Discussion questions: How do you think bullies should be punished in a school situation? Why was the spelling bee incident so disheartening to Tod? Describe Tod's home life. Have the students brainstorm in groups how they might stereotype these students based on appearance alone.ġ0. Give each student a description of someone that lists only physical characteristics such as disheveled, unkempt hair, wears black, etc. If they are uncomfortable sharing the exact stories they do not have to, but merely writing it down can help them understand their feelings about the situation a bit better. Encourage students to journal about a time they felt left out or unwanted similar to Tod and the spelling bee. Have students role play different types of bullying scenarios and discuss how they felt in the different roles and how they realistically believe students would react in those situations. Or have students think about how they would create costumes out of nothing like Tod had to do for the student play.

Have students create a piece of artwork to represent the many characteristics that describe themselves or that describe Tod.

Discuss the bullying policy here at Dowling Catholic as well as the expectation for respect amongst teachers and students alike. Describe the different kinds of bullying (physical and emotional) that are depicted in this book. How do these punishments differ in what they teach the students? What can Tod gain from his interactions with the school counselor that he cannot get from picking up trash outside? (Any)Ĥ. Tod is assigned to write in a journal about himself for his punishment while his friends are punished by cleaning the school grounds. How is this an example of voice? (English)ģ. Study the language Tod uses in the story to depict his feelings and motivations. Assign students to read real articles about bullying in schools today and have them discuss possible causes and outcomes, solutions, and the rise in online bullying. Some ideas and themes for using Scrawl in a variety of curricular areas:ġ. There are specific examples provided for how he is stereotyped by students, teachers, and even administrators that discourage him from trying to change or mature. He also talks about the sense of power he gets when he bullies others, but also how he faces his own version of bullying on a daily basis. His story describes his home life, which includes a mother and stepfather. The journals start fairly simplistically as Tod rebels against his punishment, but eventually he opens up and describes why he is a bully. The Freshmen summer read, Scrawl, follows the journals of a young boy who was caught trespassing on school property during non-school hours and was punished by visiting his school counselor every day after school for detention.

Scrawl by mark shulman