Telling or Tattling

Ratting (Getting someone into trouble) or Telling (Getting someone out of trouble)

Yes, we want students to speak up when they see bullying or vandalism occurring in their school.

But

Do your students know the difference between ratting and telling?

First of all, have you ever noticed that adults don't tattle? Would any of you struggle with the decision to report a student who had a knife to the authorities? I doubt it. There is a reason for this---adults have developed skills that tell us what kinds of things should be reported and what kinds of things are simply to get someone in trouble. Some students haven't developed these behaviours yet. They need to be taught when and under what circumstances they have the responsibility to report certain actions to their teacher or parents. There is a definite difference between ratting and telling. We need to discourage one and encourage the other.

We designed a PDF with different scenarios
Print off a sheet for each student and allow them to answer the questions by themselves. After everyone is done have a class discussion of what is tattling or ratting and what is telling.