Topic 2: Puberty and Physical Health
Strategy Number 1:
I think there are two major ways that I could encourage healthy decisions in teenagers. I think the first thing to do would be to educate them on it, in a more engaging and interesting way. Rather than lecturing the teens on why eating junk food is bad, or why smoking is bad, have the students learn through doing class presentations. We could assign each student into a group of three, and have them prepare an interactive class presentation, skit, video,or whatever creative idea they come up with, and have them do research on one main health issue. Have each group do something different, so that you hit as many different issues as possible. From there, we have the students do research on that topic and give them class time during their health class block or during a designated block to work together as a team to put together their creative presentations, and then have them present. I think this would be effective for two main reasons. The first reason is because this will encourage students to look into a major health-related issue, and understand it and its consequences well enough to present to their peers. And secondly, having students present to their peers will be effective because they know how to cater to the audience and how to make it engaging and meaningful to their fellow classmates.
Strategy Number 2:
I think a good second method would be to bring in class presenters. I know that when I was in junior high and high school, having school presenters was a lot more beneficial, just because people tended to be a lot more knowledgeable on the specific material. Many times, especially if a teacher hasn't seen or experienced things, it is hard to teach about it. You avoid this when you bring in an expert. If you bring in a doctor who specializes in working with adolescents with eating disorders, or you bring in a social worker who works with students who are going through social or behavioural issues, it can be a lot more informative then just having your teacher talk about the same thing. Many times, presenters can bring a different point of view to a classroom. By bringing a presenter to the classroom, it can be a nice change, and sometimes the presenter is able to have great strategies in having topics and points stick in children's minds. For example, when I was an adolescent, we had a speaker come in from the D.A.R.E. to talk about drug and substance abuse. As a part of the program, we were educated by police officers, and following these presentations we had to fill out modules about what we learned from it, and at the end we got a really nice certificate that rewarded us for our efforts and our new-found knowledge. I still have my certificate, and I am in third year university. Programs like this are great because it teaches kids about making good decisions, and the consequences that we can suffer from for making bad health decisions. And the things you learn also sticks in your head for quite a long time.
Resources:
D.A.R.E. (Website/ Online Resource)
*Note: The image below is an avatar that I created in preparation for class today on a program called Bitstrips. This image is what I pictured myself to be when I was about 13 years old (minus the clothing choice, though I did like to wear dresses at that age).
