Teacher’s Corner

Have your students think, pair, and share verbally or have them write their responses to the following prompts.

1. Describe a birthday party that you think would be a lot of fun – for any age child you wish. Be sure to say what age child you are writing about.

2. Birthday parties can sometimes lead to hurt feelings. Do you agree or disagree with that statement? Why or why not?

3. Make up a simple set of “rules” for kids’ birthday parties. Explain why there is a need for your rules.

4. Which of your rules is the most important? In other words, if there could be only one rule, which of yours should it be? Explain why.

Read more about birthday parties at Birthday Parties, Part 1.

Writing Prompts and Discussion Topics on the subject of empathy.

1. What is empathy? Explain what it is and give examples of empathy in action.
2. Do you think bullies have empathy for others? Support your opinion with examples.
3. How do you think people learn to be empathetic? 

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.