Who Cares I Do Toolkit

I. You Made It! We’re So Glad You’re Here!(View)
II.Connecting Some Dots About Bullying (Explore)
III. The Making of Great Stories (Explore)
IV.Telling Stories No One Will Forget (Create)
V. Ready, Set, Submit! (Submit)
VI. Additional Resources and Partner Initiatives
Woot! Welcome to the #WHOCARESIDO challenge!

We’re so glad that you’re here! It’s time for you to be seen and heard when it comes to ending bullying and making the world more kind. The way we see it is that you’re the ones in the thick of it. Bullying occurs at school, online, at home, and in the workplace, right? So you’re the ready-made experts and the world needs to hear why you want bullying to end, why you want a more caring world and how you think others can help. This toolkit is here to help you develop your stories in whatever creative way you see fit. The most important thing is that you tell it or show it or sing it or dance or film it...get it? 

Did you know….
  • In the United States, bullying is a problem that affects millions of students of all races and classes. 
  • 1 out of 4 kids is bullied.
  • Up to 43% of students have been bullied while online. 
  • Globally, almost one-third of young teens worldwide have recently experienced bullying. 
We know that you know how unacceptable these statistics are! 

We also bet you’re not shocked to learn how studies have shown that bullying behaviors are usually related to: 
  • Physical Bullying: hitting, pushing, kicking
  • Relational Bullying: name-calling, teasing
  • Social Bullying: rumor spreading, intentional social exclusion
  • Damage of Property or Personal Belongings
  • Cyberbullying: posting false information, hurtful messages, embarrassing comments or photos or being excluded by online networks

No one should have to experience bullying. People deserve to know who much they are cared for and valued. It’s time to use your creative voice to help turn the tide against bullying--and the arts are powerful tools that can be used to affect social change.

Paul McCartney wrote the song, Who Cares to encourage us to stand up to bullying and negativity. Inspired by the song and a musical film featuring Paul McCartney and Emma Stone, Creative Visions launched #WhoCaresIDo--a campaign sparked by storytellers and built by global citizens who are saying: WHO CARES? I DO.

Through visual arts, language arts and performing arts, we know you can bring awareness to the issues surrounding bullying and spark positive change! It’s time to share your stories to create a more caring and inclusive world. Dive in to learn how you can creatively respond to the #WhoCaresIDo Challenge. 

Ready, set, go!  

If you haven’t already done this, watch the video, Who Cares I Do. Then watch it again!  

  • Pay attention to the lyrics --what do you relate to?
  • How does Emma Stone react to the bullies? How and why does this change over the course of the film?
  • How does the film make you feel? 
Embed Video Here

Now that you’ve watched the video, it’s time to figure out some connections. 
II. CONNECT SOME DOTS ABOUT BULLYING
What connections can you make between the video and your own experiences?

Things with worth thinking and talking about...
  • How did the music video Who Cares represent the victim, the bullies, bystanders (witnesses of bullying who don’t act or speak up), upstanders (witnesses of bullying who do act and/or speak up)? How did you feel when you watched/listened to Who Cares? Why?  
  • What in your life connects to the Who Cares music video? 
  • What have you experienced or witnessed firsthand about bullying? Were you a victim, a bully, a bystander or an upstander? 
III. THE MAKING OF GREAT STORIES
Are you ready to tell your story? Want some extra pointers about how to make it memorable? We’ve got you covered with 6 great rules from Pixar! 

Pixar, you know--that Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy winning film studio--they’ve identified 6 Rules for Great Storytelling. Brian G. Peters posted a story about these rules on Medium. They may come in handy as you figure out what story you want to tell!

Rule 1: Great stories are universal:
The best stories tap into things almost all human beings go through--things like birth, growth, emotions, change, conflict, etc. 

Rule 2: Great stories have clear structure and purpose: 
Professional playwright and improvisor Kenn Adams made the greatest graphic to help figure out how a story can unfold. Pixar uses it a lot and so can you! 

Give your story a backbone! 
3. Great stories have a character to root for (an underdog):
Who doesn’t want to root for the character with mountains to climb to reach the top? 

4. Great stories appeal to our deepest emotions:
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader,” as the saying goes. If you’re feeling it (whatever emotion you want to convey) when you write it, there’s a strong chance your readers will feel it too!

5. Great stories are surprising and unexpected: 
Great stories aren’t boring. It’s the little things that can make for the biggest surprises, yo! Birds singing may not seem like a big deal. Birds singing in a war zone creates an image that feels loud.

