. I then wrote ‘bitch’ in a more ‘angry’ type style to help it stand out and convey more emotion. It looks quite effective but would probably look better in colour. I could try different words and emotions using different objects which relate to the word.

I then thought it would be interesting to write these out using actual objects and take a photo. I think it’s quite unique and eye-catching, however, it is quite hard to read and so maybe there would be a better way to present them. It would also maybe look better if I digitally edited the photos.

Target for today: Create typography using images and drawings of stereotypical teenage ‘objects’, eg: lipstick, makeup, football, technology, magazines, etc. Then go on to take photos of words created using the actual objects.

Target for tomorrow: Look through questionnaires and start recording results and evaluate organisation name/ tagline ideas in sketchbook.

Tuesday 22nd March 2011:

Today I handed out more of my questionnaires and asked people to put them in a box when completed so that they would be kept anonymous. So far I have 17 completed questionnaires, but I am going to try and get 20 and I feel that this would be a good number to work with when collating the data and finding statistics and percentages. I also asked about the organisation name ideas so will have a look at what people’s views were on these and if they made any new suggestions.

I also experimented with lino printing today. I chose some words which were an answer to one of my questions on the questionnaire (from yesterday). The words included were ‘insecure, hurt, felt angry but didn’t fight back’. I then took this and wrote ‘I felt insecure, hurt, angry, but didn’t fight back…’ on my lino print using different styles of type for each few words to help them to stand out. It took a while to cut out but when printed it looked quite attractive.

I had intended to use black, red and blue ink, but I wanted them to all be quite dark, so the colours don’t stand out as much as I would have liked them to. Unfortunately the prints in my sketchbook didn’t turn out as well as the ones on scrap pieces of paper. I will probably take photos of the ones which worked well and stick these in my book and work into the ones which were printed in my sketchbook.

I think that the print on the brown paper turned out quite well and the contrast between the black and brown helps the words to stand out.

It was interesting how when printed onto newspaper, the word ‘insecure’ came out as more of an outline than a filled-in word – this is quite eye-catching.

I also decided to print onto tracing paper to see how this turned out. I think it works well and I could perhaps place this over something else which would then be able to be seen behind the print.

I have kept my lino print so that I have the opportunity to experiment with this particular composition again, perhaps using different colours and backgrounds.

I then wrote out what my organisation does and a few name/ tagline ideas. I still need to reflect on these to see which ones I think sound best. I wrote out ‘what my organisation does’ onto tracing paper as I wanted to write onto something which would be easy to write on using pen (unlike my prepped sketchbook pages). I also wanted the prepped page to still be able to be seen and so felt that tracing paper would work well for this. It also looks quite effective and I will consider using this method when needing to write in my sketchbook again.

Target for today: Give out more questionnaires. Start creating work in sketchbook using the process of lino printing. Write organisation name ideas, etc, in sketchbook and reflect on these ideas.

Target for tomorrow: Create typography using images and drawings of stereotypical teenage ‘objects’, eg: lipstick, makeup, football, technology, magazines, etc. Then go on to take photos of words created using the actual objects.

Monday 21st March 2011:

Today I looked through my previous sketchbook pages and annotated what I have done so far. I found this useful, as I was able to reflect on ideas and think of how to develop these further. I then looked back at the artist, Jules Julien, from the graphic art fair, and responded to the work in my sketchbook. In the first piece, I basically created something similar to the artist’s work, but I added in letters to make up the word ‘victim’. This is quite subtle, but I think this works well. I also like how it could represent the victim ‘falling apart’ due to being bullied. On the next page I decided to make the whole face up from type. I think this is attractive, however, the words should maybe be easier to read and stand out more. I could’ve perhaps used different shades of grey and some red for different words. I could develop this idea further digitally to see if this works better. However, so far, I quite like the overall image as part of a final poster idea as it stands out.

