Tattle time in my room is at 2:15 -- which is also recess time. If they have to tattle, they have to wait until then to do it! If a student tries to tattle before then, I stop him/her, ask if anyone is hurt,etc.. If not, then I remind them they can tell me at 2:15. Very few ever do!
I have a basket of tattle papers in my room. If a child wants to tattle then they must take a tattle paper and write it down then place it on my desk. Most of the time the students decide that it is not worth it, but if they do then I am happy because they are gettting extra writing practice! I read them at the end of the day and get a good laugh sometimes! I have thought about making a book called "First Grade Tattle Tales." My students do know that if it is a "tattle emergency" (i.e. bleeding, hurt, etc.) then they do not have to fill out a tattle paper.
When I taught Kindergarten tattling was an issue in the beginning of the school year...which most kiddies prefaced with "I have to tell you something important". I explained that I needed to know important things but I needed them to help me listen better. To do that they had to answer a question...Were they telling me this important information to keep someone OUT of trouble (hurt, sad, sick) or telling me this to get someone INTO trouble (complaint)? You would be pleasantly surprised how quickly that stopped much of the tattling.
Now, if the child couldn't decipher the difference of my initial question, or that child just needed to continue and answered what I wanted to hear, then in order to proceed with the complaint the child had to tell me two really nice things about the child s/he was going to be tattling on...again, too much work to think about compliments when one just wants to rat on you. (Hey, just had an idea that we as professionals might want to do this with our colleagues! )
Those two procedures when done consistenly on my part sorted out and stopped much of the whining and tattling. For the hardcore child who just couldn't stop, I set up our class mascot Barnaby (a big Folkmanis puppet who sang with us each day and was part of all special events) to hear further frequent flier's complaints. The child could go to Barnaby and tell him. He would then share the news with me at the end of the day. Now that was a sight to behold.
The most common one was similar to another poster. I only want to hear about blood and broken bones. If a child continues, I interupt and ask if they are trying to get someone else in trouble. That is usually the end of that.
One year the tattleing was so bad I was going nuts. I read one of the Mrs. Pigglewiggle books to the class and she had a cure for tattletails that involved having black clouds over the child's head. I cut out contruction black tails and hung them on the desk. Of course a parent objected, so I had to quit. I guess you can't go to that extreme.
I think sometimes to a fault though - whenever they try and tattle I usually interrupt quickly with "are you trying to get them into trouble or out of danger?" - (we've discussed at length what this means at the beginning of the school year) The reason I say to a fault is sometimes I think the kids are afraid to tell me things that they should legitimately be able to tell me. I say this because I've had different parents come up to me saying "so and so is being picked on during recess but they didn't want to tell you because they thought you'd think they are tattling" - this bothers me (although thankfully doesn't happen too often)...
I still hear them in 2nd grade. I too have to make sure they know the difference between tattling or telling me something important.
A Kindergarten teacher friend of mine did this-
He had some sort of big stuffed animal in the room. He gave it a name I can't remember now. Something like the tattletail rabbit. If a kid needed to tattle, he or she would just go over to the stuffed animal and tell it their tattle. He said towards the end of the year all he had to do was point to the stuffed animal and say go tell the tattle rabbit.
I know he had a clever name for it, something to go along with the stuffed animal.
It worked for him. I told my second graders the story and warned them that we might need one for our room. They didn't want one.
I will try to some of these to see which one works, but at the same time I have a parent that tells me that her son says that the teacher does not want to hear about anyone whom is bothering us. I simply told her that I didn't see what happen this time around and that I would make some new rules as to cover all these issues. At the same time, I am always seeing her son be the aggressor and taking pencils away and saying out loud, "that is mine!"
How should I handle this and how do I tell his mom that he is usually the aggressive one since conferences are coming up? Any suggestions would be great!
When Monday comes I will put into play I think the one with the papers in the box, at the same time to think am I getting someone in trouble or am I getting someone some help. Let's see if this one works!! Thanks a bunch for the great ideas!
I have had this problem in my room as well. I have a "Problem Book" which is simply a notebook with a label on the front. I have told the students that any problem they may have, unless hurt or a message from another teacher goes in the problem. Right after recess seemed to be non-stop problem. Now when the kids come up to me...I simply point to the book and they go and write their problem down! I occassionally look at the problem book and put a sad face or a short message to ensure the kids that I am reading it and do care about their problems! I do...but "Johnny pulled on my coat" can turn into a 10 minute story sometimes
Reply to mom who says teacher doesn't want to hear their kid is getting bothered by someone else:
Kids need to have practice working out their own problems as long as no one is getting hurt. You could spend all day just talking about who did what to who etc. Instead you use the day to learn academic skills along with modeling how to be nice to one another and going over the rules when necessary. Parents as well as teachers cannot go around solving their sons/daughters problems for them all day every day. The only way they can learn to get along with each other is to give them opportunities to practice their social skills in a safe, supervised setting.
