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Teaching Resources

• Pongo's Approach
  • Accepting Self-Expression
  • Jumpstarting Creativity
• How We Introduce Ourselves to Youth
• How to Begin with Openness and Poetry
  • Some Poetry Anthologies
• Pongo's One-on-One Process
  • Principles for One-on-One
  • Guidelines/Goals for One-on-One
• Pongo's One-on-One Techniques
  • Taking Dictation
  • Improvising a Poetic Structure
  • Using a Fill-in-the-Blank Activity
• Pongo's Group Process
  • Teens' Vulnerabilities in Groups
  • How to Interact with Youth in Groups
• Pongo's Group Techniques
  • How to Manage a Group Activity
• How to Create a Pongo Fill-in-the-Blank
• A Reflection on the Pongo Method

Teens' Vulnerabilities in Groups

Here are some things to keep in mind about many adolescents, especially the distressed teens that we see through the Pongo Teen Writing Project:

1. Teens want respect.
   
   
2. Teens often believe the worst about your attitudes toward them.
   
   
3. Teens often believe the worst about their own ability to succeed.
   
   
4. Teens are extremely sensitive.
   
   
5. Teens often feel controlled and powerless.
   
   
6. Teens are self-conscious about their history, and they want privacy.
   
   
7. Teens are worried about how safe you are and how safe you can keep the class.
   
   
8. Teens may be worried about how safe their fellow students will be.