Learning to confront bullies is a difficult skill to master, especially at a young age. But with a bit of practice, Wareham Middle School health teacher Harriette Sullivan believes children can begin to overcome the fears they face when confronting a bully.

Sullivan had her fifth grade classes create plays based on scenarios the students faced in real life.

“In education, what you want to do is get the kids being creative, if you possibly can,” Sullivan said. “Applying their own bullying situations, and coming up with solutions is [creative].”

The classes split into groups to perform plays a few students in each group had written. Each play was about five minutes long and the students got the chance to critique one another.

Most of the plays ended with the victim and the bully (or bullies) being friends -- but a few of the children said they had a hard time believing it.

“I feel like, in a real-life situation, the victim probably wouldn’t want to be friends with the bully,” said fifth-grader Emily Spear.

Fellow student Ethan Cavacas agreed and said the formula was boring.

“You always expect the bully to become friends with them,” said Cavacas.

“Also, how would their parents let them go to school with tattered shoes on?” Cavacas continued, referring to the resolution of one of the plays, in which every student at school wore ripped shoes in solidarity with a child who was being bullied for his worn sneakers.

But despite the formulaic nature of the plays, Sullivan said she hopes the children can take what they learned in the classroom, and apply it to real-life situations. Though it is always good to notify a teacher or administrator, Sullivan said, sometimes authority figures won’t be available.

“If you have the skills available to you … address it there,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said she will ask the students in a few weeks to give her examples of when they used anti-bullying tactics in real life.