Teacher’s Corner

The following is an activity you can use to help students think about needs versus wants.

Explain to your students that needs are things that are necessary for a safe and healthy life. Wants are things that add pleasure and interest to life.

On one side of a piece of paper have the students list things they think they need. You can keep that open-ended or put it in the context of “need as a student at school.”  On the other side of the paper have them list things they could live without but would like to have – things they want. Give them examples of what you might list as needs and wants if doing this activity. Let them know that they will not be asked to share their lists.

After making their lists, have the students think carefully about the things they listed as needs and ask themselves why they need each thing. Encourage them to be honest with themselves.  If they find that some of their needs items don’t measure up when they think more about them, have them move them to wants.

Explain that knowing the difference between needs and wants helps people make getting their needs met a 1st and more immediate priority while keeping an eye on their wants as a 2nd, perhaps longer-term goal. 

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.