Activities & Printables

Implementing Developmental Bibliotherapy…

Developmental Bibliotherapy occurs when Young People recognize that a change has taken place in their thoughts, feelings, actions or beliefs.

Developmental Bibliotherapy Activities can take as little as five minutes or can be developed into a unit of work.

Activities should encourage Discussion on significant characters or events in a story.

Developmental Bibliotherapy on PREZI 

Requirements:

• Well written age appropriate novels (Graphic Novels are OK)
• Trusted adults – Ideally the Classroom Teacher & Teacher Librarian
• Class Time & Commitment

Core elements:

• Each student must have read a suitable book or Graphic Novel.
• Facilitators stimulate discussion & sharing with
  individuals &/or groups during the reading stage.
• Followup activities & discussion questions are carefully
  designed to promote self reflection.

Character attributes:

Introduce Character Attributes as a class discussion – the depth of discussion will depend on student maturity, time, and other factors including school culture.

Research has demonstrated that character encompasses a multitude of strengths that can be organized into three dimensions:

• Interpersonal strengths, like gratitude, enable harmonious relationships with other people;
• Intrapersonal strengths, like grit and self-control, enable achievement; and
• Intellectual strengths, like curiosity, enable a fertile and free life of the mind.

The Character Attributes you decide to explore will depend somewhat on the age of the group. Programs focusing on Developing Character may already be part of a wider school program. Alternatively you can create your own list of attributes to discuss, perhaps even with the assistance of the group. Introduce these ideas gradually with examples if time permits.

Younger groups might consider…
Gratitude, Courage, Kindness, Generosity, Creativity and Curiosity.

Older groups might look at …
Hope, Optimism, Resilience, Self Efficacy, , Compassion, Empathy, Grit, Self control, Curiosity, Creativity and Generosity.

More ideas can be found on these pages:
Stajkovic’s Core Confidence – Optimism, Hope, Self-efficacy & Resilience
Seligman’s 24 Signature Strengths at VIA Character Lab

Outcomes:

Developmental Bibliotherapy Programs, whether delivered formally or informally should produce the following outcomes in the young adult participants:
More…

• Core confidence – Resilience, Optimism, Hope and Self-Efficacy.
• Empathy, Compassion, Discussion, Tolerance, Openness,
• Awareness & Support for those experiencing mental illness themselves or caring for someone with a mental illness.
• Better Mental Health Outcomes by minimizing barriers to Early Intervention

Fewer…

• Stigmas, Stereotypes, Fears associated with Mental Illness.
• Incidents of Aggression & Bullying in classrooms.
• Lives disrupted due to mental illness.

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Reading for Wellbeing Booklet 2018

Activities

Questions, Questions, Questions

Suggested Questions can be grouped into Characters (CQ), Storylines (SQ), Author (AQ) related and Self Reflection (SR). A few Preliminary Questions have been included as Ice Breakers.

Questions are also marked with a subjective “Difficulty” star rating as a guide to reflect the complexity of the answer you might expect from your readers.

Conversation Starters – IF… (Cards)

Other Activities

Quotations

Literature Circles

Key points for Literature Circles:

1. Children choose their own reading materials.
2. Small temporary groups are formed, based on book choice.
3. Different groups read different books
4. Groups meet on a regular predictable schedule.
5. Students use written or drawn notes to guide both their reading and discussion.
6. Discussion topics come from the students
7. Group meetings aim to be open, natural conversations. Often the conversations digress to topics relating to the students or loosely to the books, but should eventually return to the novel.
8. The teacher serves as a facilitator, observer, listener and often a fellow reader, alongside the students. The teacher is not an instructor.
9. Students are given roles or jobs to complete for each group meeting.
10. The teacher should model how students should facilitate each role or job.
11. Evaluation is by teacher observation and student self-evaluation and should also include extension projects.
12. A spirit of playfulness and fun pervades the room.
13. New groups form around new reading choices.

(Daniels, 1994) as cited in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature_circle

It is important that the questions and activities encourage self reflection.

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Printables

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