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.

Whether you are a school administrator, teacher, parent, mentor or corporation, we can design a program to suit your needs. Let’s make the connection!

4 + 5 =

Getting students to think about actions

Guiding students through group conversations about the Eight Essential Questions really seems to be an excellent way of handling any type of bullying situations going on in your class.

Video: Small Groups with High School Juniors

Each mentee got exactly what they personally needed

Small Groups are so beneficial

Attending small groups every week has been such a benefit to my life. In our small group we have an opportunity to release stress and anything we are overwhelmed with by sharing it with everyone.

Builds rapport and relationships from an empathetic perspective

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.

Effects of trauma on the brains of children

What I found most interesting was the information relating to the effects of trauma on the brains of children.

A new way to run a meeting

It is easy to build agendas for meetings that lack the connection. I find that I am constantly now beginning with an activity such as these we are using. I appreciate that as an admin team we are taking time to connect in this way as well.