Get Off that Gossip Train, Girl

“Who gossips with you will gossip of you.” – Irish proverb

“Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a fight dies down.” – Bible quote

If there’s one thing I remember about being a high school girl, it was a paranoia that somebody, somewhere, was probably saying something about me.

You could say that my teenage angst included the knowledge that cooler girls were more than likely whispering about my lack of boyfriends or my dorky car, about how I sat the bench as a senior or how I didn’t go to the party of the year.

Any high school girl, in fact, will tell you that when rumors start, rumors fly. And they’d tell you, too, that no one is immune to the fast-traveling tale of a fight or a boyfriend or a grade or  drama.

If you see gossip or rumors as a destructive force in your classroom, consider taking five minutes for the following activity. I saw it first over at lovely blog called The School Counselor, where Danielle writes about life as a k-12 school counselor.

You’ll Need:  5 Minutes and a Tube of Toothpaste {and a paper plate}

1. Take a tube of toothpaste and have each student squeeze out just a bit of it onto a plate. Tell them you are conducting an experiment to see how much toothpaste the whole class will be able to squeeze out.

2. After each person has had a turn. Begin the second part of the experiment by asking the students to get the toothpaste back into the tube. Begin to pass it around and let a few of them actually try to force the toothpaste back into the tube. {Obviously, this will be a funny and frustrating process.}

3. Talk about how gossip is a bit like the squeezed-out toothpaste. Once it is said or passed along, it is very difficult to reverse. You may want to talk to your students about the power of words and the value of a person’s reputation, as well. {Of course, this is an excellent reminder to us as adult teachers, too, to guard the stories we ourselves pass along in the workplace.}

There you have it, friends! A super simple activity that your students will remember and that could help encourage a more positive, potentially less, um, high-school-girl-y classroom.

*And, yes, I know, I know– boys gossip, too. See I told you– no one is immune.

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Related Posts: The Power of Words {For Elem. Students}. Kindness and Bucket-Filling. Activity on Giving Compliments.

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