March School Counseling Newsletter
North Ridgeville Education Center
Note to Parents About Tattling
I have had a few parents contact me recently about their concerns with the tattle monsters/boxes. I want to inform parents that the tattle boxes are used to try and reduce the number of small issues that sometime occur on a daily basis in the classroom. Things like "someone is cutting someone in line," "Someone took someone's pencil," Someone is touching someone's hair," etc. I have been teaching students the difference between tattling and reporting and that students need to report to an adult or the teacher when it is a "Big Deal," like someone is gettting hurt, hurting others, etc. I also taught students that they CAN work problems out on their own by talking to each other, listening, and helping each other out. I don't want parents to feel that their child's concerns aren't being handled.
Another concerns that came up was that some Kindergarteners are unable to write about what happened. So I decided to alter the slips that they put in the tattle box. I decided to just have the kids draw a picture of what happened and put that in the box. The kids really seem to like drawing what happened because the boxes have been filling up!
According to many of the teachers that I've talked with, the number of student tattles have dropped significantly. I have also placed a tattle box in the cafeteria because that is a hot spot for tattling behavior.
Fr "I" Statements
Mr. Jordan Andrews - School Counselor
Email: jordanandrews@nrcs.k12.oh.us
Website: http://www.nrcs.k12.oh.us/SchoolCounselor.aspx
Phone: 440-353-1163