6. Great stories are simple and focused:
K.I.S.S.= Keep It Simple, Silly! Don’t make your plot line so complicated that your reader gets trapped in a vortex. Great stories are easy to follow. 
  •  Want to keep Pixar’s Rules handy? Here ya go! 6 Rules of Great Storytelling Handout 
  • Y’all need to check out this video--talk about great storytelling without any dialog! Stellar use of music and images too! 
  • The Bystander
  • Got art? Project 1234 is featuring some amazing young artists: 
  • (NOTE: Most appropriate for high school students) https://theblog.adobe.com/how-5-artists-are-creating-to-end-bullying/
3. Alright--the time has come to get down to it. Think about your own stories regarding bullying. What do you need to tell? How are you going to tell it? If your story is super close to the heart, make it fictional. Create characters who say and do what you wish you or someone else would have!  

For character inspiration, check out these partner sites for inspiring stories of kindness and triumph:
  •  Hasbro Heroes whose acts of kindness helped their communities in special ways.
  • The Students Taking Action of Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention site are excellent sources of inspiration
  • Special Olympics is featuring 50 Game Changers--stories about youth who have made a positive difference toward inclusion. In fact, if you have a story about inclusion for all, you can submit it to their site!
  • On It Gets Better, there are tons of stories about folks who have triumphed in the name of being true to themselves. Be inspired! New Paragraph
IV. Tell a Story That No One Can Forget
Think about how you’re going to do that first: 
Do you know the medium you want to use in telling your story? (YES) -> How might this affect choices you make as you develop your story?

(NO?) -> What are your options? Take into account your talents, resources, and the time you have.  

So Tell Us What You Want What You Really, Really Want...to Do! 
  • Visual Arts: largely visual form (animation, cartoon, collage, digital art, drawing, graphic design, infographic, mask, mosaic, painting, papier-mâché, photography, poster, sculpture, etc.)
  • Performing Arts: largely narrative forms: (dance, documentary, public service announcement (PSA) song, short play, spoken word, recycled instruments, video, etc.)
  • Language Arts: largely narrative forms: (advocacy letter, article or essay, children’s book, poem, short story, script, etc.)


Storytellers often use their own lives, the experiences of friends, as well as use their understanding of the world for inspiration. Choices, choices, choices--great storytellers make lots of decisions. You might want to spend some time thinking through the following:


What are the central issues that you want to address in your story? Here’s a list of issues that show up a lot in stories about bullying: 

  •  Inclusivity
  •  Cyberbullying
  • physical appearance
  •  race/ethnicity
  •  Gender
  •  Religion
  •  Rumors and gossip
  •  Disabilities
  •  Differences
  •  Socio-economic status 
  • What do you want to leave your audience thinking and feeling? Is there a moral or lesson that you’re trying to get across, or do you want to plant ideas for your audience to work out even after your story ends? 
  • How do you want your readers to feel as your story unfolds? If you’re making a painting or another form of visual art, what are you going to do to make the viewer feel deeply?
In fact, narrative stories are going to work differently than visual forms for this challenge.Think about how your chosen form is going to get the job done. We’ve got you covered on this--read on!

 Telling Narrative Stories
Here are some questions to help you work out your plans for characters and conflict (the struggle or what needs to be overcome) since they’re at the heart of all stories!  
  • Who is/are the character(s) in your story? What are the roles of the heroes, the villains, the bystanders, or upstanders? 
  • Who will be telling the story? One (or more) of the characters? Or an outside narrator?
  • What is the central conflict or problem of your story? 
  • How will that conflict be introduced?  
  • How will it be resolved--how will your story end? 
Filmmakers often use storyboards to plan their stories. We think that storyboards are a great tool for any storyteller to organize and plan out their idea. Try using this one.

 Telling Visual Stories

Sometimes a visual story aims to focus on emotions more than a plot line. Visual stories tend to focus on feelings. Instead of planning out a story with a beginning, middle, and end, you have other things to consider.

Looking for some ideas / inspiration? Check out these three examples from The Bully Project Mural and see if you can answer these questions: 
  • What is going on in these works of art? What story or feeling is being suggested? How do you know?
  • How do these works make you feel? Why? 
“The Eyes”
“Alex”
Untitled

Now - think about how to plan out your own art: 
  • What is the story or feeling you want to suggest through your art?
  • How do want people to feel when they look at your piece? How can you create the right mood and tone to get that feeling? (color, composition, details, texture, size).
  • Don’t forget the power of a title! A great title is a north star--it guides your audience to the right reaction! Titles can come to you before or after you create your work. You’re the boss! 
Be sure to scope out this young person’s song too- so good! 
V. READY, SET, SUBMIT!
Who cares about your stories? WE DO! We can’t wait to see and share your stories with the world.  

Thanks for sending us your creative responses and for taking part in the #WhoCaresIDo Challenge! 
SUBMIT YOUR WORK HERE: New Paragraph