Photo of the tatting puppy by Danny Fulgencio
Look for the January Advocate, which is being delivered this week. It features some of our best photos that we didn’t have room to run in 2015.
This photo of the tattling puppy is one that we couldn’t fit into the January magazine, but its story is worth telling.
First-grade teacher Christy Scheef of the Momentous Institute in Oak Cliff retired in 2015. But for years, the tattling puppy was mainstay of her classroom.
Children that age, around 6, frequently feel compelled to tell on each other. Scheef introduced the tattling puppy as a way to relieve herself from being tattled to while giving children an outlet for their conflict.
Instead of telling the teacher, students can tell the tattling puppy and express their pain by writing it in the tattling puppy journal.
Here are some excerpts from the journal. All names have been changed to protect the tattlers.
“John pinched me and it hurt. I pinched him back but John did it first and harder.”
“Sarah said my mom DOESN’T wear glasses, but she does wear glasses. That hurt my feelings.”
“Jessica and Amy said my favorite color is ugly and the color of boogers.”
“James laughed at what I said, and what I said wasn’t funny. I didn’t like that.”
Oh, the injustice.
