Geneva teachers use Taylor Swift's 'Shake it Off' to combat bullying

Thirty-three Williamsburg Elementary School teachers stepped out of their comfort zones and in to a lip dub video they produced set to Taylor Swift's “Shake It Off” to encourage students to find ways of dealing with their emotions.

A couple of months and over 8,000 YouTube views later, the kids are still talking about it to Principal Julie Dye.

“The reaction of the kids has been the best part,” she said. “It's helped them see their teachers in a whole new way.”

The 3 minute and 30 second performance was shot in one continuous take with the camera flowing through the hallways and different rooms of the Geneva school. Students from the Geneva High School TV production team and their teacher shot the video.

“We did a couple of quick dress rehearsals and then we just went with it,” Dye said. They shot the sequence twice but only used one take with no edits.

“Our original purpose was to underscore the message to students that when people say things that are hurtful or unkind you can choose to “shake-it-off” and not let it get you down or upset,” Dye said. “The song was a fun way to send this message and it aligned with our district's social-emotional skills curriculum (Second Step) in which teachers teach students various strategies and skills for handling bullying behaviors and put-downs.”

The video was shown to the students in December just before the holiday break as a surprise segment on the school's “Good Morning Williamsburg” broadcast. The video was taped after school hours so none of them expected it. “It was a lot of fun watching their reactions,” Dye said.

“It's been fun watching the number of views on YouTube climb, but hopefully the positive message is the big take-away at the end of the day,” Dye said.