Teacher’s Corner

How Grandparents (and others) Can Be Special in a Child’s Life

1. Expect them to grow up; encourage them by teaching them how to do more things for themselves.

2. Let them see how interested in them you are. Give them your uninterrupted time.

3. Laugh with them when they find you funny because you do things an old-fashioned way or use words they don’t hear in other places (whipper-snapper, davenport, picture show, pocket book, thingamagig, catawampus, or cattycornered).

4. Tell family stories and go ahead and embellish them to make them good for a laugh.

5. Talk to them. Show them that you find everything they say to be interesting.

6. Let them ask you lots of questions – even ones they might have asked you just a few minutes ago.

(See “Why Grandparents Are Important” for more about grandparents.)

Writing Prompts and Discussion Topics 

The following are writing prompts and discussion topics based on the blog, “How Grandparents (and others) Can Be Special in a Child’s Life.”

After the prompts we have included suggestions regarding ways to use this blog in your classroom as well as a discussion about why this blog can be a useful tool in your classroom.  So, get your students to think, pair, and share and see what develops.

1. What is your favorite way that grandparents can be special in children’s lives? (See list in blog.) Why is that your favorite?

2. Add two more ways to the list in the blog and explain why you think they belong in the list.

3. Imagine you are in a time capsule and have fast-forwarded 50 or 60 years. Which one of the ways listed would your grandchildren pick to describe the way you act with them. What makes you think that is what they would pick?

NOTE: If you prefer that students not be required to write about or discuss themselves, suggest they respond to the prompts by talking about their experiences with friends or relatives instead of themselves.

Watch for the next Teacher’s Corner on October 1.

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.