Creating Strong Kids Through Writing
30-Minute Lessons That Build Empathy, Self-Awareness, and Social-Emotional Understanding in Grades 4-8
- 150 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Creating Strong Kids Through Writing
30-Minute Lessons That Build Empathy, Self-Awareness, and Social-Emotional Understanding in Grades 4-8
About This Book
Teachers are always looking for activities that not only enhance the mechanics of writingâgrammar, spelling, and syntaxâbut also allow students to express themselves in creative and personal ways. Creating Strong Kids Through Writing is the perfect resource for teachers seeking quick, ready-to-use writing lessons that encourage social and emotional growth, personal development, introspection, and innovative thinking in students. Each of the 20 lessons has been classroom-tested with students of all ability levels in grades 4-8, and each lesson contains one or more samples of student work to help guide and inspire student writers. Creating Strong Kids Through Writing is a resource teachers will turn to again and again when they seek writing lessons that, although short in duration, are lasting in their personal impact on student growth.Grades 4-8
Frequently asked questions
Information
PART I
LESSONS FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR
LESSON 1
GETTING TO KNOW STUDENTS FROM THE INSIDE OUT
OBJECTIVE
RESOURCES AND MATERIALS
- Handout 1.1: Getting to Know You Better
- Handout 1.2: Sample Response
- Handout 1.3: Lesson Extension Sample Responses
CONTEXT
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS
THE HOOK
- Whatâs your favorite/least favorite sound?
- Whatâs your favorite/least favorite word?
INVITING STUDENTS TO RESPOND
- Distribute Handout 1.1: Getting to Know You Better. Allow students no more than 10â15 minutes to complete the questions.
- Once your students have completed their responses, invite them to share in one of two ways: either by randomly selecting questions and asking for individual responses, or by placing students in small groups and having them share any of the answers they wish to reveal. (Note. In these lessons, sharing is never required, just encouraged.)
- Afterward, collect studentsâ respones. If you plan to revisit this lesson at the school yearâs end, hold on to these papers so that you can redistribute them to your students after they complete the activity a second time.
TIPS TO ENHANCE OR EXTEND THIS LESSON
- If you have access to your class list prior to the school yearâs beginning and would like your students to complete Handout 1.1: Getting to Know You Better before or on the first day, then you can simply review their responses early in the school year.
- Have students answer the questions on Handout 1.1 in the way a main character from literature (e.g., Pony Boy from The Outsiders) might answer them, or, if you teach science, how a particular scientist (e.g., Albert Einstein) would respond. Teaching history? How would Rosa Parks complete her responses? See Handout 1.3: Lesson Extension Sample Responses for examples.
- If you are going to ask your students to reveal their thoughts and feelings to you as the school year begins, you need to do the same. Teaching is the most human of professions, so any linkage we can make between our students and ourselves helps to build the yearlong bond that unites us with our students. So, we invite you to complete Handout 1.1 yourself, sharing your responses with your class.
- If you revisit this lesson at the end of the school year, provide time for your students to compare their two sets of answers completed months apart. Then, open a discussion on what students found most revealing or interesting about the similarities and differences in the responses they gave at these two different times of their lives.
HANDOUT 1.1 GETTING TO KNOW YOU BETTER
- What is your favorite word?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- What is your least favorite word?__________________________________________________________________________
- What is your favorite sound?__________________________________________________________________________
- What is your least favorite sound?__________________________________________________________________________
- What would make you as happy as possible?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - What trait or behavior of yours do you most dislike?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - What trait or behavior do you most dislike in others?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - What is your greatest regret?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - What is your most cherished possession?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - What is your greatest fear?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - If you could live anywhere, where would it be?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - What do you value the most in your friends?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - Whom do you most admire?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - What is it that you most dislike?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ - What is your favorite smell?__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
HANDOUT 1.2 SAMPLE RESPONSE
Pav, Grade 7
- What is your favorite word?Blabber
- What is your least favorite word?"often" with the 't' sounded out
- What is your favorite sound?That satisfying click that you get sometimes when two things fit perfectly together
- What is your least favorite sound?The slurping of soup
- What would make you as happy as possible?Feeling that whatever happens doesn't matter Because I have everything OK in my life
- What trait or behavior of yours do you most dislike?I am shy around other people who I know don't think much of me
- What trait or behavior do you most dislike in others?Continuous talking
- What is your greatest regret?Not going to India when my grandfather died
- What is your most cherished possession?My talent for writing
- What is your greatest fear?Being kidnapped
- If you could live anywhere, where would it be?India
- What do you value the most in your friends?Trustworthiness and loyalty
- Whom do you most admire?Jackie Robinson and Doctors Without Borders
- What is it that you most dislike?Mayonnaise and clowns
- What is your favorite smell?Garlic
HANDOUT 1.3 LESSON EXTENSION SAMPLE RESPONSES
- 1 What is your favorite word?Courage
- 9 What is your most cherished possession?The knowledge that my actions gave others strength to stand up for their beliefs
- 10 What is your greatest ...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- Part I: Lessons for the Beginning of the Year
- Part II: Lessons for Any Time of the Year
- Part III: Lessons for the End of the Year
- References
- About the Authors