School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Muslim Ordained Minister
This lesson is educational information and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. In danger now, call 911.
Before you start
- This space is private. Nobody sees what you read. Your progress stays on your device.
- We never ask your name. Not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your name on it after.
- Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retakes are allowed. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
- If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
- This unit is about peer harassment: when someone your age, or a group, targets you again and again, at school, online, or both. It also teaches the difference between harassment and ordinary conflict.
The lesson
Part 1. What harassment is — and what it is not
Peer harassment is a pattern of unwanted behavior aimed at one person: repeated mean messages, rumors spread on purpose, group chats made to mock someone, photos shared to embarrass, threats, or being shut out as a group campaign. Three things mark it: repeated, aimed at a specific person, and one-sided: the target cannot make it stop alone.
What harassment is not: one argument between equals, a joke both people enjoy, or a friend's bad mood. Those are ordinary conflict. Getting the name right matters: conflict is solved between the people in it; harassment is solved with adults, because the pattern and the power are not equal.
Part 2. Criminal harassment and civil harassment prevention orders in Massachusetts, in general
Harassment is not only a school problem; the law covers it too. Massachusetts law treats criminal harassment, in plain terms, as a pattern of acts (generally three or more) done on purpose to seriously alarm a person, causing distress any reasonable person would suffer. Police and courts handle those cases; adults make those reports.
Massachusetts courts can also issue civil harassment prevention orders: official orders telling a person to stop contact and stay away, available even when the harasser is not a family member or dating partner. Breaking one is a crime. Families ask the court for these in serious cases. Your part is smaller and powerful: document and tell, so adults with the legal tools have something solid. If harassment includes threats, sexual messages, or an adult's involvement, tell a trusted adult the same day.
Part 3. Harassment at work, at school, and online
At school is where peer harassment most often lives: hallways, lunchrooms, group chats that follow you home. Most schools have anti-harassment rules, a person you report to, and duties to respond once told. A written, dated report with a copy kept is far stronger than a hallway complaint. If the first report changes nothing, it still starts the record the next step stands on.
Online, harassment includes repeated cruel messages, accounts made to mock you, embarrassing photos spread around, and pile-ons. Save before you block: screenshot with the account name and date, report in the app, then block. Platform and school reports are separate; serious cases deserve both.
At a job, teens can face harassment from coworkers or customers too. Tell a trusted adult and a manager in writing if you can; you never have to absorb it.
In every setting, a pattern aimed at a person who wants it stopped is harassment.
Part 4. Documenting and keeping evidence
Your memory is not the file; screenshots are. Build it:
- Log it the same day. Date, time, where, who, exactly what was said or done, and who saw it. Short and factual beats long and emotional.
- Screenshot with proof of who and when: the account name, the date, and the whole conversation, not one cropped line.
- Save originals. Do not delete threads, even the worst ones, and do not edit screenshots. Copies stored with a trusted adult protect the file.
- Note witnesses. Friends who saw it are part of the record; write their names next to the entries.
- Do not feed the pattern to gather proof. You never need to answer or stay in a chat "for evidence." Save what exists, block, and tell. Your own messages become part of the file adults read.
Part 5. Reporting paths, step by step
- Tell a trusted adult today. Parent, caregiver, counselor, teacher, coach. Show the log and screenshots; showing beats describing. If the first adult does nothing, tell the next one.
- Report at school in a way that leaves a record: the counselor's office, the school's reporting form, or an email a trusted adult helps you send. Keep your copy.
- Report online conduct in the app for every account and post, and keep the confirmations with your log.
- If it continues or grows, adults can escalate: administration, police where threats or a criminal pattern are involved, and court orders in serious cases. Threats of violence, sexual content, or an adult involved: same-day telling, always.
- Know the difference between telling and tattling. Tattling tries to get someone in trouble over something small. Telling to get help reports a pattern that is hurting someone and cannot be stopped alone.
- If you feel unsafe: move toward people, find an adult, call 911 in immediate danger. 988 (call or text) and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) support the feelings too.
Part 6. Roles, rights, responsibilities, and support
Your rights, plainly: to be free of a targeted pattern at school and online; to tell and be believed; to have reports answered; and to support that does not depend on being "tough enough" first. Adults' roles: caregivers advocate for you; counselors and teachers receive reports and act; administrators handle serious cases; police and courts handle threats.
