While an intern at Jonathan Daniels Elementary School, I had the opportunity to collaborate with professionals both in and outside of the school. Bullying prevention proved to be a topic that led easily to collaborative practice. The school counselor I worked with had a well-established connection with the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention. We worked closely with this group, who presented four classroom lessons to the third grade classes. Their bullying prevention curriculum was complementary to the lessons from the school counseling curriculum.

            Another collaborative exercise with the goal of bullying prevention was a school-wide performance by the Plymouth State University TIGER program. TIGER (Theatre Integrating Guidance Education and Responsibility) presents theatrical role plays and skits about bullying. The scenarios are based on information collected from elementary school students throughout New Hampshire. The TIGER program brought the entire school together for the goal of stopping bullying. The school counselor, classroom teachers, and myself presented curriculum to students to follow up on issues raised during the performance.

            The TIGER program was performed at many of the district’s elementary schools. Through the district-wide school counselors’ meeting, counselors were able to share their experience with this and other programs.

            The bullying prevention curriculum at Jonathan Daniels Elementary School is one way the internship experience provided me with a strong foundation of collaborative practice.