Hi fellow closet dwellers! Apologies for the radio silence this week, I’ve had a rough one. I was all ready and raring to go with prompt 380 for Wednesday night, had some ideas for a cute little story, and then I popped a tire on my commute home. Of course it was on a busy highway at rush hour, so I waited for an hour for a tow while sitting in the shoulder watching everyone else fly by me without a care. I was ok, it just took a lot out of me energy-wise and after having a late dinner out with my husband I didn’t have it in me to write.
So what happened Thursday? Well, I got possessed by a side project that ran away from me. I started writing a fanfic headcanon thread for twitter and it was only supposed to be a few hundred words, 7 or 8 tweets long maybe, but it grew and grew and turned into a monster 1.3k, 31-tweet story. It was a fun, unique challenge and I’m not sorry I did it, but by the time I finished it I didn’t have enough time left to switch gears and work on the prompt for the blog.
Yesterday has no real excuse. I started watching Castlevania season 3 after my dentist appointment thinking I would only get through about half of it before my husband texted me saying he was on his way home so I could start cooking dinner, but then he ended up working later than he expected and I finished the whole thing before he came home. I could have been using that time to write instead, but I kept thinking “well he’ll text me any minute now.” Then since he got home so late, we just spent the night relaxing together and I never did get around to writing.
All of this to say, I don’t really feel like carrying over the prompts to next week, so I’m just gonna do a quick paragraph or two to answer each of the remaining questions in a combo update/twofer post. Mostly to clear my conscience so I can focus and work on other things today so that I have something to show my writing partner when we finally meet again tomorrow for the first time in months. My subconscious was calling me out in my dreams last night so today is gonna be all about working on all the things I keep saying I’m gonna work on.
Sorry for the weird posting schedule this week. Here’s the last two prompts!
Prompt 380 – Teaching Troubled Kids
If you were a school teacher in a school for troubled kids, what creative methods would you use to teach them and keep their attention?
A long time ago, I used to tutor kids in math. My school was nice. Predominantly middle-class, white, suburban community. But just because we lived in a nice area, it didn’t mean every student came from the same circumstances. Our school covered a large geographical area and there were plenty of “troubled kids” from rough family situations and “sketchier” parts of the district. These kids often struggled to meet the high standards the school strived for and were often at risk of dropping out.
I can’t say for sure that I changed any of their lives. I only tutored a handful of kids. But I did feel like I connected with them, like they were learning from me in a way that mattered. Each one was different, and that’s the key. Everyone learns differently. You have to understand the kids to know how best to reach them. Sometimes it’s just letting them talk about their problems. Sometimes it’s helping them organize their locker and clean out the junk they don’t need. Always, it’s being kind and empathetic. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching, troubled kids or not, but they do require extra empathy because they’re less likely to get it outside of the classroom. That was always my approach, and I like to hope that it worked.
Prompt 381 – Allowance
Do you think parents should automatically give their kids an allowance or do you feel kids should earn the allowance?
I think this is two sides to the same coin, to be honest. Giving kids an allowance teaches them how to manage their money, while having them earn it teaches them the value of the money they are being given. It’s up to the parents to decide how they want to go about it, but they shouldn’t be surprised if their kids become spoiled or fiscally irresponsible if they don’t teach them the value of the allowance they are given.
Ok, that’s all I have for this update. I hope the rest of your weekend goes well and I’ll see you tomorrow with the usual Sunday update!
PS-Like these prompts? Like the short stories I write based on these prompts? Want to show your support? Give the blog a follow! Leave a comment! Buy me a coffee! I put a lot of time and effort into these posts and your support means the world to me! Ok, now go out there and write!
Closet Full of Notebooks 