Myrtle Teachable Moments
Content-Based Fiction
Reading Instruction for
Health Literacy and Character Education
"You can't think deeply about nothing." - Joseph W. Deem
Program Description
Myrtle Teachable Moments Health Literacy and Character Education Series
is a comprehensive health curriculum for primary grade students. The
teachable moments program uses research based instructional and early
literacy strategies that encourage students to become engaged in
learning about health topics. The program includes a set of books that
address physical, social and emotional health topics. The program’s
format also allows teachers to strengthen their students literacy skills
while teaching the health content.
As we know teachers are faced with ever increasing demands on their
time. As the demands of the core curricula increase, time spent on
important subjects like health often decreases. Teachers must decide
what to leave out as their day is filled with Math and Language Arts
Instructional requirements. The Myrtle Teachable Moments Health Literacy
and Character Education Series is built on research that supports not
only learning the factual content of the health standards but also using
health content to strengthen students’ reading skills. This nexus of
health literacy and reading instruction encourages teachers to
incorporate health instruction into their regular language arts blocks
and therefore create the time to teach health.
A common criticism of primary grade reading instruction is the lack of
exposure to expository textual content. As students matriculate through
the grades the gap between their ability to read and understand
nonliterary text and the requirements to glean information from written
content widens. The Myrtle Teachable Moments Health Literacy and
Character Education Series is designed to bridge the gap between
expository and narrative text with stories rich in health content but
also of high interest to students. The series is designed to help
teachers teach children to read for factual information in the context
of a narrative text.
Myrtle Teachable Moments Health Literacy and Character Education Series
is designed to put health standards in a context that is familiar to
students. The series is also designed to put health standards in a
format that is readable and comprehensible to nearly all primary age
students. Teachers who use the series report a good response to the
books in their regular and special education classes. Health comes alive
for the students through the books’ characters. Students relate to the
characters and their real life experiences portrayed in the book.
Through this medium students are more apt to retain the health-related
content embedded in the books and understand how the content fits into
the larger scheme of things.
Health is an important subject. Over 10% of preschoolers (age 2 to 5)
and over 15% of 6 to 11 year olds are overweight putting them at risk
for diabetes, heart disease, and premature death. Additionally, many
students live in stressful environments and do not get a foundation that
provides for coping skills. The characters in the Myrtle Teachable
Moments series learns about and practice good health habits. The Myrtle
characters also show concern about each other’s feelings and help each
other when they have a problem. The characters are empathetic,
responsible, make healthy decisions, and work together.
These are also characteristics of health productive citizens. The goal
is to provide health education in a way that encourages the acquisition
of these traits. The Myrtle Teachable Moments Health Literacy and
Character Education Series introduces health facts and healthy behaviors
within the context of stories. Children and adults alike enjoy stories
and relate to them. Stories take seemingly unrelated pieces of
information and join them into a composition that makes the individual
facts easier to remember.
The Myrtle Teachable Moments Health Literacy and Character Education
Series stories work well to convey information because they are
consistent with research regarding how the brain works to store new
information. A recent development in brain research is the discovery of
a phenomenon called plasticity. Plasticity refers to the brain’s ability
to strengthen existing connections between dendrites and axons of
different neurons, essentially making the brain “stronger”. Information
is stored in various locations in the brain. When one encounters new
information, the brain looks for existing pathways the information will
fit into, thereby, strengthening those connections. All students have
personal experience with health issues. That prior knowledge, coupled
with new related information, as portrayed in the Myrtle Teachable
Moments series, strengthens those neural pathways or networks making it
easier for students to “own” the new information. The topics are also
meaningful to students. The best way to teach facts is to teach for
meaning. The Myrtle characters connect school learning to our students’
real world.
I hope you and your students enjoy Myrtle and her friends!
Myrtle Learns
PO Box 2767
Riverside, CA 92516
Phone (888) 843-7477
Fax (909) 778-9238
"I
carry it (Myrtle Learns About Diabetes) in my backpack.
If anyone wants to know about my diabetes, I let them
read it."
Lalia S., 6th grader, Fontana USD
Themes:
* Personal responsibility
* Healthy models
* Kindness, acceptance, caring & empathy
* Disease prevention
* Respect
* Decision-making
* Safe behaviors
* Social skills