I then gave out a few copies of my questionnaire as a test to see how people answered and if there were any changes I should make before giving it out to more people. The only change I made was to add the choice ‘peers’ to the question: ‘Who do you feel bullies/ has bullied you the most?’, because quite a few people wrote this option under ‘other’. I found it interesting that no one had answered yes to the question: ‘Do you think that you have ever been a bully to somebody else?’ because I think that everyone has been a bully at least once, even if without realising. However, they tended to answer ‘not that I’m aware of’ instead of ‘no’, showing that they may realise that if they had been a bully it hadn’t been intentional. I will have to see what other people answer to this question when I collect some more in.

I started thinking about what I could create with a lino print, and felt that words would look quite effective. I will start on this tomorrow and see how it turns out.

Target for today: Create more pages in sketchbook influenced by designers seen at the graphic art fair. Start to think of how to work in new ways, eg: lino print. Annotate sketchbook work.

Target for tomorrow: Give out more questionnaires. Start creating work in sketchbook using the process of lino printing. Write organisation name ideas, etc, in sketchbook and reflect on these ideas.

Sunday 20th March 2011:

Today I looked through the ‘Playful Type 2’ book and found it really inspiring. I liked how the meaning/ message was put across through type and also how the colours used influenced the overall effect.

I wanted to look at these typographers as well as some that I saw at the graphic art fair, and produce a page in my sketchbook as a response. I wanted to look further at the work of typographer/ designer/ illustrator, Jessica Hische and really liked the piece ‘You’ve Got The Spirit…’. I also looked at Elle Jeong Eun Kim, and especially the piece, ‘The One and Only’, when creating typographic work in my sketchbook. I used the words ‘lonely’, ‘ugly’, ‘confused’ and ‘sad’ and tried to illustrate these through the colours and design.

I quite like how ‘ugly’ has turned out, as it’s actually quite attractive when looked at closely. This could represent the fact that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so if a bully calls someone ugly, the victim probably isn’t.

I created the word ‘sad’ with ‘teardrops’. Although this is quite unique, I feel that it could be developed a lot more, and perhaps if produced digitally (and maybe using photography), it would be a lot more effective.

Overall, I like these ideas as quick ideas, but they could be developed a lot further and be a lot more effective. I could go on to attempt different words and study other typographic work in more depth in order to enable my work to really stand out.

Target for today: Look through ‘Playful Type 2’ book and create a page in sketchbook based on these designs and inspiring designers seen at ‘Pick Me Up’ Graphic Art Fair and ‘The Joy of Living’.

Target for tomorrow: Create more pages in sketchbook influenced by designers seen at the graphic art fair. Start to think of how to work in new ways, eg: lino print. Annotate sketchbook work.

Saturday 19th March 2011:

I attended the ‘Pick Me Up’ Graphic Art Fair at Somerset House in London today. Before entering this particular exhibition, there was another one next to it called ‘The Joy Of Living’ – (‘Joy Of Living’ is a charity project that unites over 100 leading lights in the design community to galvanise support for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres. London Design Guide editor, Max Fraser, has set the challenge to new and established UK designers to create a desirable artwork that expresses the joy of living - all starting from a simple sheet of A4 graph paper’).

I really liked this work, as it was so simple and unusual. One piece which stood out to me, ‘Sector 7’, had the alphabet written out on it, and after the artist had written these out, they noticed that the word ‘joy’ had appeared down the side in a vertical line. I really liked this because so far in this project I have found it interesting finding words within words, and this piece relates well to this. I also liked the piece ‘It Is My Heart’, where some of the paper had been cut and lifted to reveal a bright colour underneath. I could create something similar to this and maybe have the emotions written underneath so that it represents what the victim is feeling like inside, etc. A really unique piece was ‘Star Boxes’ where the paper looks almost embossed as some parts had been raised to create patterns. I might experiment and try something similar this to see how it turns out.

As part of the actual ‘Pick Me Up’ exhibition, I found that the work by Jules Julien really stood out and made me think about how it could inspire my anti-bullying project. There was a set of four images (silkscreen), under the title of ‘Release’ where the person’s face seemed to be disintegrating. I feel that this is how the victim may feel when being bullied – like pieces of them are just being broken down and they’re getting weaker and weaker and they are pulled apart at more and more.

