Group session: Bibliotherapy Topic: Dealing with divorce

Age: 4th Grade (9/10 years old) Time: 50 minutes

Preparation: Group leaders must gather several copies of the books to be used. It would also be helpful to have drawing materials and writing materials on hand. Purpose/rational: The purpose of this lesson is to educate kids about divorce and its effects. By reading stories (fictional and non-fictional) of other childrens experiences of divorce, the group will experience normalizing of their own feelings. Normalizing is important because it allows kids to feel less shame and guilt about what they are experiencing. Learning objectives: By the end of the lesson, the group should know what is normal to experience in divorce. Also, the members of the group should be on their way to identifying what they themselves are experiencing as a result of the divorce. Developmental level of students: The key systems for these students are family, school, neighborhood, and peers. They are in the concrete operations stage according to Piaget, which means they are thinking relationally and starting to generalize. They are also beginning to bring causes and relationships together. Socially, they are oriented to parents. They enjoy group play and same gender relationships. They can be competitive with peers, and are often unaware of the effect of their behavior on others. They are impressed by older role models, and learn behavior from parent/peer role models. They are more concerned with physical image than social image. The books used are geared toward this age group and the children should be able to relate to the characters in the stories. Key Questions: How does divorce feel? What do we do to cope? Materials Needed: Books, paper, pens, pencils, colors. Procedures: Anticipatory Set: What are your favorite books? Have you ever read a story or seen a show/movie about kids whose parents are divorcing or are divorced? (Lead short discussion) Body of Lesson: Introduce book that we will cover in lesson. For this age group, the books are short enough that they can be read aloud. After the book is read, discuss it. Ask how it made the kids feel. Could they relate to the characters? Did it sound like their own story? What would they have done if they were the kid in the story? The parent? If the character in the story were a friend of theirs, what would they say to them? This is a great activity for fairly early on in the process because the questions and discussion can center on the characters in the book, and the group members can participate in discussion without revealing more than they want to about their own

situation and feelings. Good books for this age group are: How Does It Feel When Your Parents Get Divorced? By Terry Berger My Mom and Dad Are Getting A Divorce By Florence Bienfeld Don't Make Me Smile By: Barbara Park The Case of the Scary Divorce by C.E. Pickhardt Johnston, Janet, Karen Breunig, Carla Garrity, and Mitchell Baris, Through the Eyes of Children: Healing Stories for Children of Divorce. This text contains 15 stories for school-age children dealing with various aspects of families being reorganized through die process of divorce. These stories help children cope through the use of allegory and the magical life of animals endowed with human emotions. Children find in these stories some answers to the issues they face in ways they can process and understand. Closure: Tell group time is almost up. Ask them if there was anything in particular they learned or talked about today that they want to share. If no one wants to share, the group leader should share something about his or her own experience. Assessment: The group leaders will be assessing during the body of the lesson. As the objective of the lesson is to normalize feelings around divorce, the leaders should be listening carefully to what the students are saying about the characters in the book.

Group session: Bibliotherapy Topic: Dealing with divorce

Age: 10th Grade (15/16 years old) Time: 50 minutes

Preparation: Group leaders must gather enough copies of the books for each group member to have their own copy. It would also be helpful to have drawing materials and writing materials on hand. Purpose/rational: The purpose of this lesson is to educate kids about divorce and its effects. By reading stories (fictional and non-fictional) of other adolescents experiences of divorce, the group will experience normalizing of their own feelings. Normalizing is important because it allows teens to feel less shame and guilt about what they are experiencing. Learning objectives: By the end of the lesson, the group should know what is normal to experience in divorce. Also, the members of the group should be on their way to identifying what they themselves are experiencing as a result of the divorce. Developmental level of students: The key systems for this age group are family, peer group and school. They are in normal mental operations in Piagets theory. This means they are capable of cognitive problem solving, can think abstractly and hypothetically and they integrate multiple factors in order to understand concepts. Socially, they are oriented to present rather than future. They are preoccupied with self-presentation, acceptance by peer group and physical maturity. They seek sexual intimacy, peer role models and independence in decision-making. They differentiate between self and environment and feel awkward in social skills. The books used are geared toward this age group and the adolescents should be able to relate to the characters in the stories. Key Questions: How does divorce feel? What do we do to cope? Materials Needed: Books, paper, pens, pencils, colors. Procedures: Anticipatory Set: What stories or shows/movies about teens whose parents are divorcing or are divorced have you read or seen? (Lead short discussion) Body of Lesson: Re-introduce book that we will cover in lesson. For this age group, the books should have been passed out a few weeks prior to the lesson day so the

kids have a chance to read it before the group. Go over the story. Cover the main points and characters so if any person hasnt been able to finish the book they can still participate in the group. Ask how the book made the kids feel. Could they relate to the characters? Did it sound like their own story? What would they have done if they were the person in the story? The parent? If the character in the story were a friend of theirs, what would they say to them? This is a great activity for fairly early on in the process because the questions and discussion can center on the characters in the book, and the group members can participate in discussion without revealing more than they want to about their own situation and feelings. Good books for this age group are: Fiction: Kick a Stone Home By: Doris Smith, The Hatchet (In Spanish: El Hacha) by Gary Paulsen Nonfiction: The Day the Loving Stopped: A Daughter's View of Her Parents' Divorce By: Julie List (personal account from teen about divorce) How to Live With a Single Parent By: Sara Gilbert Closure: Tell group time is almost up. Ask them if there was anything in particular they learned or talked about today that they want to share. If no one wants to share, the group leader should share something about his or her own experience. Assessment: The group leaders will be assessing during the body of the lesson. As the objective of the lesson is to normalize feelings around divorce, the leaders should be listening carefully to what the students are saying about the characters in the book.