The first days of Health class are
devoted to:
1.
A unit on Goals where students
choose their goals in 6 different areas of life, state what they will do each
day to accomplish their desired future goal and what character traits will be
required / strengthened while they walk their path to their desired future.
2.
The Introduction of the Family
Tree (genogram) Project. Everything you know, your sense of right /wrong, your
ethics, what is /is not permissible, what you can get away with is learned in
your family. Students need to be informed; in a few years they will leave their
home and establish their own home. Now is the time to evaluate the rules, ways
and habits of their extended family. Look at their family history; appreciate
what is good and learn from the examples they don’t wish to continue in their own
life.
To assist in looking back at family history, please
download a free genogram lesson from my TPT Store at: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Lets-Create-Your-Family-Tree-Genogram-2057413
The purpose is to focused student’s
attention on:
· their family history (we tend to repeat history / or rebel
against it),
· their current circumstances,
· their future hopes and dreams.
The information gained from these
beginning activities makes subjects like Sex Ed, Drugs, Nutrition, Decision
Making etc. more personal. For example, a subject like Sex Ed isn’t just about
information, for many of my students there is a family history with STD’s,
single parenting, issues with the Baby Daddy who walked away. So when you get
to the Sex Ed Unit, (or Drug Unit or Nutrition Unit etc.) along with your
curriculum you also provide an opportunity for the student to think about what
would be the WISE way to conduct their relationships (friendships,
peers, boyfriend/girlfriend, coworker, boss), the way I date, who I date,
where I go, how far do I go with the person I date, what do I do for FUN in my
relationships. These questions activate a student’s imagination. The
activation of their imagination is more important than the details in any
textbook; and can influence their decisions.
(These kids have seen
everything either on television, movies, music videos, in their neighborhood or
in their families. They know that sex, drugs and rock and roll (current
culture) messes with people’s lives. Their lack of life experience interferes
with the understanding that bad stuff can happen to them.)
Long before a person makes a wrong
moral decision, they made a series of unwise decisions that were legal, ethical
and culturally permissible. (Lesson 2 in my Decision Making Unit is a
perfect example – it deals with the “Lies I Tell Myself?”) Unwise decisions set
us up for moral failure, as in “How could I be ssooo stupid? Why didn’t I see
this coming.”
Activate your students’ imagination
with the perfect question that will cut through what is
culturally permissible, what is legal, what I want to do right now.
What is the WISE thing to do in
light of my past experiences / my families’ past experiences? —
True Example part 1 —
Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma all single parents, and had their 1st baby before
getting out of high school.
What is the WISE thing
to do in light of my current circumstances? —
True Example part 2 — “Mrs. Mccoy, I absolutely cannot be the
4th generation who has a baby before getting out of high school.” Her
Mother’s, Grandma’s, and Great Grandma’s ongoing reminder to her was their
personal unwise sexual decisions made as teens, robbed them of their own hopes
and dreams. They didn’t want her to rob herself of her hopes and dreams.
What is the WISE thing
to do in light of my future hopes and dreams? —
True Example part 3 — “Mrs. Mccoy, how do you do this abstinence
thing? No sexual contact until I get married. (statement not a question) I
could be 25, 30. . . . don’t you think that is a little extreme?
My response: Your Mother
loves you, what extreme thing would she be willing to do to give birth to you
after she had finished high school, completed college, and married to Mr.
Right?
This resonated with her;
because her Mother’s, Grandma’s, and Great Grandma’s on going lesson to her was their personal unwise sexual decision made as teens, robbed them
of their own hopes and dreams. They didn’t want her to rob herself of her hopes
and dreams.
The interesting thing about this story is, in spite of this girl’s family history, she was not onboard with the idea of abstinence. Our culture is very sexualized, if she didn’t have sex before marriage, she may not ever have a cool boyfriend much less get married because . . . .(fill in the blank.)
She intellectually knew the WISE thing to do. She emotionally was afraid to embrace the WISE thing; the cost might be too high. There might be boys who wouldn’t date her, peers might make fun of her, lose her cool factor, she might not fit in etc. This was important information not only to her but to the class — these emotional / heart issues could lead her along the path her mother, grandma and great grandma took.
The interesting thing about this story is, in spite of this girl’s family history, she was not onboard with the idea of abstinence. Our culture is very sexualized, if she didn’t have sex before marriage, she may not ever have a cool boyfriend much less get married because . . . .(fill in the blank.)
She intellectually knew the WISE thing to do. She emotionally was afraid to embrace the WISE thing; the cost might be too high. There might be boys who wouldn’t date her, peers might make fun of her, lose her cool factor, she might not fit in etc. This was important information not only to her but to the class — these emotional / heart issues could lead her along the path her mother, grandma and great grandma took.
1.
Self –Esteem / Image
issues — I’m not enough the way I am — I need to be pretty, sexy, cool to
attract the right people.
2.
How to say No and
maintain my cool factor, social acceptance and self-respect?
3.
Her family’s history —
she’s feeling the pressure — the family matriarch’s desire is for her to have
the life, foolish decisions robbed them from having.
Nobody plans to mess up
their life, but few people make plans not to mess up their life either. The way
to plan NOT to make a mess, is to ask the tough questions.In light of my history / my family’s history, my current circumstances / responsibilities and future hopes and dreams — what would be the WISE thing for ME to do?
ME is important because Me is unique. ME isn’t everyone or anyone else. WISE is more important; it is a higher standard than the legal thing, the ethical thing, the culturally permissible thing, or what I think I can get away with.
NOTE: If you know what the WISE thing to do is and you go another path, what does that say about you? What do you think a WISE person would say to you?
