Whatever you call it—bullying, mistreatment, harassment—the basic issue will always persist: kids can be really stinkin' mean.

Since your students spend a large percentage of their waking hours under your tutelage, you need to be ready to recognize and respond to difficult social situations. Here are a few resources that will help you stay on top of—and ultimately reduce—incidents of mistreatment in your classroom and school.

First and Foremost

Here at Shmoop, we are big fans of Stan Davis, therapist, school counselor, and author of Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies for Reducing Bullying, Empowering Bystanders in Bullying Prevention, and most recently, Youth Voice Project. Not a bad bibliography, if you ask us.

Davis has some great insight (and a hefty dose of compassion) in talking about the ways in which school communities—that means parents, teachers, administrators, staff, and students—can work together to prevent bullying behaviors and improve the overall school climate. After all, that's the way to maximize the potential for learning and development. Take a minute (or five) and watch this snippet of Davis doing his thang. Then consider reading his books or perhaps even booking him for a speaking engagement or workshop in your district.

Want an in with fewer pages to turn? Take some time to peruse Davis's website, where you'll find an overview of what is meant by bullying as well as advice and strategies for parents and guardians, youth, and schools.

Going Federal

That's right—this goes beyond do-gooders and folks actually in the classroom like Davis. StopBullying.gov is a federal government website created and maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and it's got all the same aims as above (though a bit of a different style—hey, it is the government). Here you'll find definitions of bullying, federal and state laws applying to bullying, news updates and health information (including this article about how being bullied can affect physical and mental health), prevention strategies, and more.

If you're in a hurry—or just plain overwhelmed by the amount of information available on this site—here are links to some unskippable must-read segments:

• Warning signs that may indicate a student is bullying or being bullied.
• A good explanation of cyberbullying and why it is so insidious.
• Misdirections in Prevention, a brief file that explains why simply adopting a zero-tolerance policy (and other common approaches) ultimately may not be effective in preventing bullying behaviors.
• How to Talk About Bullying includes great information about, well…how to talk about bullying with kids, including specific questions you can discuss with your students and links to webisodes (for the younger set) to inspire dialogue.
• In the U.S.? Check out the State Laws and Policies section to see where your state stands.

Pick up the PACER

Okay, enough with the feds. The PACER Center is an organization focused on enhancing "the quality of life of children and young adults with disabilities and their families." PACER stands for Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights, and one of the group's initiatives is a National Bullying Prevention Center.

The Resources section of the NBPC includes the standard overview and definitions, but the feature we really like is the Toolkits page. It's filled with ideas for activities you and your students can undertake in your classroom (whether you're at the elementary, middle, or high school level) as well as in your community. The goal: to increase awareness around bullying and make some progress toward prevention.

While PACER is focused on students with disabilities, the information on their NBPC site addresses bullying in all its forms and across a range of demographics.

Shmoop It

And, of course, Shmoop has you covered when it comes to cyberbullying resources, in the form of an Online Course and an Online Video Course.