School No. 12 Uses Improv to Fight Bullies
By: Cierra Putman
Updated: June 18, 2012
Can improv help stop bullying? Kids at Rochester's School No. 12 think so.
The goal for the improv performances was to help kids practice taking a stand against bullying.
The group of student actors took their interactive performance into School No. 12's hallways where they say bullying happens.
They acted out scenes of harassment and abuse at school and cyberbullying in front of 4th 5th and 6th graders.
The first time around the class just watched, but the second time they had to yell stop and try to change the outcome of the play.
Many students say it was scary to take a stand but practicing will help them in real life.
"It makes me feel like I can make a difference," 5th grader Rubie Santiago said. "But there a little scared because they think they're going to be bullied too, but it doesn't matter at least you can make a difference in this world."
"Sometimes there's a little chuckle, sometimes there's silence you can hear a pin drop," Teacher Henry Padron said. "Regardless you see them enter into a domain something they need to practice playtime doing. That's the purpose of this work to give them a safe environment to address this issue."
The performances were very powerful because the scenes all came from an incident the students either saw or experienced at school.
The group gave 8 performances this week, after practicing for 7 weeks after school.
It was such a success, that teachers hope to offer the group next year.
