The tattlebaby

[anonymouse]

I teach third and every year I have a kid (usually but not always a girl) who tries to get other kids in trouble. This year my biggest troublemaker is a girl and she will say things like "Are we allowed to have pens in our desk because Thomas has pens in his desk" or "Are we allowed to have two snacks because Alex is having two" She attempts to disguise her tattles under the guise of being confused about what the rules are. Yesterday I told her (and another girl) how disappointed I was in their tattlebaby behavior and that I was confused about why they keep trying to get their classmates in trouble. She just looked at me and tried to blame the boy she was tattling on for "making her look at him and laugh." What do you do with tattletales? I keep telling her to worry about herself but she keeps trying to tattle.

 

[JulieG04]

what is it about third grade?

My class loves to tattle also. I have discussed tattling, ad nauseum, and finally had to institute the same policy I've seen on this board before--the three Bs. No one is allowed to tell me about anything unless it is related to Blood, Bathroom, or Bullying. Anything else has to go in the Tattle Bucket. For my groups this year (I'm team teaching) I started out with a blank tattle sheet and was still getting tons of them. So I went to the dreaded "form"--they have to fill in lots of information about the date, time, and place of the "incident" and they have to list the classroom rules that were broken and tell me what they (the tattling student) were doing/supposed to be doing while paying attention to another student. It took a few weeks, but the rate of tattling has been reduced in my classes. Good luck!

 

[ritateach]

Issue Box

The teacher across the hall from me has an "Issue Box." If any child has an issue besides someone being hurt or other crucial thing, then the child writes it down and has to discuss this with the teacher during recess time. She says this has cut down tattling a great deal. When they're faced with losing recess, they decide that perhaps it isn't such a great "issue" after all.

 

[SuperSub1919]

tattling...

I'm a sub...the way I deal with it is I wait to see if I hear any tattles. If the tattling gets out of hand, then I have a discussion with the class about tattling. I tell them I dont' want to hear about it unless, like Julie posted, its about a serious incident. I usually take away recess from the kid who is tattling AND the person they are tattling on IF and ONLY IF they are breaking a rule. If not, then I dont' care. I take away twice as much recess than the minimum amount designated for breaking the rules once.

Sometimes I just say, "Ok Thank you" and let it go. Depends on the situation.

I have taught in a 3rd grade class where the kids had to take a spelling test. Even though they sat in rows and had folder up to protect their papers, I still had a couple of kids telling on eachother!!! "John is only on #2. Mary doesnt have her name on her paper." Drove me crazy!!!

hhahah "Worry about your own self" That is my phrase! But yeah, it doesn't really work!!!