NO NAME CALLING WEEK

The ninth annual no name calling week was celebrated January 23 – 27, 2012 at Neuwoehner School. Students, staff and visitors could sign the Pledge/Banner in the main hallway to show their support for a NO NAME CALLING school. Go to www.nonamecallingweek.org for lessons plans and more information. You can also check out www.glsen.org for more information.

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. The No Name-Calling Party in the end, wins 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, consisting of over 40 national partner organizations, organized an actual No Name-Calling week in schools across the nation. 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.