Your responsibilities are about the record and each other: be accurate, do not exaggerate (the true pattern is serious enough), do not join pile-ons, and do not forward cruel content. Bystanders become upstanders when they act: refuse to join, save the screenshot for the target, sit with the target, tell an adult. One upstander changes the math of a hallway.
Finally: harassment is never the target's fault. Feeling anxious or losing sleep over a pattern is a normal reaction, and 988 and Childhelp (1-800-422-4453) exist for young people carrying this.
Words to know — Harassment
- Harassment — a pattern of unwanted conduct aimed at a person that seriously alarms or distresses them.
- Peer harassment — harassment by someone the target's own age, often at school or online.
- Ordinary conflict — a disagreement between equals that both sides can help solve.
- Bystander — a person who sees harassment happen and is not the target or the person doing it.
- Upstander — a bystander who acts: refuses to join, supports the target, saves evidence, tells an adult.
- Telling to get help — reporting a pattern that is hurting someone and cannot be stopped alone.
- Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
- Block and report — app tools that cut off contact and alert the platform.
- Screenshot — a saved picture of a screen, used as evidence when it shows the account name and date.
Myths vs facts — Harassment
- Myth: If you are not being hit, it is not serious. Fact: A repeated pattern of messages, rumors, or mockery aimed at you is harassment, and schools and the law treat patterns seriously.
- Myth: Telling an adult is snitching. Fact: Telling to get help stops a pattern you cannot stop alone. They are different things.
- Myth: If everyone laughs, it is just a joke. Fact: A joke does not have a target who wants it to stop. The target's experience counts.
- Myth: Answering back with something worse fixes it. Fact: Retaliation joins the pattern adults review. Saving, blocking, and telling is stronger.
Think it through — Harassment
Since October, three classmates have run a group chat mocking Ben, 13: edited photos, a running joke about his voice, screenshots of his posts shared for ridicule. Ben was removed from the chat, but members quote it in the hallway, and twice someone recorded his reaction in class and posted it. Ben told a teacher once; she said, "Stay off that app and it will die down." It has not. Ben asks: "Is this actually harassment, or just drama? And what do I do when the first report did nothing?"
Walk it through: (1) Name it with Part 1's tests: repeated for months, aimed at one person, one-sided and unwanted, across online and in-person settings. That is peer harassment, not ordinary conflict, which requires equals who can solve it between themselves. (2) The teacher's advice failed a basic test (Part 3): the pattern lives in hallways too, not only in an app. A failed first report starts the record; it does not close the case. (3) Ben's steps (Parts 4 and 5): build the log with honest dates, screenshot posts with names and dates, save the recordings' links, then tell a trusted adult and report again, in writing to the counselor, copies kept. (4) If it continues, adults escalate, and threats or sexual content go to police the same day. (5) Ben is not required to endure it or prove he is "tough." His job is document and tell.
Try this — Harassment
Build your telling system:
- ☐ I can say the difference: harassment is repeated, aimed, and one-sided; conflict is between equals
- ☐ I know how to screenshot with the account name, date, and full conversation showing
- ☐ My log format is ready: date, time, where, who, what happened, witnesses
- ☐ I know my school's reporting path and have a trusted adult outside school too
- ☐ I have practiced the upstander moves: do not join, save it, sit with them, tell an adult
- ☐ 988 and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) are saved in my phone
Resources to keep — Harassment
- 911 — if you are in danger, or threats of violence are being made.
- 988 (call or text) — support any time you feel overwhelmed.
- Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type.
- Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if you are being hurt or pressured.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (thehotline.org) — if harassment comes from a dating partner.
- mass.gov — Massachusetts harassment prevention order information.
What you earned / what's next — Harassment
✅ Harassment complete (test score 80% or higher): You can tell harassment from ordinary conflict, describe how the law treats a pattern, document and report with a record, and act as an upstander.
Your certificate
Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Harassment
This certificate is presented by Muslim Ordained Minister Destiny Marie Morgan
Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)
Date completed: ______________
Congratulations. You learned to name a pattern, keep the record, tell until an adult acts, and stand beside the person it targets. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan
This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.
What's next: More.
Sources
- Massachusetts government — mass.gov — harassment prevention orders information.
- StopBullying.gov — stopbullying.gov — federal guidance on bullying and peer harassment.
- Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) — stalkingawareness.org — documentation guidance.
Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.