Teacher’s Corner

Three things not to do, if you want your students to have high self-esteem:

1. Give compliments you don’t really mean.

2. Let your students off the hook when they mess up.

3. Protect your students from mad or sad  feelings.

Writing Prompts and Discussion Topics 

The following are based on the blog, “And Calm Fell Over the Household”

1. How can a person know whether a compliment is true or not?

2. Time yourself and write down as many names of feelings as you can think of in three minutes. Do not repeat. When your time is up answer these questions: Is it good or bad to feel mad or sad? Why?

3. Imagine you are a teacher. A friend of yours, also a teacher in your school, had a student cheat on a test. The school is playing in a basketball district final in three days. Your friend’s student is the team’s starting guard. What advice would you give your teacher friend about holding the student responsible for her actions? Explain in detail what you advise the teacher to do and why you chose these actions.

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.