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I was good at football, so I survived school well enough. But my brother was legendary. They were reading The Old Man and The Sea in English class, and Raphael blew up at the teacher. She said that lions were a symbol of Hemingway being lionized when young. She said the old fisherman carrying a mast made him some sort of Jesus with his cross. He told her she had a head full of nonsense. I can see him doing it. He would bark with sudden laughter and bounce up and down in his chair and declare, delighted, “That’s blasphemy! It’s just a story about an old man. If Hemingway had wanted to write a story about Jesus, he was a clever enough person to have written one!” The headmaster gave him a clip about the ear. Raphael wobbled his head at him as if shaking a finger. “Your hitting me doesn’t make me wrong.” None of the other students ever bothered us. Raphael still got straight As. -Geoff Ryman, What We Found, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Extended Edition(Sept/Oct 2011)
Writing Prompt: Write a scene, story or poem about a kid like Raphael.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a kid who went to school with you.
Art Prompt: Class clown
Photo Credit: adecker31 on Flickr
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Children are becoming more sophisticated about image at younger and younger ages.
…even very young children have a great deal of knowledge about the clothing retail sector and they know exactly which shops will sell the kind of clothing they want.
[Researchers] also found a strong association between family culture and the value children placed on brands and logos, citing two cases, ‘Robert’ and ‘Hayley’ (not their real names).
Robert came from a family where brands and designer fashions were valued, and he ‘name-dropped’ constantly about the brands of his clothes. Hayley, on the other hand, came from a family with little disposable income, where brands and logos were of so little importance that she had difficulty in understanding what the terms meant.
Parents, however, do not have it all their own way. Dr Pilcher commented: “There are a variety of fashion influences on children and you can’t ignore the pressures from their peer groups, especially friends of the same sex, and their ideas of what is cool.”
A further influence on young children is the celebrity culture, which they may wish to copy or they may reject. The skimpy clothing of singers Beyoncé and Kylie were not always admired by girls, who thought it was rude to show so much bare skin…
Children who do not participate in that culture, however, can be isolated from their peers in a form of social exclusion. This, Dr Pilcher says, is something to be borne in mind by teachers when considering school uniform policies and by parents doing battle with their children on the shop floor. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write a scene about a young child shopping for clothes.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a shopping trip for clothing from your own childhood. If you have children, compare it to a shopping trip with them.
Art Prompt: Children’s fashion
Photo Credit: Jason Hargrove on Flickr
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This was shared by Sue Ann Bowling at her Homecoming blog. Thanks Sue!
“Smart is only a polished version of dumb. Try intelligence.” Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals (Discworld)
Writing Prompt: Do a character sketch for one of your characters. Or create a new character. In what ways is your character smart? In what ways are they intelligent? how does your character use these traits in their everyday life? During a crisis?
Journaling Prompt: Are you smart, intelligent, or both? Write about your answer.
Art Prompt: Intelligence
Photo Credit: Meathead Movers on Flickr
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There have always been bullies in schools, but now we are finally starting to understand the consequences of letting this behavior go unanswered. In today’s reading of research from University of Illinois psychology professor Karen Rudolph, we learn the strategies kids use when they are being bullied.
Consciously or not, children tend to adopt one of three approaches…
“Some are focused on developing their relationships. They want to improve their social skills. They want to learn how to make friends,” she said.
Others are most interested in “demonstrating their competence,” she said. They may try to demonstrate their competence by enhancing their status or seeking approval from their peers. “These are kids who say: ‘I want to be cool. I want lots of kids to like me. I want to hang out with the popular kids.’ “
Or they may try to demonstrate their competence by avoiding negative judgments. “These are the kids who say, ‘I’m not going to do anything that’s going to draw negative attention, that’s going to make me look like a loser, that’s going to embarrass me,’” Rudolph said.
…children who were most interested in developing relationships “had more positive perceptions of themselves and were more likely to say that they would cooperate and work to reduce conflict with other kids,” Rudolph said. When other kids harassed them, these children were “more likely to engage in proactive strategies to solve the problem,” she said. This might involve asking a teacher for advice, or getting emotional support. Students with these goals also were less likely to engage in other impulsive responses to harassment, Rudolph said.
Children who wanted to be perceived as “cool” or competent “were less likely to use those kinds of thoughtful, careful strategies” when dealing with harassment, Rudolph said. “And they were more likely to retaliate.” These children also had more negative perceptions of their peers, Rudolph said.
Those who wanted to avoid negative judgments were less likely to retaliate against their peers. “But they were also more passive. They just ignored what happened,” she said. This approach might be useful in some circumstances, particularly for boys who tend to be more physically aggressive and more likely to retaliate than girls, Rudolph said. But passive responses also may increase a bully’s willingness to “up the ante,” she said. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write a scene in which a youngster is dealing with being bullied at school.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you were bullied or you saw someone being bullied.
Art Prompt: Bully
Nonfiction / Speech Writing Prompt: Write an informative article or speech on how to handle bullies.
Photo Credit: Chesi – Fotos CC on Flickr
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