Have you ever been tempted to make kids in your school say they're sorry? You know what I mean. Dustin punched Chris because he wouldn't give him his pencil back that he loaned to him two weeks ago when the substitute teacher was there and now he's really mad because he doesn't have a pencil and he needs one...whew! Now you are the one who is brokering peace! Is it a good idea to make them say they are sorry to one another?
Actually, we'll get to that in a minute. First of all, we have to get these boys to admit to what they've done. The detective...err, the teacher needs the facts...just the facts. Once you have the facts established, each student must take responsibility for what he or she has done. Here's how the conversation might go:
"Chris, was Dustin being a good friend when he loaned you his pencil?"
"Yes," says the student.
"Dustin, I understand you really needed your pencil back. Two weeks is a long time to go without your pencil. That's a real problem. Do we solve our problems by hitting?"
"No," says the student.
"It seems that Chris didn't choose to return a pencil to it's owner, and Dustin didn't choose to solve a problem by talking instead of hitting, right?"
"Yes," the boys agree.
Now here is the magic question that will usually result in the apology that is needed in this situation:
"Boys, what do you think we should do next?"
If they don't suggest apologizing to one another, give them another prompt:
"What do we do when we make mistakes?"
Maybe you won't have to MAKE them apologize after all.
Monday, November 5, 2007
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3 comments:
Well said! Does this work with adults too?
I enjoyed looking at your blog, and I think this was a perfect match for my photo. I'm happy to have it used, just wondering how you came across it?
Hey Tom. I found your photo on flickr and thought it would be perfect to add to my post. Flickr has built in support for Blogger so I just clicked and posted. Thanks for sharing the photo.
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