Teacher’s Corner
The following are writing prompts and discussion topics you can use to help students think about showing who they are.
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Think of friends your age. What are some positive characteristics they have? Think of three different characteristics you think one or more friends have. You don’t need to name who the friends are. Just write down a one-word characteristic. For example, characteristics like organized, determined, and humorous could be considered. Think about each characteristic and write down what actions make you think your friend has that characteristic. For example, getting good grades could show you that a friend is organized.
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Do you think for some people it takes more than just being told they have a characteristic for them to believe it? Do you think hearing that the things they do proves they have that characteristic would be helpful? Why or why not?
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If the children you care about are old enough, offer them a positive characteristic that you believe they have and then help them think what actions of theirs “prove” the characteristic is true.
Teachers, you can use this blog in classrooms. Here are two ideas about how.
- 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.
- 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.
Picture Book Parenting 