Let's Be Friends!
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During our time in the classroom we ran across several behavioral issues with the students, most of them involving students bullying one another in some way. As people in a volunteer type position in the classroom, we learned some of what worked and some of what didn't when it came to managing issues. Below you will find tips from Deu and Ashley to help with bully behavior that you may come across.
Volunteers
Ashley's Tips
Deu's Tips
I was working in a kindergarten classroom and one of the major issues that I faced was dealing with students tattling on one another. This often stemmed from students finding each other's behavior hurtful. There was also issues with students being mean to one another or laughing at each other's mistakes. The way that I handled this was by adapting techniques that the teacher used. One example of this was the wrinkled heart activity. When a student was doing something wrong or being mean, I would tell the student that they were wrinkling my heart. This often corrected the action of the student and they would apologize. I would also take the time to talk to the student about their behavior and try to get to the root of why they were displaying such behavior. When dealing with tattling, I would often try to get the students to use "I feel" statements with one another so that they could understand their emotions. I would then try to get the students to work their issues out without me. This often worked and allowed the students to feel empowered in future interactions.
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I worked with 3rd graders, and I believed one of the many issues I faced was kids being physical with each other. Such as threatening to beat up someone, and things got serious even when they were just "play fighting." When it happened I would split them apart, and ask them tell me what happened. Afterwards, consequences followed with their action. Typically, I asked them to take a break to cool down, or go to office to talk to the administrator. One tip I would suggest is to be firm with the consequences, and discuss with them what they did wrong. By doing so, they would understand the situation is serious, and the students tend to not repeat the action due to the follow through consequences. In addition, when you don't follow through with a consequence the student will take advantage of the opportunity to disrupt the peace again. Be firm and stick to your words.