I also found an amazing typographer/ designer/ illustrator, Jessica Hische. Her work is really lively and detailed. I could use this as inspiration when considering the ‘type’ aspect of my work. For example, I could create a piece which says ‘Calling Me Ugly Won’t Make You Beautiful’ (aimed at the bullies), and then have the words representing their meanings, so have the word ‘ugly’ big and boring, and the word ‘beautiful’ really detailed and graceful (and I could study her work when creating this word).

There was also an interesting piece by Stefanie Posavec. She creates pieces using statistics in a unique way. For example, in the piece ‘Literary Organisms’: ‘The structure of Part One of On the Road visualised using a simple tree structure that has been worked with manually in order to give it a more organic feel. Here, Part One divides into chapters, chapters divide into paragraphs, paragraphs divide into sentences, and sentences divide into words. Everything is colour-coded according to key themes in On the Road.’ I thought that this way of displaying information was really interesting and attractive. I could maybe display statistics about bullying in an extraordinary way like this.

I also bought a book called ‘Playful Type 2’ (Published by: Die Gestalten Verlag, 2010), which looks like a really useful and inspiring book full of different typography work and designers.

On the train, I saw this poster for Christian Aid. I found it interesting how in the word ‘Poverty’ they word ‘over’ stood out. Yet again, this could relate to my work, as relevant words are being picked out and made to stand out within other words.

Also, I saw an advert for Childline on the TV today. It started off well as it really captured the essence of how someone could feel when they’re being bullied/ feel alone/ need help, etc, as there was a girl sitting by herself in a corner and then it showed different people whilst different words such as ‘sad’ and ‘lonely’ were being said in the voiceover. But then suddenly everything kept repeating itself and a tune/ beat was being created out of the words (words such as ‘happy’ were then being included). I feel that this then made it look like you should contact Childline if you are upbeat and happy. It may have been trying to show that you may start off feeling lonely and sad, but that Childline can help, however I felt that this message wasn’t communicated very well. This made me think about my own project and that perhaps showing the after effects of seeking support won’t be a good idea, and just showing the strong emotions that a victim/ bully may be feeling right now will portray a stronger message.

Target for today: Attend ‘Pick Me Up’ – Graphic Art Fair and see how work can influence and inspire own.

Target for tomorrow: Look through ‘Playful Type 2’ book and create a page in sketchbook based on these designs and inspiring designers seen at ‘Pick Me Up’ Graphic Art Fair and ‘The Joy of Living’.

Friday 18th March 2011:

Today I thought more about what I want my organisation to do in particular. After researching other organisations such as Childline and the NSPCC, I decided that I would prefer my organisation to mainly just focus on bullying rather than a whole range of issues. I want my organisation to help the victims, bullies and parents/ teachers. My organisation will support all ages, but for this project I am going to focus on the teenage audience.

I decided that it will help victims by providing information on: how to stand up for themselves, someone to talk to, support groups (others going through the same thing), help to understand the bully, how and who to tell, etc.

It will help the bullies by providing information on: how to stop themselves from bullying, understand how the victim may feel, specific support groups for those trying to stop, why they may be a bully and modifying these issues to help prevent bullying in the future, how to deal with other bullies, etc.

Also, it will help parents/ teachers by providing then with information on: how to spot a bully/ victim, how they may feel, ways to prevent bullying, discussion/ support groups of similar stories, resources, small section on adult bullying (eg: home, workplace), and where to seek further help. I’ve decided that my organisation will have a website as well as a telephone number to call – therefore, hopefully the support is accessible to as may people as possible.

Some possible names which I came up with for this organisation were: Pick On Me, Pick Me Up, Happyou, Stand Out Stand Up, Beat It, Victimeyes, Sticks and Stones, Easy Target, Listenow, Listen Up, Pick You Up, Hold On, Know More, No More, Scared, Helping Hand, Bridge and Pep. And some possible taglines: Words will always help me, Talk it out, Pack up your troubles, You’re not alone, Helping those in trouble/ need.

