A literature-based life skill curriculum for secondary students

The Life Skill Stories Book Set includes six books with a total of 120 stories. They focus on typical teenage experiences, and the skills we all need to navigate life. Each story is 5 pages long with a Flesch-Kincaid 2-3 reading difficulty level. The characters in the stories are teenagers, friends, and family members. Some stories are humorous, some are a little mysterious, and others have a touch of drama. Each story concludes with What Do You Think? and What Would You Do? sections.

The Instructor's Guide provides a plot summary, review material, quiz questions, and vocabulary comprehension for each story. A life skills index makes it easy to select stories that support specific life skills. Additional activities are provided as printable PDF files for discussion, practice, and evaluation.

On the included PDF CD are separate file folders for each of the stories. In each story folder is a set of printable PDF activity documents that can be used to further review the stories and the life skill topics:

Story Quiz – nine multiple-choice questions directly related to the story content. Composed of 3 comprehension questions, two vocabulary questions, and four questions about the life skills addressed in the story.

Life Skill Questions – 12 multiple-choice questions designed to further explore the story’s life skill themes. Provided as two separate PDF files (6 questions each), these can be used as quizzes, worksheets, homework assignments, or discussion starters.

Discussion and Activities – 12 questions for the teacher to guide discussion and encourage thinking about the life skill concepts addressed by the story.

Worksheet Activity – One-page worksheet supporting a key life skill from the story. The complete Instructor’s Guide is also provided as a PDF file on the CD.

On the CD, along with the PDF activity files, are digital versions of the stories—prepared as DAISY-NIMAS text files. Each book is available as a tagged-text file that conforms to the NIMAS and DAISY conventions for book structure and page numbering. These files can be used with screen readers such as ReadHear (gh, LLC) or Read:Outloud (Don Johnston, Inc.) and hardware such as the Classmate Reader (Human Ware). Use these files for large on-screen display and highlighting and for text-to-speech audio.

Life Skill Stories Introductory Kit includes a six-book set and one Instructor's Guide.

Life Skill Stories Classroom Kit includes eight six-book sets and one Instructor's Guide.

By Ellen McPeek Glisan, PhD. Each book is softbound, 5½ x 7½ inches, about 100 pages, 2012. Instructor's Guide is spiralbound, 143 pages, with a Win/Mac CD with printable PDF files.