Tattletelling doesn't solve any problems it only makes the one being told on think of ways to get back at the one who told on him/her.
I do something similiar to a post above. I have a book called The Tattle Book. When the students come to tattle, I just tell them to go write it in the book. It is a cute keepsake at the end of the year. Another teacher I know has a poster of George Bush in her classroom and when a student comes up to tattle she tells them to "Go tell the president."
Love love love "Go tell the president!" I have the "tattle book" and I've saved it for several years. Some of the stuff in there is so funny, especially with their attempted spelling.
One thing that really helped my first grade class distinguish between tattles and emergencies- works only if you're a bit of a ham - I did a lesson where one of my students was the teacher, and I played the tattlers. I roamed around the classroom following her/him. Sometimes I "tattled" (trying to get someone in trouble) ... you know the ideas..."he's not wearing his coat" "she called me a brat"...."he went in front of me in line" etc. At that tattle the class roared at my whiny voice and called out together with the acting teacher "That's just a tattle, you can solve it yourself".
But occasionally in my "drama" I complained about being scared because someone kept hurting me, or said that a child had fallen from the climber, or was sick, or that there was a strange dog in the playground. At that the children called out "emergency" and the one who was playing teacher followed me to help. It pointed out the difference to them in a lighthearted atmosphere, and I was also able to get in a mini lesson about tone of voice. I tell/show them adults just have a really hard time with that high pitched whine, their ears can't bear it, like fingernails on a chalkboard. If they stop using that pitch and lower their voice to calmly talk to me, its more likely I'll listen.
I tried that today for the first time. I created a Journal and labeled it the Tattle Journal. It seemed to work like a charm, no one tattled and only child put in something.
I told them and modeled on the board how they must do this as follows:
Name
Date
What is the problem...
How they plan to solve it....
**************************/instead of these stars they must skip a line or draw a line for the other student to be able to write. Well I guess it seemed like a lot of work and thought it was not worth it at all. They are funny!!!
At least if they do attempt it they are practicing writing skills and problem solving techniques while they are at it.
Go tell the President!!!!!! That is hysterical!!!!!! I am just picturing it in my mind. too funny!
Have any parents ever complained about that one? I think I have finally found a good use for the photo of George W that came in our Weekly Reader!!!!!! Thanks!
I recently stated using a tattle book, I wish I had read about it sooner. Recently there had been an increase in tattling going on in the room. Since I started the tattle book its cut down on the interruptions in the room. The kids write down the tattle and fold the paper over. I read each one and we discuss at the end of the day without mentioning names of what went on and how we as a class can fix it. Before I started the book I did a lesson on the difference between a tattle and an emergency. It is really working well in my class.
I attended a workshop "Tough Student Survival" and that was one of the strategies that the instructor shared with us. I have a picture of George in my room and I usually say "that sounds like something you should go tell to the president." I haven't had any complaints yet.
I teach 4th grade and even though my students are older, there are times when they tattle. I have a box in my room labeled "Tattle Box". If a student needs to tell me something (tattle), he or she has to write it down and put it in the box. This has really been a great idea. It has cut down on a lot of tattles.
As one of the weekly jobs, I have a Tattletale Captain. This person is who the children can tell their tattles to. They may tell them at recess or at the end of the day. Then the Tattletale Captain tells me the tattles at the end of the day in private as we are all packing up.
I have told the children that unless they are being hurt or they are seeing someone else be hurt by another then they can come tell me, but otherwise, they tell the Tattletale Captain.
I have barely any tattles since I started this practice! A student will try to tell me something silly and I say, "don't tell me tell the captain at the right time."
What is also nice is that I barely get any tattles at the end of the day b/c the captain has forgotten them by then.
While I understand this can be bothersome at times (tattling) I do not necessarily agree with your methods of the parent coming to you afterward. For example, I have a very quiet and shy child and sometimes she just sits and takes mean words from kids....she tells me and usu. I can see this hurts her feelings but she is a model student and listens to the rules. So I honestly think descretion really needs to be used on a per child basis. Mean words are common among kids and they can be just as hurtful if not more than blood and/or broken bones.
I just saw in my Really Good Stuff catalog the Tattleing Turtle. It is a little stuffed animal for them to talh to and then write their tattle. It also had a little poem poster to go with it. Also I teach social skills lessons to my special education students. I just used a book called Don't Squeal Unless it is a Big Deal. It was great!
03-09-2007, 05:23 PM
)
Simple View
