A guest post from author K.M. Walton

This week I was lucky enough to have K.M. Walton guest post for me. Mrs. Walton is the YA author of two books, Cracked and Empty (both Simon Pulse). She is currently working on a YA horror novel as well. Mrs. Walton was a teacher for twelve years and kindness and anti-bullying are two things that have always been a huge part of her life.

Check out her website here or follow her blog here.

Want to End Bullying? It's All About the Adults in Schools.
By K.M. Walton

The only way change-for-the-better happens in schools, is if the adults in the building-administration, teachers, support staff-step out of what's expected and shake things up a little (or a lot). Bullying in schools will never stop unless two crucial things happen:

1) Bullies must be engaged in open, emotional, and purposeful conversations-what I call Explicit Conversations-with an adult in the building-discussing the real effects of their behavior. The bully must be brought to a solid understanding of the pain they have caused. It was the only way I made the bullying stop during my time in the classroom.

2) Adults in the school must be 100% invested in stopping bullying in its tracks and subsequently trained on what that looks and sounds like. If you're an educator and this isn't the case in your building, don't let it discourage you. YOU be the adult who is 100% invested in stopping bullying. YOU be the leader. Bottom line, administrators and teachers cannot turn a blind eye. They need to effectively address bullying each and every time it rears its hideous head.

The bullies I've encountered had one thing in common: a lack of empathy. Bullies had not been taught to put themselves in others' shoes, hence the ease with which they tortured their fellow students. Many students need to be explicitly taught how to think of others, to be kind and compassionate. Educators must take the time to seize the teachable moments. How? Have purposeful and crafted conversations. Acknowledge and discuss injustice, racism, hatred, and intolerance-jerk behavior. Show students what compassion looks and sounds like every chance you get. Praise them when they give it a go.

The bottom line: if students are taught to think of other people-to think how other people feel first-before acting or reacting, well, then, those students will forever be empowered to think on their feet. And most importantly to think with their heart and their head, which is the polar opposite of bully behavior.

Anti-bullying was always the core principal of my twelve year teaching career. I never shied away from facing or addressing bullying-I believed it was my job, as the adult, to discuss and address bullying/intolerance/hatred-every single time it reared its hideous head. My entire purpose was that I wanted kids to see each other for the human beings they were, not the labels or assumptions they attached to each other. My young adult novels CRACKED and EMPTY were natural writes for me because of my passion for the subject.

I wrote CRACKED so that my readers could see the devastating impact of bullying, from the perspective of the victim and the bully. I felt there was tremendous power in that.

I wrote EMPTY so that my readers (teen readers especially) could get inside the head of a tortured person and feel her pain. My main character Dell silently suffers throughout the novel. No one around her notices and they all fail her. I want readers to understand that what they say and do to other people in their lives holds power, the power to lift someone from the depths of darkness, or rip them to shreds.

Kindness matters.

There are countless opportunities to revolutionize students' minds. Seize those opportunities.