Tuesday, January 5, 2010

No Name-Calling Week

I may be a little early with this, but No Name-Calling Week is January 25-29, 2010. I thought if I posted this now, it would give people time to put together some activities.

The following information is quoted from their website.

"No Name-Calling Week was inspired by a young adult novel entitled "The Misfits" by popular author, James Howe. The book tells the story of four best friends trying to survive the seventh grade in the face of all too frequent taunts based on their weight, height, intelligence, and sexual orientation/gender expression. Motivated by the inequities they see around them, the "Gang of Five" (as they are known) creates a new political party during student council elections and run on a platform aimed at wiping out name-calling of all kinds. Though they lose the election, they win the support of the school's principal for their cause and their idea for a "No Name-Calling Day" at school. "

"Motivated by this simple, yet powerful, idea, the No Name-Calling Week Coalition, created by GLSEN and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, and consisting of over 40 national partner organizations, organized an actual No Name-Calling Week in schools across the nation during the week of March 1-5, 2004. This year, No Name-Calling Week will take place the week of January 25-29, 2010. The project seeks to focus national attention on the problem of name-calling in schools, and to provide students and educators with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate name-calling in their communities."

For more information, see http://www.nonamecallingweek.org

2 comments:

  1. I think this is a good idea, but name-calling continues into adulthood. Maybe we should expand the idea?

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  2. To Tamahome Jenkins: I so agree. Every once in a while, I'll catch my adult family members saying things they shouldn't. Sometimes I'll point it out, but I can tell they don't appreciate it. Maybe an "Adult No Name-Calling Day" would make them more aware (without me having to say something).

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