Teacher Tips

Using Inside Stories in Other Subjects

Language Arts

Inside Stories provides an excellent opportunity to talk about the credibility of informational texts we read everyday. Each story includes three – five reference materials. These reference materials could be the basis for an examination of whether written material is fact or opinion (or an example of biased authorship). The Reading and Language Arts Voluntary State Curriculum, Standard 2.0: Comprehension of informational texts, among others, includes assessment limits that may help you plan this kind of activity.
The open-ended structure of each of the stories in this interactive provides a great chance for students to craft their own story endings. The student-crafted endings can be recorded or videotaped and evaluated based on the criteria you have established for your students. You may want to review Standard 4.0: in the Reading and Language Arts Voluntary State Curriculum to incorporate specific goals in this assignment.
Some of these follow-up activities may be appropriate for your classes. Be sure to check the Reading/Language Arts Voluntary State Curriculum to assess their usefulness to your curriculum.

Social Studies

The question of the health of the environment is often a hard one for governments to address effectively. You may want to examine the questions raised in each story from the perspective of the legal issues involved. For example, there are federal laws that specify that contractors have to give lead information to homeowners before renovating a house built before 1978. Direct your class to choose a relevant law (on the local, state, or national level) and examine:
The problem the law addresses
The content of the law
The ways the law are enforced
The effectiveness of the law.
Some laws you may want to focus on include:
Maryland Law: Reduction of Lead Risk in Housing
Federal Law: Pre-Renovation Lead information Rule
Check Standard 1.0 Political Science in the Social Studies Voluntary State Curriculum for additional direction in completing this activity.
The Thinkport lesson plan The Role of the Government in Lead Poisoning Prevention is a good resource to guide social studies teachers examining this issue with their students.
In 3.0 Content Standard: Geography link to in the Social Studies Voluntary State Curriculum, Topic D looks at the effect of modifying our environment. Discuss the stories in terms of economic impact. For example, Maggie’s story tackles the question of lead abatement. Lead abatement projects are costly. Do the benefits of doing this outweigh the economic cost? What are the short-term effects on the economy? The long-term effects? Consider both those who pay for the abatement and those who complete this work, as well as the country in general and the government’s role in providing for the safety of its citizens.

Environmental Regulation Lesson Seed - Students learn about government regulation and create a bill that addesses contamination of food which causes illness.

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