Teacher’s Corner

The younger students are, the more adult care is necessary when they are hurt; the older the students are, the more they can do self-care.

Even when students are too young to say what they need when they are hurt, an adult can say things like: “Do you need a kiss?” “Would rocking feel good?” Even though the students cannot answer, the adult can plant seeds for them that will help them begin to learn what they need – very important for both kids and adults.

Older students can talk for themselves and tell adults they need a Band-Aid or a hug or to be by themselves. Remember that even teens need attention when they are hurt. It will just look different than when they were younger. They may need a pat on the shoulder, your doing an activity with them, or listening to them talk about what happened – without jumping in with your advice (unless asked).

More about attending to sick or hurt children: When a Kid Gets Hurt

Writing Prompts and Discussion Topics on the subject of caring for a hurt or sick youngster

Have your students do a survey. They can survey classmates or if done as homework, they can survey other kids they know. Have them ask their participants, “When you are hurt or sick, what kind of care do you want most from parents or other adults?”

Using the following prompts, have students think, pair, and share verbally or write their responses.

1. Categorize the responses to their survey by grouping answers that are alike. Tell or write the categories. Explain how you decided which answers were alike.

2. Summarize the findings. Be sure to use numbers in the summary.

3. Analyze the findings. What do you think they mean?

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.