Contact:
Charline Maher, Corwin, 805-410-7750, charline.maher@corwin.com
Keith Zwolfer, San Francisco Film Society, 415-561-5040, kzwolfer@sffs.org
San Francisco, CA (February 21, 2012) STAND TALL, a video series and manual that teaches students about respect and how to prevent bullying, will be one of two films presented by the San Francisco Film Society at a meeting of the elementary arts coordinators from San Francisco Unified School District on February 22 to help raise awareness about bullying in schools.
“We wanted to find creative ways to use media to address the topic of bullying,” says Keith Zwolfer, manager of the SFFS youth education program.
Suzanne Peck, creator of STAND TALL, will present one of the videos from her program and discuss how schools can prevent bullying by teaching students appropriate ways to respond to name-calling or harassment.
“Many anti-bullying programs only talk about the problem, not the solution,” says Peck, a former teacher who currently serves as a diversity consultant to Fortune 500 companies. “If schools want to prevent bullying, they have to give kids the communication skills to speak up for themselves or for a classmate who is being bullied.”
The STAND TALL program, published by Corwin, includes video modules featuring a teacher leading her class through various role-playing exercises, plus a teacher’s manual with discussion questions and activities.
“My hope is that the videos will give local elementary arts coordinators creative ideas that they can bring back to teachers and students at their individual schools,” says Peck.
The screening will also include an animated short titled “Play by Play” created by Afterwork Films, a part of the Pixar University program. The narrative short tells the story of a boy who is bullied at school and how he deals with it, highlighting the effects of bullying on children.
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Corwin, a SAGE company, was established in 1990 to provide solutions for PreK–12 educators. Corwin produces books and multimedia resources that range from very practical, experience-based resources to more reflective or research-based titles, and are written for a diverse set of professionals—principals, administrators, specialists, teachers, counselors, consultants, teacher educators and collegiate-level students. www.corwin.com.
San Francisco Film Society
Building on a legacy of more than 50 years of bringing the best in world cinema to the Bay Area, the San Francisco Film Society is a national leader in exhibition, education and filmmaker services. The Film Society presents 365 days of exhibition each year, reaching a total audience of 130,000 people. Its acclaimed education program introduces international, independent and documentary cinema and media literacy to more than 15,000 teachers and students and presents 120 classes and workshops annually. Through the filmmaker services program essential creative and business services and funding totaling millions of dollars are provided to deserving filmmakers of all levels. For more information visit sffs.org.
