I can relate!!!

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Home : 2002 : January : 17

I can relate!!!
By New 5th Grade teacher

I have had this problem all year long and it was driving me out of my mind. I hadn't ever expected to find this level of in-everybody-else's-business in fifth graders but my kids take it to the ultimate degree.

Just the
other day, after coming home with a migraine-intensity headache for the umpteenth time, I wracked my brain for a solution. At 5:00 AM in the morning I woke myself up with a brainstorm (after all doesn't every teacher have nightmares about their cherubs???!!!).
I sat down at the computer and composed an "Incident Report" form. On the form the complaining student must write his/her

name date of the complaint, who was involved in the incident, what it was (specific details) and why THEY were reporting it, where it happened, when it happened, what part (if any) they had in causing it and what 3 attempts (other than telling the teacher) the reporter had made to resolve the problem. When I explained the new reporting system to them on Monday morning, I told them that from now on the only time anyone could come to me to report on another student's poor behavior was if someone were barfing, in grave immediate danger of being physically harmed, GUSHING blood, or the building was on fire. Other than that, anyone so moved to tattle had to file an Incident report, put it in the file tray, and then get back to work. I said that I would deal with the problems in a suitable way that was MY DECISION ONLY with no further input from the reporter either needed or desired. I also said that whining or complaining about the outcome of the report would result in an automatic trip to the log book (Step 3 of my discipline plan) and 3 such entries for a reporter would earn a detention. Another point I stressed was that any attempt to tattle without filing a report would also result in a logbook entry and three such entries would earn a detention.They were shocked to hear that I was dead serious about the consequences when not ten minutes after talking about it, two of my top "frequent fliers" decided to test the waters. Each attempt to tattle was cut short by saying, "I'm sorry, but that requires a logbook entry." Yesterday there were also several attempts to circumvent the incident report with the same resulting log entry. Today there were no attempts. Quite interestingly, there have been NO incident reports filed either. I think they've gotten the message that the learning process will no longer be allowed to be derailed by petty nonsense of who was doing what to whom. I think the part that got them the most was that they would have to 1.) think about why THEY are needing to rat somebody else out and 2.) needing to acknowledge their role in the issue. My mantra has become, "Be responsible for YOUR OWN behavior and I will take care of everything else."

Feel free to make use of any part of this that you feel would be beneficial for your circumstances.