Honestly!

So, some of my students have been struggling with honesty. Or more specifically, they have been struggling with lying.

I get that it's common for kids to lie to keep themselves out of trouble. I think for a lot of kids, it`s their first instinct. But, most of my students will admit to the truth when I call them on it. For most of them, all it takes is for me to say I don`t think that`s actually what happened. You need to tell me the whole truth. Because of the relationship we have, most of my students will fess up if I tell them I think they are lying.

Except for a few of them.

Yesterday, I watched Samuel take a piece of paper on his desk and put it on another student`s desk. I picked it up to see it and he immediately said, "I didn't write that."

It said FROM SAMUEL on it.

Not a great thing to lie about. I took him into the hall to chat about it. He stuck to his story.

I brought him back into the room and compared it to his writing in his journal. It totally matched, and he STILL denied writing it.

I took him back out into the hall and we talked yet again. I told him that I saw him take it out of his desk, it was signed by him, and it matched his writing.

Still no luck.

In the end, he ended up admitting to it, but SERIOUSLY...

I'm starting a unit on honesty tomorrow.