No Name-Calling Week

No Name Calling Week Banner

GLSEN’s No Name-Calling Week is a week organized by K-12 educators and students to end name-calling and bullying in schools.

Founded in 2004 with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, and evaluated by GLSEN research, No Name-Calling Week was inspired by James Howe’s novel The Misfits about students who, after experiencing name-calling, run for student council on a No Name-Calling platform.

The week is rooted in the idea of #KindnessInAction — not merely recognizing the importance of kindness, but actively adding kindness into our every action. See below ways to participate and put #KindnessInAction, including lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school!

No Name-Calling Week is January 21-25, 2019.

How to Participate

Register

All registrants receive free streaming of LGBTQ-inclusive classroom documentaries from Youth & Gender Media Project, and first access to new resources!

Plan

Use our Student Organizing Resource, Educator Planning Guide and Suggested Reading list to get started. Use our lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school including our new Identity lesson for grades K-2. Also share resources with parents and administrators.

Participate

Watch last year’s QTPoC Open Mic to see queer and trans students of color perform their poetry about putting #KindnessInAction!

Submit your poetry for this year's QTPOC Open Mic.

Create

Create your own Creative Expressions Exhibit in your school and submit your art to GLSEN’s art display.

Watch and Learn

Host a screening of LGBTQ-themed films with your students, GSA, colleagues, administrators, or families. We are offering free streaming for registrants from January 14-31st, 2019:

Youth and Gender Media Project I’m Just Anneke and The Family Journey
GroundSpark’s Respect for All Films
Carrie Hawk’s Black Enuf*

Put #KindnessInAction

Text KIND to 21333 to send an anonymous message of kindness to a fellow student! Then, learn how be an ally, not a bystander, when you witness bullying.

Teach

GLSEN has a host of lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students on the topics of name-calling, bullying, and bias in schools, perfect for the week!

Organize

Are you participating as an individual, in a group or GSA, or as a school? GLSEN has a list of No Name-Calling Week activities to help you organize. You can also check out our planning guides for educators and students to make sure everyone in your school is putting #KindnessInAction.

Make It Official

Pass a proclamation in your area, and organize signing of this pledge! Show you're against name-calling by sharing the names you want to be called with this sign!

Spread the Word

Share about No Name-Calling Week with all your friends and educators! Share on Facebook and Twitter to encourage them to register their participation at school.

Lesson Plans

Lesson Name	Lesson Description	Grade Level
"I am" lesson	In this lesson, students will read Looking Like Me, by Walter Dean Myers, and examine the descriptive words that the main character uses to describe himself (e.g., brother, son, artist, dancer, runner, and dreamer).	K-2
Beauty is Skin Deep	Students reflect on the ways in which they have experienced or participated in name-calling based on physical appearance, and the ways in which expectations about appearance in our society affect us.	K-5
Poster Design	This lesson is designed to help students work together to create no name‐calling messages shared through posters.	K-5
Building a Bully-Free Building	This lesson helps students begin to think about what a school without name-calling and bullying might be like, in order to build a "bully-free school."	K-5
Garden of Kindness	This lesson provides an opportunity for students to work collaboratively to create a classroom or school-wide display to demonstrate their commitment to kindness.	K-5
This is a gender stereotype	This lesson will explain what a “stereotype” is to elementary students. By playing the “Stereotype Game”, students will get to participate in challenging gender stereotypes, and the many ways that we can fit or break them.	1-3
Poetic Reactions	This lesson is designed for students to express their feelings regarding name‐calling using an artistic form of poetry.	3-5
Shirts of Empowerment	This lesson provides students an opportunity to experience what it’s like to be labeled and as a result, develop empathy for those who others label.	6-12
Creating an Anti-Slur Policy	Students work collaboratively to develop an anti-slur policy for their classroom.	6-12
Challenging Assumptions	This lesson provides students an opportunity to experience what it’s like to be labeled in a negative way, and as a result, develop empathy for those who others label, even though those labels don’t fit.	6-12
What If It's Not Me	This lesson helps students think about what they can do when they witness an incident of name-calling or bullying, but are not being called names or bullied themselves.	6-12
Instant Replay	Students discuss and practice safe and realistic responses to name-calling and bullying by role-playing fictional scenarios.	6-12
Name-Calling In Our School	Students are provided with the opportunity to objectively observe the way in which name-calling and other types of disrespectful language are used in school over a three-day period.	6-12
Learning empowerment and identification	In this lesson, participants will explore how self-identification can be empowering, and have discussions about what it means to be proud of the labels and identities that we all hold.	9-12

Partners

These organizations provide invaluable support for No Name-Calling Week! If your local, state, or national organization is interested in participating, sign up to endorse GLSEN's programs.