Tweens and Deeper Thinking

Based on the Blog by Heather Wolpert-Gawron

Original Publication Date:  5/31/11

Anyone who has ever taught middle school knows that tweens are a unique breed.  The author, Heather Wolpert-Gawron, equates middle school students to the wolf in “Dances with Wolves” in that they need to be coaxed into learning just like the wolf was coaxed into accepting the nourishment from Kevin Costner’s character.  Using our own personal stories to make learning real and to demonstrate decision making skills, according to the author, will have “students eating out of our hands” (Wolpert-Gawron, 2011).  

There are several common sense rules that teachers need to recognize when sharing personal stories with students.

1. Don’t share stories about people that you wouldn’t talk about to their face.
2. Use appropriate examples.  Students “don’t need to know don’t need to know everything you did in college” (Wolpert-Gawron, 2011).
3. Your story needs to be connected to the lesson.  Students will know when you’re bird walking.
4. Make sure your story has a message.

By using stories we can model appropriate behavior and connect real life situations to the content we are trying to teach.  “Middle schoolers are more likely respond to lessons hidden in the anecdotes of your outside life than those stated on some poster hanging in your room or stated in some entry from the textbook” (Wolpert-Gawron, 2011).

Walpert-Gawron, H. (2011, May 31). Encouraging your students to engage in deeper thinking [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-to-encourage-deeper-thinking-students-heather-wolpert-gawron