what is the best way to get students to confess when it comes to cheating or theft in class?

Question

i had an incident where a student went through another's back pack and stole something. noone wanted to fess up. it took a while and the help of admin to get the student to cough up the stolen item. i would much rather diffuse this situation without having to call admin or embarrassing the student who stole the item.

Answer 1

I don't even think a teacher should try. That's a situation for the administration.

I know you'd rather never have it happen, but the only way to stop it is to show the students that they will get caught every time and that they have no rights to hide stolen property from search.

If your school and class allow it you could put up a camera, no sound, and let your students know, so that they know if they do anything the camera will see it.

Answer 2

Extracting a confession if the student is identified or caught red-handed is not to be thought of. Take the student aside and calmly reassure him that he will face the consequence not from the admin or law but from his own conscience.
You may also encourage him to assess the same situation from the victim's point of view.
Ask him/ her to do a "What happens if.... analysis"
P J Naidu
jssw.org.in

Answer 3

My mom's a 3rd grade teacher, and what always works for her is making a generic announcement like "So-and-so is missing his ___ from his backpack. Has anyone seen it?" And then one of two things will happen. Either some little snitch will say "I saw ____ steal it!" and the thief will be caught, or nobody will admit to anything and they'll all just say they haven't seen it. If the second thing happens, my mom says something like, "How sad that ______ is missing something that was really important to him/her. Imagine how you would feel if you brought your _____ to school and then it was taken!" Then she says something like, "I hope it shows up on my desk before the end of the day." That way, the kid who stole it can anonymously put it back on her desk without being shamed.