The Unseen

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The Unseen
By Julianne

You know, when I read this I was transported back to the days when all three of my now-grown kids would sit in the back seat of our Rabbit. Not a joyous experience. "Mom, he's poking me. Mom, she's breathing on me." "Mom
he's CONCENTRATING on me." I can't say I ever ended all this bickering either in the back seat or in my classroom. But there are things I've done that have slowed it down. I'd love to hear ideas on how you eliminate it completely. Wouldn't that be a banner day?
This boy is trying to get attention and every time a child rats on him he gets it. Try to be very low key about how you

handle this in front of the other children. Do your disciplining away from any audience if possible. You can start by explaining to the class as a whole about the difference between tattling and reporting. Reporting is when you tell a grownup about something someone is doing that is dangerous either to themselves, others or property. Tattling is when you tell a grownup about something someone is doing to get that person in trouble. Most of the picky picky stuff kids tell you in class is tattling even if the other kid did poke them or "put a kleenex" on them. If they are really bothered by it you can invite them to fill out an Incident Report Form where they must write what happened, why they think it happened and what they want done about it. Then hold a conference with the students involved (when everyone else is out of the room) and help them resolve it. This makes tattling less convenient and may slow down the complaints. Another thing to try is isolating the boy or putting him next to a child who will not require you to fix the problem for him. A larger, more intimidating seatmate may not be as inviting a target as a little girl or boy who always runs to tell teacher when something happens. You can keep the boy in at recess every time someone accuses him and ask him to explain what happened. Point out that you have to investigate each allegation and that he is missing recess every time. Maybe he should just keep his hands to himself and he'd have more recess time.... And you can enlist the help of his parents if it becomes too blatent. Explain what he's doing and ask them to help you reinforce good classroom behavior toward others.