Personally, I address it directly with the student quietly like a form of mentoring. I get it a lot about chewing in class, they will blatantly lie to my face even though their mouth is still going. I tell them that lying is a bad personality trait and that I prefer it if they are just flat up honest with me and that's the end of the matter but lying is going to result in sanctions especially if I see it again. Has a pretty good success rate especially when they realise I'm giving them a chance to put it right before escalation. Of course the liars get caught and put in detention shortly afterwards, repeat offenders are few and far between because they know I have some sort of 6th sense for it (they don't realise I can smell it and see it in their mouth when talking at me).
Short version is use direct language with them, tell them what the undesirable behaviours are and what you want from them instead as well as what will happen. If it shifts to confrontational behaviour, apply your school behaviour policy for not following instructions.
For the pen one, I would say that it doesn't matter if you saw them destroy it or not, you lent it to them, so it's their responsibility to look after it.
They need to get into a habit of respecting other people's possessions. In real life there will always be big trouble if they don't take care of something they are lent or are renting.
I have tried to deal with this by intentionally not asking direct questions. Wherever my patience allows I try and give more “coaching”. Always talking about what they are going to do next (relentlessly positive of course) rather than challenge what they have done. I appreciate it might not be solving the problem, but I would do most things to avoid an out and out argument! Sometimes you get a little win!
If you lie, you get the max available punishment for whatever you're lying about.
Chewing gum.
Say sorry and spit it in the bin? We both move on.
"I'm not chewing!"? Get a detention.
Great if both happen in the same lesson.
Start arguing then I'll escalate it. Lying implies that you're stupid or crazy. Can't have that.
Exactly this!
I literally don't care that you were chewing gum -- just put it in the bin.
I literally don't care that you were talking -- just stop.
I literally don't care that you're up out of your seat -- just sit back down.
But if you want to argue, I'm happy to log and escalate... so it's your choice, really.
Students lie frequently, if they do I highlight it to them as arguing with an adult witch is then recorded as a sanction. They then either walk it back or play the victim. I log it either way. They get upset. However the nicer kids now spit gum out as they walk in.
I just say ‘both you and I know that’s a lie, I’m not going to argue with you about a fact, and if you continue to press it then it will be another behaviour point’. Then I don’t engage further. No point getting in a power struggle with a 13 year old.
This. I've got a girl in my form who lies CONSTANTLY about silly low level things. I just say to her now, "you are doing it, I'm not going to argue, I'll just have to issue you a comment". That usually sorts it - I'm not arguing with a Year 7 😂
I have a group of 3 girls who always lie when something has happened to try and shift the blame onto someone else (often someone innocent) to take the attention away from whatever they have done. I’ve spoken to them several times about the issues this could lead to. They recently learned their lesson when something happened and I chose not to listen to their version of events and just sanctioned them. They asked why because I’m usually fair and listen to everyone. I pointed out school pays a lot of money for my time and I am not prepared to waste school’s precious resources by spending my time listening to recounts that are simply not true. Since then they have cut the crap and just tell me straight ‘x said this and I said that and that is the only part I witnessed’. It’s cut down on so much wasted time of he said, she said crap that they were making up. This is a year 6 class.
This happens to me ALLLLL the time.
I have students tell me that they're sitting down in their seat when they're most definitely still standing up. It's just baffling sometimes.
Typically I just move the conversation along because they get defensive. If it's about playing games on the computer or something, I'll pull up the spreadsheet and show them the log of every tab they've had open in Chrome, and in more serious cases I'll get CCTV footage (I'm blessed to have one camera in each corner of my room).
Had one lad argue his way up to four behaviour points for chewing and repeatedly denying he was doing it when there was a huge lump of blue gum clearly visible in his mouth (to go with the blue tongue and fruity breath he swears had nothing to do with gum/sweets.) He even denied it when I was talking to him in the corridor face to face - it was clear as day (and when he wasn’t talking during that conversation he kept chewing.)
The same pupil kicked off about that when his form tutor confronted him about his behaviour, saying he was being treated unfairly and he wasn’t chewing in my lesson. Guess what he was doing in form time while he was kicking off that earnt him another behaviour point? Yep, chewing.
I’ve learnt that some pupils (such as this one) genuinely don’t think lying about things is bad and that speaking/acting to/wards teachers the same way they speak to peers is OK. They seem to have no concept of it at all.
(The same pupil recently got very passive-aggressive with me when I confiscated a pen he was mucking around with instead of paying attention to a teams assembly from the DHT. I told him to hand it to me, so he shoved it into my palm with the pointy end down. Thankfully the nib wasn’t extended otherwise I’d probably have been cut. Unsurprisingly, I was not impressed - but he had absolutely no idea why I found his action unacceptable and not once did he say sorry, even when his own classmates urged him to do so having seen what he did. Absolutely no concept of his brain going “I’ve crossed this line, oh shit”.)
Start clapping loudly and give him a cookie when he tells you something that is true. When he lies, take the cookies out and show them to him and loudly appeal to the rest of the class if they know what he has to do to get another cookie.
