Essays written by teens
about issues that teens face might help build students' self-esteem and
their ability to "triumph over trouble." Included:
A new essay
contest for students ages seven to 18!
Dealing with death. Depression. Self-esteem. Moving to a new school.
Drug dependency. Peer pressure. The immigrant experience. Body image.
Alcohol abuse. Pregnancy. Family problems. Failure. Racism.
Teens tell how they deal with those and other challenges in their own
words in the book From Darkness to Light: Teens Write About How They
Triumphed Over Trouble (see Education World's BOOKS IN EDUCATION page
this week for a review).
The book offers more than 60 inspiring essays written by teens.
But the stories tell much, much more about teens -- about
their resiliency and about their abilities to overcome obstacles.
Any of the essays in From Darkness to Light, published by Fairview
Press, might be used in the classroom to motivate thought-provoking discussions
about issues that many teens confront. Teachers might use the essays to
spur discussion about why some teens seem to have the ability to face
and overcome life's major hurdles -- and why others don't.. Discussions
can help teens identify their own strengths, help them develop resiliency
-- the ability to bounce back, and inspire them work toward their goals
and dreams.
The two essays that follow don't deal with any of the thorny hot-button
issues that many of the teen's essays in From Darkness to Light
deal with -- issues such as teen suicide, physical abuse, or death of
a sibling. Rather, these two essays offer up two optimistic stories with
fairly universal themes; we read of one teen's personal view of failure
(and related issues of peer pressure and body image) and another's story
of coming to terms her disability.
Also included is material that teachers can use to extend classroom
discussion about the essays.
NOTE: The discussion material is extracted from a Leader's Guide, which
teachers could purchase for From Darkness to Light. Unfortunately,
the Leader's Guide is out of print and no longer available for purchase.
The material is reprinted here with the hope that it will provide valuable
lessons for your students -- and that it might motivate students to participate
in a new Publish-a-Story essay contest being offered by Fairview Press.
(More on that later!)
I begin with some introductory material regarding "resiliency" from
the Leader's Guide.
The following questions from the Leader's Guide that accompanies From
Darkness to Light can be used as a warm-up to reading the two essays.
The questions might be used with an entire class or as a small-group discussion
activity.
- Ask students to define resiliency. What are other words or phrases
that mean resiliency?
- Ask students to discuss whether they believe people are born resilient
or if resiliency is a skill or trait one can develop?
- Ask students to discuss whether they consider resiliency to be a desirable
characteristic. Why or why not?
- Ask students if they consider themselves to be resilient. Ask them
to rate themselves on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 indicates no
resiliency and 10 indicates very resilient.
- Ask students What or who contributes to someone's ability to be
resilient? (Brainstorm and list.)
- Ask students what they think enables people to be resilient.
- Are there role models or people who contribute to someone's ability
to be resilient?
- Are there people in your life who you consider resilient who might
be inspirational to you?
Warm-up activity. How important is attitude when trying to succeed?
Can you have fun at a sport or a game even if you're not very good at
it? Is there more or different pressure on boys when it comes to playing
sports?
Self-report. Ask students to write or tell their responses to
these questions:
- If you're not good at something, but you enjoy it, do you continue
with it or do you quit?
- What do you tell yourself it you're not good at something?
- How competitive are you?
Read the essay. Click here
for the text of the essay "Getting Started."
Action steps. After students read the essay, invite them to write
or discuss their thoughts about these questions:
- Do you think you have an accurate picture of your strengths and limitations?
- List five skills you have.
- What's one thing you'd like to do but aren't very good at? List three
steps you could take that would bring you closer to being better at
it.
- Describe what an optimist is. Are you an optimist?
Warm-up activity. Read the definition of disability in
the dictionary. Is it described in a positive, negative, or neutral way?
How do you feel when you see someone in a wheelchair? What kinds
of assumptions or judgements do you make about that person? If you had
a friend in a wheelchair, would they be able to enter your house? List
places that you can think of that aren't "handicap accessible."
Self-report. Ask students to write or tell their responses to
these questions:
- What are some things you would have to stop doing if your were in
a wheelchair today?
- What are some places you couldn't go to today?
- How would being in a wheelchair affect your attitude?
- How about your self-esteem?
Read the essay. Click here
for the text of the essay "Life With a Disability," by Amber Junker.
Action steps. After students read the essay, invite them to write
or discuss (as a class, or in small groups) their thoughts about these
questions:
- What are some things that would change about you if you were
in a wheelchair today?
- Could you be happy in a wheelchair?
- What is a disability that would be most difficult for you?
- Would your friends change? Why or why not?
Finally, the essays in From Darkness to Light might motivate
students to think and to write about obstacles and challenges they've
faced.
And the students might enter those stories in Fairview Press's Publish-a-Story
Contest!
The contest is open to all students ages seven to 18. This year, for
the first time, students can enter their essays in one of two categories:
- Do You Have a Story to Tell? What is it like to be you? What challenges
do you face in your life? Tell how you triumphed over troubles large
or small. If your story might serve as an example to others, it's worth
telling!
- What Have You Done to Make the World a Better Place? Have you worked
as part of a group -- a classroom, a group of friends, or any other
group -- to make the world a better place in some way? Tell your story.
It might inspire a group of young people somewhere else to reach out
in their community and, in big or small ways, make the world a better
place. And it might be a winner!
The best stories in both categories will be awarded prizes and will
be published in one of two new books (one for each category) from Fairview
Press.
For more information about the Publish-a-Story Contest, check out Fairview
Press's Web
site, call them at (800)544-8207, or write to them at 2450 Riverside
Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1400. Contest deadline: April 1, 1998.
For a copy of From Darkness to Light, see
the review on the Education World BOOKS IN EDUCATION page this week.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World® Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 1997, 2005 Education World
10/20/1997
Updated 07/19/2005
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