In some instances yes. Ex) A child is sitting at their seat instead of on the carpet. It is not hurting you or anyone else. Furthermore, I most likely have an arrangement with that student. So please don't worry about that child sitting at their seat that is, in no way, effecting your learning.
But in many others, I actually WANT them to be concerned with other peoples business. Maybe someone is stuck and is afraid to speak up. Maybe some is being bullied and doesn't know how to handle it. Still maybe another was picked on and needs some love. This is when I want and need them to get involved.
Our morning meeting conversation this morning went a little like this...
"Rockstars, I need to apologize to you this morning. Yesterday, I told you that I need you to be sure you are minding your own business. BUT I went home last night and was thinking and I thought, 'Ya know what, I don't want them to mind their own business... we are a classroom and we all need to care about eachother.' Of course, there are times when we do need to mind our own business, but this is not the case all the time. I think we should talk about this, this morning. What do you think? Can we talk about times when we should mind our own business and times when we should not mind our own business?"
We determined that when someone is not hurt or interrupting your learning, then this is a time when you need to mind your own business and just be concerned with you. When someone is hurt, needs help, or won't speak up for themselves in a situation that needs to be dealt with, then we need to be concerned with our classmates and help out.
So if you tell your kids to "MYOB" I hope you'll consider having this conversation with them. If your students leave your room not knowing 3+2=5 but they show compassion, tolerance, and acceptance of others... that, I think is something we should be proud of as educators. That child will get the content when they are ready, but they may have missed that other piece, if it weren't for you. So I want to encourage you go make sure you don't skip over the necessary social and emotional pieces. They are the most important things our students will ever learn.
P.S. It was very hard to write this post while participating in this weeks #weirdede where we had to rhyme everything! I'm a rappin' fool!
One of the things I've always talked to my students about was the difference between tattling and reporting. There are many conversations about it but with Kindergarten I've defined them as tattling is when you want to tell on someone so they can get in trouble. Reporting is when someone needs a grown ups help, is hurting someone or being hurt by someone.
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