Integrated School Health Tip #9: Classroom Mental Health: Kerplunk

One of the most difficult things for most teachers to get a handle in the classroom is the constant stream of slurs, put downs, slams and clever one liners that disrupt the peace and serenity of the classroom. If you want to move your classroom toward being a more supportive environment, the slur, both casual and intentional.

My personal pet peeve is the use of the word "gay" to describe anything kids don't like. I find it more offensive than the "f" bomb or the "s" word. Yet it is used with impunity and the kids seem to have beaten the teachers into submission on this one. It happens so often that it just becomes part of the background scenery. It has to stop.

But as even the most amateur behaviorist knows, as soon as you tell kids not to do something, they immediately do it more. You have to be smarter than the kids and use gimmicks to create awareness. A simple tool to increase awareness of put downs is the game kerplunk. 

Th game Kerplunk consists of a clear plastic cylindrical tube with a lot of holes drilled in it, marbles and colored slender plastic sticks. The sticks are inserted in the holes in various directions so they create a framework to support the marbles. The framework of support creates a wonderful metaphor for the support each student needs in the classroom.

1. Explain to the class that the game Kerplunk will be used as a scientific measuring device to track the number of put downs in the classroom.
2. Put all the sticks in and one marble to represent each class member.
3. Every time somebody makes a put down remove one stick.
4. If you get to the point where a marble or two drops, stop and explain to the class that those marbles represent people the class did not support.

You can go where you want with this activity from here. There is always the possibility that some classes will intentionally increase the number of put downs just to watch the marbles drop. More often than not, however, classes will become invested in keeping all of the marbles aloft. If you really get into it you can make  a chart to track the number of days that all the marbles (students) stayed aloft. You can post the number of put down free days in a row just like industrial sites post those signs proclaiming so many accident free days! Namaste Jeff