Teacher’s Corner

Writing Prompts and Discussion Topics on the subject of chores.

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

Imagine that you are trying to teach a child to do a chore.

Identify what the chore is and the age of the child you are teaching and respond to the following.

1. Break down the task into parts and list those parts in detail. For example, making a bed means smoothing sheets, fluffing the pillow, and smoothing the top cover.

2. For the chore in #1, describe what the requirements are for the chore to be done well. Will it need to look a certain way, work a certain way, be done at a certain time, etc.?

3. Write a message you would give the child to compliment him or her for the chore when it is done well. Make it specific so the child knows exactly what he or she did well.

Read more about chores at Kids Need to DO Things, Part 2.

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.