Bullying Conference Reminder

Middle Level IS the Place for the Prevention of Bullying

A day-long event confronting bullying in schools.

Doug Wilhelm & Elizabeth Vachon

SERESC Conference Center, Bedford, NH

December 2, 2011, 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

The workshop will be divided into two half-day sessions. Presenters, Doug Wilhelm and Elizabeth Vachon, will share their experiences and strategies for preventing bullying at the middle level.

Doug Wilhelm's young adult novel, The Revealers, deals with bullying and has been used by middle schools nationwide to open up discussion on this difficult issue. During Doug's workshop he will share many of the creative strategies he has seen middle school teachers use to engage middle level students, stimulate discussions, and deepen their interactions with the novel and the real-life issues it addresses.

Doug started writing for young people with a science fiction novel for the Choose Your Own Adventure series. He found he loved writing for young adults, and he's been doing it ever since. Wilhelm often visits schools to talk about The Revealers and the issues it raises. He lives in Rutland, Vermont. For more information about Doug Wilhelm and The Revealer, click here.

Elizabeth Vachon is a L.I.C.S.W. at Birchwood Middle School and the director and facilitator of her nationally recognized program, Can't Bully in Schools. She has worked extensively with schools' students and faculty to showcase the issue of bullying and to engage the student population to think and take action on this topic. Her workshop will focus on ways educators can develop an anti-bullying program in their own school, share resources utilized for the prevention of bullying, and discuss how to get the "whole school" involved in the development of a preventative program.

Ms. Vachon was recently featured on the CBS program "48 Hours." The episode examined what Birchwood Middle School in Rhode Island is doing about bullying. For more information on that program click here.