Sticks and stones

There were a lot of social conflicts in the class this week. There was name calling, teasing, and pushing. Some of the incidents happened in front of me, while most happened on the playground or when my CM or I were working with other students. Last semester I was reluctant to get involved with social conflicts between students. However, I think that this semester I need to learn how to address some of these issues. I think that it is a fine line knowing when students are tattling or stretching the truth and when issues are serious enough to address. A student informed me that someone was pushing them and throwing stuff at them on the playground. I thought that I did need to address this type of situation. I pulled the student aside to talk to them about what had happened and how they could have handled the situation differently. I think that I do need to be aware that students might be also testing me to see how much I allow tattling, so I think I should be careful to only address issues where students need more guidance.