I noticed that there were a few words within words. For example: Pick Me Up (pep), Scared (care), Know More (no). Pick Me Up is also the name of the Graphic Art Fair which I am attending tomorrow, so this might’ve inspired this name idea.

So far, I quite like ‘Pick Me Up’ as this is a well-known phrase for something that makes you happy – which is exactly what I want my organisation to do. It could also relate to pick me up (eg: a telephone) for support. I also like how it has the word ‘pep’ in it, which means liveliness and high spirits, and also ‘pep talk’: ‘a speech of exhortation attempting to instill enthusiasm and determination’. I feel that all of this works really well with the objectives of my organisation and will portray the correct message to the audience.

‘Pick On Me’ is quite effective as it may be saying pick on me (the support organisation) instead of others, however, if someone were to quickly read it, it may influence bullies further to pick on people. ‘Bridge’ could represent bridging the gap between the bullies and victims, as well as ‘a bridge over troubled water’, etc. However, I don’t think it communicates this message quick enough to the audience.

I will need to think more about which name works best and what tagline I could use with this, as I think the tagline can only be decided on when a name has been chosen.

Target for today: Think of possible names and taglines for my organisation as well as what I want my organisation to do.

Target for tomorrow: Attend ‘Pick Me Up’ – Graphic Art Fair and see how work can influence and inspire own.

Thursday 17th March 2011:

The next part of Chapter 11 goes on to describe how to develop a school strategy against bullying. The strategy mentioned includes the stages: Recognition, Investigation, Consultation, Implementation and Evaluation and Modification. Stage 1, Recognition talks about possibly having a school council or board where bullying issues can be discussed and recognised, and that having pupils as part of this can help to really understand the issues. Stage 2, Investigation, talks about how maybe surveys could be completed by pupils and then studied to perhaps discover certain aspects which require special attention such as particular age groups or places where bullying is common. The next stage, Consultation, is where pupils should be able to talk about issues and problems and how they feel they can be prevented so that the actual individuals involved in the bullying have a voice. The final stages, Implementation and Evaluation and Modification, focus on supervision and constant implementation of the previous stages as this is a continuous process. It also mentions counselling. I think that by looking further at these stages, I will be able to think more about how to prevent bullying and how to give out these messages in my final pieces.

Target for today: Finish reading Chapter 11 in ‘Bullying’ book – ‘Helping Victims’.

Target for tomorrow: Think of possible names and taglines for my organisation as well as what I want my organisation to do.

Wednesday 16th March 2011:

In the ‘Bullying’ book, Chapter 11 (‘Helping Victims’) starts with ‘Bullying cannot be cured just by treating the victims. They are not suffering from a disease but are involved in complex social situations, each of which is unique and requires individual action. Parents, teachers, friends and bystanders all play a part in the confrontation between bully and victim so they must also be included in any coping strategy.’ I think this is important because it’s not just the bully and the victim involved – teachers need to constantly help to prevent the bullying from occurring again, parents need to understand how their child feels and try to prevent their child from bullying again/ make sure their child tells them if there is another bullying incident, and bystanders need to be supportive of anti-bullying, so not to influence the bully to bully again, etc.

It goes on to say that ‘Victims need to be reassured that they are not alone and that it could happen to anyone; all it takes is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Such an assertion may contradict the popular wisdom of the playground.’ I feel that this is what I want my organisation to promote – the fact that they’re not alone (the bully or the victim), and that support is available. Also, I want support to be available for all involved: victims, bullies, parents, teachers, bystanders, etc, as they all need to know what to do and be able to gain advice.

Furthermore, a study recommends that ‘head teachers and staff should: be alert to signs of racial harassment and bullying, deal firmly with all such behaviour, and take action on clear rules which are backed by appropriate sanctions and systems to protect and support victims.’ I feel that this will help me when thinking about what I want my organisation to do, for example: helping teachers to spot signs of bullying and how to handle it, etc.

Target for today: Begin reading Chapter 11 in ‘Bullying’ book – ‘Helping Victims’.

Target for tomorrow: Finish reading Chapter 11 in ‘Bullying’ book – ‘Helping Victims’.