Teachers Guide - Operation Respect

PETER YARROW
NEW YORK, N.Y.
Dear Friends,
The whole Don’t Laugh at Me project started with the song, discovered by my daughter,
Bethany, and then played for Peter, Paul & Mary. It brought tears to our eyes when we first
heard it, as it might to yours upon first listening.
Just as “We Shall Overcome,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “If I Had a Hammer” reached the
hearts of millions of Americans, galvanizing them to action, so, I believe, might “Don’t Laugh at
Me” provide a similar kind of heart’s connection that will help educators, social workers, and
other children’s caregivers create a more respectful, safe environment for our children.
First, please play the video and you’ll be halfway there to understanding our objective. You will
probably “get it” (almost) as quickly as the wonderful children in our focus groups who helped
guide us with their comments, ideas, and suggestions.
In a nutshell, Don’t Laugh at Me is intended to serve as an introduction to, and enrichment of,
ongoing efforts that nurture children’s emotional, social, and ethical development, such as
character education, conflict resolution, and teaching tolerance programs.
When children begin this project, they have an opportunity to share the feelings they
experienced when they, or others, were targeted by disrespect. Then, using the tools and
activities in the enclosed guide book, and guided by skillful, caring teachers, children become
sensitized to the hurtful effects of ridicule, scorn, name-calling, bullying, intolerance, and other
forms of disrespect that they encounter in the classroom and their lives beyond.
As you progress, the suggested activities, combined with the video and the CD, will lead you
and the children on a path to successfully creating a “Ridicule-Free Zone.” Together, you will
have the opportunity to declare your classroom (or other environment in which you work) a
space in which ridicule and other forms of disrespect are, by mutual agreement, not acceptable.
The expressed desire to evolve the culture of the classroom, so that it becomes more respectful,
peaceful, and safe, is a necessary first step. Your classes’ enthusiasm for nurturing and
maintaining a Ridicule-Free Zone is a good beginning, but only a beginning. After that, new
skills need to be learned, such as recognizing one’s own and other children’s feelings,
expressing oneself in a nonthreatening way, identifying prejudice, and learning to think beyond
intolerant messages from one’s past.
Concurrently, the children will need to learn how to resolve controversy and disagreements
respectfully, creatively, and nonviolently. As children acquire new, advanced socializing skills,
heartfelt pledges to change can begin to become a reality.
Additionally, to make this project part of your daily classroom activities, extension efforts need
to be integrated with the regular academic curriculum.
Your “classroom in transformation” can also begin to reach beyond the school’s walls. Doctors,
lawyers, law enforcement workers, business leaders, psychologists, athletes, governmental
officials, artists, and musicians can all be invited to the classroom to see what the class has
achieved and discuss ways of extending the Ridicule-Free Zone to the larger community.
Don’t Laugh at Me © 2000 Operation Respect, Inc. and Educators for Social Responsibility 7