Customer Reviews

Good-Bye Bully Machine

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Good-Bye Bully Machine is a recent discovery. I am an elementary school counselor and I just cannot say enough good things about what it has done on the playground, hallways, cafeteria, and classrooms in my school. Over the years, I've used dry and boring bullying curriculums which are now sitting idle on my shelf. I've lost students in a flash when I'm just standing at the white board writing the definition of bullying. As a counselor, it means everything to me for students to have better insight to bully behavior. The minute I introduce the metaphor of the "bully machine", I have a captive group of students. Good-Bye Bully Machine is one of the few books out there that really goes there with students and requires critical thinking. The first time I read this to a 4th grade class, one of the students went out to recess and reported a problem to an adult stating, 'I do not want to be part of the bully machine!' Love that. So why do kids like this machine plugged in? How can schools unplug it? What makes it grow and become strong? Like I said, the metaphor of the "bully machine" creates higher level thinking and questioning. Those that are participating in bullying behavior have an opportunity to try and understand themselves better. A lot of those students are in personal pain, take the time to explore this with them. It's such a worthwhile read. The "bully machine" causes a lot of hurt in schools across America. If you are a teacher or a counselor looking for a creative approach to STOP bullying, add this book to your resource shelf. (be sure to use the leaders guide - it's an awesome supplementary resource on free spirt publishing website)

This is one of my favorite resources as a school counselor. The students really enjoy Good-Bye Bully Machine. It makes them think creatively about what makes a bullying problem at a school get bigger and how they can make a difference. To learn more about how I used this book in my classroom guidance lessons and school wide [...]. I am a K-12 certified school counselor, a Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger [...]

Bullies can only be bullies if you let them be. "Good-Bye Bully Machine" is a guide for young readers who want to stand up to their schoolyard tormentors and establish the confidence they need to rise up through life. Comparing bullies to cold unfeeling machines, Debbie Fox & Allan Beane give many effective tips to help young readers get through the machine and unplug it. "Good-Bye Bully Machine" is a top pick for parents of children who face bully problems in school.

This book gave a lot of insight on bully both for the bully and the bullied. It taught that bullies usually had a reason to act out in that way but that it wasn't excusable either. It gave ideas on how to handle different bully situations and how to address the victim as well as the bully. It also gives activities for the bully or the bullied to do to keep track of their feelings. They can talk about it if they can but learning disabilities or other conditions such as autism sometimes keep kids from "talking." Instead they have them write something similar to a journal entry. There are many others too.