Professional Storyteller Debbie Dunn’s Blog

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Are you bullying yourself? Skits 17-24 for your class to act out November 25, 2009

Filed under: bullies & victims — debbiedunn @ 1:45 pm
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Be Bully Free symbol
Are you bullying yourself? Skits 17-24 for your class to act out. This is the final set of skits on this topic.

Did you know you can be a bully to yourself? This is illustrated in the role-play called “Squirrel rejects his bushy tail.”

Read the role-play at this link – “Be Bully Free role-play: Squirrel rejects his bushy tail

See if it reminds you of any time when you might have rejected or put down any part of your body or your life.

When I shared this story with middle school students several years back, they shared the following reactions.

You may wish to involve your students in acting these scenarios out in skit form or getting them to share some reactions of their own.

Click CONFLICT RESOLUTION to read the details about the next set of 8 skits to act out.

 

Are you bullying yourself? Skits 9-16 for your class to act out November 24, 2009

Filed under: bullies & victims — debbiedunn @ 5:40 pm
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Be Bully Free emblem
Are you bullying yourself? Skits 9-16 for your class to act out

Did you know you can be a bully to yourself? This is illustrated in the role-play called “Squirrel rejects his bushy tail.”

Read the role-play at this link – “Be Bully Free role-play: Squirrel rejects his bushy tail

See if it reminds you of any time when you might have rejected or put down any part of your body or your life.

When I shared this story with middle school students several years back, they shared the following reactions.

You may wish to involve your students in acting these scenarios out in skit form or getting them to share some reactions of their own.

Click CONFLICT RESOLUTION to read the details about the next set of 8 skits to act out.

 

Ten Tips to Help Improve Your Creative Writing Skills November 24, 2009

Creative Writing Tips
One of the fun challenges about writing is that there is always room for growth and improvement. It is an on-going process that can benefit from the passage of time and practice. Here are ten tips that might help improve your creative writing skills.

Click CREATIVE WRITING to read the whole article

 

Are you bullying yourself? Skits 1-8 for your class to act out November 24, 2009

Filed under: bullies & victims — debbiedunn @ 4:51 am
Tags: , ,

Be Bully Free symbol
Are you bullying yourself? Skits 1-8 for your class to act out.

Did you know you can be a bully to yourself? This is illustrated in the role-play called “Squirrel rejects his bushy tail.”

Read the role-play at this link – “Be Bully Free role-play: Squirrel rejects his bushy tail

See if it reminds you of any time when you might have rejected or put down any part of your body or your life.

When I shared this story with middle school students several years back, they shared the following reactions.

You may wish to involve your students in acting these scenarios out in skit form or getting them to share some reactions of their own.

Click CONFLICT RESOLUTION to read the details about the 8 skits to act out.

 

My search for the ideal Barbecue grill continues November 24, 2009

Filed under: barbecue grill — debbiedunn @ 4:43 am
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Outdoor barbecue grill from Outdora.com

Outdoor barbecue grill from Outdora.com


My husband and I are searching for the ideal barbecue grill that we will make as our next big purchase. As time permits, I have been doing some research and sharing my findings on my blog. We are still in the process of debating whether we want a gas grill or another charcoal grill.

As I explored on the web, I saw this amazing-looking grill set-up. Just check out that picture. Since there are just the two of us, that is much more than we need. I can just imagine though either of my brothers with their respective wife and kids grilling outdoors in just such a set-up. I’ll have to show this picture to my younger brother. They have a really pretty patio where something that looks like this would be kind of doable. They have two young girls. They also have an active social life where they invite neighbors and friends over for dinner. I can really picture them with this kind of set-up.

Another outdoor barbecue grill from Outdora.com

Another outdoor barbecue grill from Outdora.com

As for my husband and I, we need something on a smaller scale since it is just the two of us. He’s a sports writer. I’m a storyteller and a writer. So it is rare if we have people over. I noticed this BBQ grill that looks pretty interesting. It’s called a Round Rock Rotisserie and Fire Pit. If you read one of my previous blogs, you may be aware that my husband loves Rotisserie chicken. I love the tier effect of this grill where you can have plenty of room to grill lots of food. He and I love, love, love leftovers.

His mother lives in a nursing home. She and her roommate just love it when we bring them a grilled burger, grilled hotdog, and grilled steak. My mother-in-law’s roommate is one of the sweetest women. Plus, my mother-in-law is a real gem. So this kind of barbecue grill seems rather intriguing so we have room to spread the food out. Plus, that our grilling wouldn’t have to be this elaborate relay race anymore where we take off one set of food so we can make room for the next set of food we make. Given how busy we both are with our jobs, being able to cook more than one item at once would be so helpful.

We are not quite ready to make our decision yet. Since we plan to keep this grill for years and years to come, we want to make certain we get one that we are really happy with. Plus, we will have to save up in our budget as well. I am enjoying exploring the Outdora.com website as they have a huge variety of barbecue grills of all types. More later as I continue to explore and finally narrow down the options to one. Have a great day, everybody and happy Thanksgiving!

 

Mini Lesson Plan – Ned and Nan kick CAN’Ts away November 22, 2009

Filed under: bullies & victims — debbiedunn @ 6:05 pm
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Be Bully Free Lesson Plan
After reading the role-play called “Ned and Nan kick CAN’Ts away,” students will take part in a variety of follow-up activities to enhance the learning experience.

Click CONFLICT RESOLUTION to read the rest of the article.

 

Creative Writing Story Prompts for Ned and Nan kick CAN’Ts away November 22, 2009

Filed under: bullies & victims — debbiedunn @ 6:03 pm
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Creative Writing Story Prompts
After reading the story called “Ned and Nan Kick their CAN’Ts Away,” here are some creative writing story prompts to help enhance the story listening experience. This article includes a PDF download that you can duplicate for classroom use.

Click CONFLICT RESOLUTION to read the rest of the article.

 

Let’s Discuss – Ned and Nan kick CAN’Ts away November 22, 2009

Filed under: bullies & victims — debbiedunn @ 6:01 pm
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Main Idea Discussion Questions
After reading the role-play called “Ned and Nan Kick their CAN’Ts away,” students will discuss the main idea discussion questions for this story.

Click CONFLICT RESOLUTION to read the rest of the article.

 

Bulletin Board idea for Ned and Nan kick CAN’Ts away November 22, 2009

Filed under: bullies & victims — debbiedunn @ 5:59 pm
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Bulletin Board Idea
After reading the role-play called “Ned and Nan Kick their CAN’Ts away,” here is a bulletin board idea to help reinforce the importance of using your talents and skills to feel important and special. It helps students to re-evaluate their negative thinking. Instead of holding themselves back from demonstrating a particular talent or skill because they think they CAN’T do this or are not very good at it, they come to realize that with practice, they can perform this task after all.

Click CONFLICT RESOLUTION to read the rest of the article.

 

Conflict Resolution 101: Four scenarios where ‘I Messages’ might help November 20, 2009

Filed under: I Messages, conflict resolution — debbiedunn @ 12:46 am
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I Messages Sentence Starters
Using an ‘I Message’ with others is a useful tool that could help defuse a conflict with other people. Instead of making ‘Accusing You’ statements that sound blameful and attacking, using an ‘I Message’ is a constructive step that has the potential to de-escalate the feelings of anxiety and maintain the peace between you.

Click on CONFLICT RESOLUTION to read the entire article.