Teacher’s Corner

A teacher can encourage students to have high self-esteem by…

• Letting them do things for themselves as much as is safely possible.

• Pointing out ways they are becoming independent.

• Teaching them the rules of life that will allow them to get along in and out of school.

• Teaching them that actions have consequences.

• Enforcing consequences in a matter-of-fact way so they can learn that they can have the courage to pay the consequences caused by their actions.

• Teaching them how they can make up for mistakes they make.

• Showing them that you will still care about them, even if they make mistakes.

The following are writing prompts and discussion topics about self-esteem.

Have students read Encouraging High Self-Esteem and then respond to these questions.

1. Describe what you think people would be like if they had HIGH self-esteem? What would they look like, sound like, act like?

2. Describe what you think people would be like if they had LOW self-esteem?  What would they look like, sound like, act like?

3. If you wanted to encourage a friend to have high self-esteem what are three things you could do? Explain why you think those things would be helpful.

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.