Personally, I address it directly with the student quietly like a form of mentoring. I get it a lot about chewing in class, they will blatantly lie to my face even though their mouth is still going. I tell them that lying is a bad personality trait and that I prefer it if they are just flat up honest with me and that's the end of the matter but lying is going to result in sanctions especially if I see it again. Has a pretty good success rate especially when they realise I'm giving them a chance to put it right before escalation. Of course the liars get caught and put in detention shortly afterwards, repeat offenders are few and far between because they know I have some sort of 6th sense for it (they don't realise I can smell it and see it in their mouth when talking at me). Short version is use direct language with them, tell them what the undesirable behaviours are and what you want from them instead as well as what will happen. If it shifts to confrontational behaviour, apply your school behaviour policy for not following instructions.
For the pen one, I would say that it doesn't matter if you saw them destroy it or not, you lent it to them, so it's their responsibility to look after it. They need to get into a habit of respecting other people's possessions. In real life there will always be big trouble if they don't take care of something they are lent or are renting.
I have tried to deal with this by intentionally not asking direct questions. Wherever my patience allows I try and give more “coaching”. Always talking about what they are going to do next (relentlessly positive of course) rather than challenge what they have done. I appreciate it might not be solving the problem, but I would do most things to avoid an out and out argument! Sometimes you get a little win!
If you lie, you get the max available punishment for whatever you're lying about. Chewing gum. Say sorry and spit it in the bin? We both move on. "I'm not chewing!"? Get a detention. Great if both happen in the same lesson. Start arguing then I'll escalate it. Lying implies that you're stupid or crazy. Can't have that.
Exactly this! I literally don't care that you were chewing gum -- just put it in the bin. I literally don't care that you were talking -- just stop. I literally don't care that you're up out of your seat -- just sit back down. But if you want to argue, I'm happy to log and escalate... so it's your choice, really.
Address directly, and if need be further sanction. It's defiance
Probably gets heavily gaslit. Wants to try his spin on it back
Students lie frequently, if they do I highlight it to them as arguing with an adult witch is then recorded as a sanction. They then either walk it back or play the victim. I log it either way. They get upset. However the nicer kids now spit gum out as they walk in.
I just say ‘both you and I know that’s a lie, I’m not going to argue with you about a fact, and if you continue to press it then it will be another behaviour point’. Then I don’t engage further. No point getting in a power struggle with a 13 year old.
This. I've got a girl in my form who lies CONSTANTLY about silly low level things. I just say to her now, "you are doing it, I'm not going to argue, I'll just have to issue you a comment". That usually sorts it - I'm not arguing with a Year 7 😂
I have a group of 3 girls who always lie when something has happened to try and shift the blame onto someone else (often someone innocent) to take the attention away from whatever they have done. I’ve spoken to them several times about the issues this could lead to. They recently learned their lesson when something happened and I chose not to listen to their version of events and just sanctioned them. They asked why because I’m usually fair and listen to everyone. I pointed out school pays a lot of money for my time and I am not prepared to waste school’s precious resources by spending my time listening to recounts that are simply not true. Since then they have cut the crap and just tell me straight ‘x said this and I said that and that is the only part I witnessed’. It’s cut down on so much wasted time of he said, she said crap that they were making up. This is a year 6 class.
This happens to me ALLLLL the time. I have students tell me that they're sitting down in their seat when they're most definitely still standing up. It's just baffling sometimes. Typically I just move the conversation along because they get defensive. If it's about playing games on the computer or something, I'll pull up the spreadsheet and show them the log of every tab they've had open in Chrome, and in more serious cases I'll get CCTV footage (I'm blessed to have one camera in each corner of my room).
Its driving me bad at the moment. It's far too common.
Had one lad argue his way up to four behaviour points for chewing and repeatedly denying he was doing it when there was a huge lump of blue gum clearly visible in his mouth (to go with the blue tongue and fruity breath he swears had nothing to do with gum/sweets.) He even denied it when I was talking to him in the corridor face to face - it was clear as day (and when he wasn’t talking during that conversation he kept chewing.) The same pupil kicked off about that when his form tutor confronted him about his behaviour, saying he was being treated unfairly and he wasn’t chewing in my lesson. Guess what he was doing in form time while he was kicking off that earnt him another behaviour point? Yep, chewing. I’ve learnt that some pupils (such as this one) genuinely don’t think lying about things is bad and that speaking/acting to/wards teachers the same way they speak to peers is OK. They seem to have no concept of it at all. (The same pupil recently got very passive-aggressive with me when I confiscated a pen he was mucking around with instead of paying attention to a teams assembly from the DHT. I told him to hand it to me, so he shoved it into my palm with the pointy end down. Thankfully the nib wasn’t extended otherwise I’d probably have been cut. Unsurprisingly, I was not impressed - but he had absolutely no idea why I found his action unacceptable and not once did he say sorry, even when his own classmates urged him to do so having seen what he did. Absolutely no concept of his brain going “I’ve crossed this line, oh shit”.)
Start clapping loudly and give him a cookie when he tells you something that is true. When he lies, take the cookies out and show them to him and loudly appeal to the rest of the class if they know what he has to do to get another cookie.