tattling

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Home : 2002 : January : 13

tattling
By Julianne

At the first of the year I explain to my class (first grade now, but I've done kindergarten as well) the difference between tattling and reporting. Reporting is when something is dangerous. Someone or something is going
to get hurt. We use the silly example of someone climbing up on the roof of the school. Dangerous? You bet. Tattling is when you just want to get someone into trouble. We use the example of someone bouncing a ball in line (against our classroom line-up procedure). Dangerous? No. But it IS against the rules...
After we've given them these examples whenever they start to tell me

a story I stop them and ask, "Is this tattling or reporting?" After about a million repetitions they can usually get it straight. When some of the more persistent ones come to tell me that "Johnny hit Mary!" I ask them, "Are you Johnny? Are you Mary? No? Then this isn't your business." Some teachers use a "tattle report" where the kids have to write out their tattle. But that isn't too practical for our very little ones. You could try it using pictures, though. Good luck. This is a tough habit to break in some classes. I've had better and worse groups for tattling.