Little kids love to tattle on each other and they don’t mind interrupting their teacher all day to do it. But kindergarten teacher Laurel Bates found a clever way to deal with it by installing a “tattlephone” in her classroom. It looks like an old fashioned rotary phone, but has buttons instead of a dial, and after she taught them how to use it, they can now leave her a voicemail whenever they feel the need to tell her something.
"I just had so many students coming up to my desk, just constantly wanting to tell me things while I was trying to work one-on-one with students," Bates explains. So she wanted to find a way to acknowledge their feelings without interruption and the tattlephone was the solution. When they pick it up, they hear her voice saying, “Mrs. Bates can't come to the phone right now. Please leave your tattle, and I'll check it as soon as possible."
Now all the tattling happens in voicemails and the teacher says, “They feel seen and I stay sane.” The phone has also helped them learn what tattling really is. Bates explains, “We talk about the difference between reporting — which is reporting somebody hurt you, physically, emotionally, mentally — and then tattling — which is, I don't like something that someone did."
So what is the piping hot tea from this kindergarten classroom? Bates shares some of it on TikTok and their messages (with names changed to protect the innocent) include:
- "Beckham was being bossy and said that he's the leader of everyone even though he's not."
- "Samantha said, 'Scram!' to Maverick."
- "Evan has two erasers in his pencil pouch."
Source: Today
Scott's Thoughts:
- The HR department at work might need to get a tattlephone for employees!
- I am not sure how I feel about this. Tattle tale tattle tale..
- Teachers - think this would be a hit in your classroom? Would you try it?