You will want to have a well-packed "suitcase" of stories by other young people to inspire your students to think about how each writer is creating empathy in an imaginary Stranger/Reader. Using these stories to build an understanding of narrative structure will be your most important tool during the weeks when the students haven't yet begun to write their own stories.

 

We have organized this webpage to help you to use each group of stories to create your own essential questions, enduring understandings, and lesson plans. Note that some groupings have more adult content than others, as you determine which stories might be most appropriate to share.  For example, the section on "Stories of Family Struggle, Betrayal, Reconciliation and Breaking Free," might become a whole unit for older students, or be used as a tool for guidance staff to help students go deeper, whereas others will work for all ages. 

 

When you actually begin to teach the stories, it will be up to you to decide whether to begin with reading a story with your class or small push-in group, or to begin with engaging your circle of students in working with the "if your words had the power" exercise, to be found in Chapter 2, Part A of this curriculum. For now, during this period of preparation, we invite you to pick five to ten stories that speak especially to you, beginning with the first starter toolkit.

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