We all know teachers spend A LOT of their own coin on classroom supplies. Because of that personal investment, it tin can be challenging when a educatee breaks, loses, or otherwise misuses a piece of engineering science or other equipment.

This past calendar week on the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE!: "A child stuck a pen into my pencil sharpener when I wasn't looking, and now it'southward broken. I didn't see who did it, and nobody is ratting him out. Any ideas on how to accost this? I'm thinking of just non buying another i because I'one thousand not fabricated of coin!"

Here are some of the meridian suggestions from our community of teachers for dealing with this type of situation.

Don't reward the behavior. In this case, a overnice, new pencil sharpener was broken. "Don't replace it." —Rebecca R.

Specially, we might add, if you bought the supply with your own money. Instead, utilize whatever school-issued supplies or make the students bring their own mini-sharpeners.

Separate and conquer. Some students are more than apt to speak in individual instead of in front of a huge group of their peers. "Can you accept the kids each write downwardly what they saw? Maybe someone will feel safer speaking out in writing." —Terri M.

"Y'all could even explain how if you are a witness to a crime, y'all must give your argument. You could even make it an excellent writing opportunity." —Kristine G.

If no one speaks, concord all of them responsible. "The same thing happened to me. I told my kids that since no one would confess, they all were responsible and had to pay for information technology. I wrote a letter of the alphabet home to the parents saying that the kids each had to bring in $three to buy a new ane. Virtually parents were happy with how I handled it, and many said the money came from the child's allowance!" —Elizabeth B.

"I give everyone a grouping detention. They won't stay bonded together if they are all punished. When I've done that, at least someone has caved and told the truth." —Jennifer 50.

Make the result logical. Since penalisation is ultimately role of a bigger learning process, the educatee has to understand the connection between the wrongful action and the consequence. "I had a similar situation, and after I caught the culprit, she no longer got to acuminate her own pencils. Someone did it for her. This was a big bargain considering, for some strange reason, my kids really love using the pencil sharpener." —Tasha L.

Make the students problem-solve. Don't jump in to resolve the problems. Put it to the students. "Don't buy another one. Someone broke it, and the others are bystanders. Permit the students figure out a solution, or they'll be left with no style to sharpen their pencils." —Carla W.

Avoid the result in the future by not sharing expensive equipment with students."I but take out my sharpener on testing days." —Jessica D.

"Ugh, I know the feeling all besides well. I had a brand new stapler, after students had broken so many others, and, afterward some hesitation, I permit students use it to staple together their in-class essays. Instead of picking it upwardly and pressing information technology together, i kid stuck his essay in and slammed his hand downward on the stapler so hard that it jammed upwardly and wouldn't work. I eventually cleared information technology out only renewed my resolve not to let students use it once more. From at present on, I'll exercise the stapling." —Erin F.

Incentivize kids to take care of classroom materials. "We each have a teacher budget, and I accept told my kids that I volition buy games at the end of the year with our funds. So if I have to purchase glue, tape, pencils, or pencil sharpeners, that means they'll go fewer games. As a outcome, they are great at making certain all pencils are picked up, and other things like that, at the end of the day." —Tonia Yard.

Teachers, what other suggestions do you lot accept for Beth? Audio off in the comments below!

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