Teacher’s Corner

When students tell a  story …

• They can pretend. Learning to pretend and to know the difference between pretend and real is part of growing up.

• They can create something they are proud of.

• They can have fun with other people – each person can add to one story or two people can tell their own story about the same subject to see how different the stories can be.

• They can use their story to give them ides for other types of art – drawing, painting sculpting, dancing, singing, acting, etc.

Writing Prompts and Discussion Topics on the subject of learning to read.

Have your students:

1. Tell a round robin story. One person starts and the next persons each add something. (You can do this as a class or as homework with people you know. If you do it as homework, write up the story and read it to a partner or to the class.)

2. Pair up and each tell a brief story about the same subject. After hearing both stories, each student should decide two things that were very different about the two stories and two things that were very similar. You can tell or write those differences.

3. Make up a story. Tell or write your story. Then, decide what type of art your story could inspire. (For example, could you draw a picture, act it out, sing a song about it, etc.) Explain what it is about your story that connects to the type of art you chose.

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.