Teacher’s Corner

The prompts below can be used for discussing or writing about how to wait for things.

• School starting is a busy time. As their lives speed up, they learn to expect everything instantly. They expect to get what they want when they want it, to get answers quickly, and to be able to do things instantly.
• The speed of the computer leads all of us to be more impatient with waiting and to want everything instantly.  We have learned to measure all interactions in terms of seconds.  How fast can I get to a new screen, get the answer to my question, or make contact with another person.  “No waiting” is how we judge the value of a product or service. In addition, the amount of advertising that surrounds our students also contributes to the no-waiting attitude.  The marketers propose a world where you keep buying new things, throwing away what’s old and responding immediately while supplies last.  Because new products are always right around the corner, there is no value to planning to own or waiting to own things.  In the future what you might be planning for will likely be obsolete.  “Now or never” is the message. We must find a way to teach our children the virtues of planning and waiting.

After sharing with your students what things you are planning and waiting for,  ask them to respond to the following questions.

• How hard is it for you to wait for things on a scale of 1 to 5 (5=easy peasy; 1=really hard). Why is it easy or hard for you?
• What do you think would help you be more patient about waiting for things?
• Imagine you wanted something very badly, but knew it would take some planning and waiting to make that happen. Suppose you made a plan, stuck with it, and finally got what you wanted. What would that be like for you? Do you think it would be worth the wait? Why or why not? Teachers, you can use this blog in classrooms. Here are two ideas about how.

1. For middle or high school parenting or child development courses:
   • Use the blog for discussion topics
   • Require students to research the topics and agree or disagree with what the blog is suggesting.
2. For all courses, especially English Language Arts:

• Use the blog for writing prompts for paragraphs, theme papers, journal entries, class starters, etc. Have students read the blog and respond to:
• Do you agree with what is being said about kids? Do kids really act, think or feel that way?
• Do you agree with what is being said about parents, grandparents, teachers and child caregivers? Do or should they act, think or feel that way?
• What would be your advice on this topic?
• What was left out of this article?
• If you were a parent, would you use any of this information? How?

Why can this blog be a useful teaching tool?

• Students that see connections between their coursework and their lives do better in school.
• Most students will either be parents one day or have children in their lives that they care about, so the topical information can help them build their knowledge about children and parenting and develop a positive image of the type of parenting they want to do.
• The new core literacy standards adopted by most states call for frequent writing in all courses.
• Newly developed end-of-course assessments to be used by many states will require that students demonstrate that they can think critically. These prompts help students practice critical thinking.
• Newly developed end-of-course assessments to be used by many states will require that students demonstrate that they can analyze what they read. These prompts help students practice analysis.