Materials

• Film clips from Minding the Gap and a way to screen them
• Note Taking Handout
• Students will need paper & pen

Learning Goal: Students will consider the qualities and impact of “good” parenting.

Activity: Effective Parenting

Prior to viewing the film clips ask students:

With a partner, think about effective parenting. What sorts of things does a good parent do? What qualities do they exhibit? Then work together to summarize your thoughts in a single sentence:

Parenting is _____________.

In a go-round, invite each pair to present their sentence. Ask students to listen for similarities and differences in what everyone presents. What do they notice?

Distribute a handout for note-taking that includes these questions:

• According to Oprah Winfrey, children who have been exposed to “good parents” enter the world with “strengths” and “an advantage.” What kind of advantages do “good parents” provide for their children?
• Does the age of parents determine whether a child will experience “good parenting?” Explain.
• How might children who have not come from “good parents” find success and flourish in spite of lacking “good parenting?”
• How much of an impact do parents have in determining our relationships with race, class, culture, masculinity and identity?
• Other than biological or step parents, who else in a family or community can provide “parenting”?

Screen each of the film clips with pauses between each to give time for students to take notes that will help them synthesize what they learned from the clip that will help them answer one or more of the questions on the handout.

Discuss each of the questions on the handout. As a final question, ask students to share one new insight about parenting that they learned from the activity.