GT is an excellent approach to preventing bullying

Peter Vosseler
Supervisor of Anti-Bullying/EEOC
Elizabeth Public Schools
500 N Broad St
Elizabeth, NJ 07208

Central Office Administrator responsible for:
Bullying and school climate in the 35 schools in Elizabeth School District, serving a population of over 27,000 students.

Do you believe that the Generation Text Online approach is a good tool to prevent bullying and if so why?

Generation Text Online is a proactive way of addressing bullying related issues/communications that occur routinely, whether it be between student to student or student to teacher. There are unconscious bias that occur in classrooms and the GTO program is an effective proactive approach, which educates/trains students and teachers to understand and effectively communicate socially and interpersonally with one another. The importance of building rapport, relating and understanding one another from an empathetic perspective and teaching the important values of respect, trust and inclusion are the hallmarks of the GTO program. The learning of these attributes provide the necessary foundation for teachers to most effectively teach and students to most effectively learn, which results in creating classrooms and whole school environments that are safe, supportive, respectful and empowering.

Do you believe the Generation Text Online approach has helped to push towards a more positive culture in your classroom/school?

The GTO approach has resulted in students understanding one another more effectively as well as teachers understanding their students and the motivations that drive their behavior to learn and behave most effectively. Teachers and staff have reported that using the tools from the GTO program have resulted in students being more connected with their peers as well as teachers, which has increased levels of trust and empathy in interpersonal and whole group relationships while positively impacting the culture of the classroom environment for optimal learning.

How does the Generation Text Online approach change the bully?

The bully learns the importance of empathy and inclusion using the tools from the GTO program. This program helps “the bully” understand more clearly the motivations behind their behaviors and results in positively empowering the bully to understand how their actions affect others while building rapport and inclusion so “the bully” feels positively empowered without the need to gain power through negativity or coercion.