Download - UNIT PLAN-The Balanced Life for Teens
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Submitted to Michael Olpin, Ph.D., CHES Required for Health 3200 - Methods of Health Education
By Mariah Johnston Major: Health Promotion
Weber State University 2015
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Table of Contents
Introduction Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Course Focus ................................................................................................................................ 3
Course Goal & Objectives ............................................................................................................ 3 Target Audience ........................................................................................................................... 4 Target Setting .............................................................................................................................. 4 Lesson Plans ................................................................................................................................. 4 Lesson Plan I Problem Solving Lesson Plan Purpose .......................................................................................................... 5 Lesson Plan Objectives ...................................................................................................... 5
Activity I: ‘Self-Assessment Pretest’ .................................................................................... 5 Activity II: ‘Brain Teasers’ ................................................................................................... 5 Activity III: ‘Jenny’s Dilemma’ ............................................................................................. 6
Activity IV: ‘Solutions Game’ ............................................................................................... 6 Evaluation ........................................................................................................................... 7
Lesson Plan II Goal Setting Lesson Plan Purpose .......................................................................................................... 8 Lesson Plan Objectives ...................................................................................................... 8
Activity I: ‘Letter to the Future’ ........................................................................................... 8 Activity II: ‘SMART Goals’ ................................................................................................... 8 Activity III: ‘Long-Term Goal’ .............................................................................................. 9
Evaluation ........................................................................................................................... 9 Lesson Plan III Time Management Lesson Plan Purpose .......................................................................................................... 10 Lesson Plan Objectives ...................................................................................................... 10
Activity I: ‘Time Journal’ ..................................................................................................... 10 Activity II: ‘Time Management Worksheet’ ........................................................................ 10 Activity III: ‘An Unbalanced Life’ ......................................................................................... 10
Activity IV: ‘Self-Assessment Posttest’ ................................................................................ 10 Evaluation ............................................................................................................................ 11 Conclusion
References and Resources ............................................................................................................ 12 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... 13
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Introduction
Overview The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry states teens and young adults are more likely to act impulsively, misread social cues, and engage in dangerous behavior. This is likely because the brain hasn’t fully developed where reasoning is controlled. However, they also state “These brain differences don’t mean that young people can’t make good decisions or tell the difference between right and wrong. It also doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be held responsible for their actions.” All the more reasons to teach teens to problem solve. “Adolescents are like compasses, the way they point now, is the way they will point as an adult.” It is extremely important to know how to set and accomplish goals as a teen. Studies have shown teens who make and achieve goals younger are more incline to “self-regulate learning, positive affect in school, adaptive coping with difficulty and failure, and positive well-being.” Teens are now reporting they feel as much stress as adults do. Many suggestions of curbing stress in teens are to get enough sleep, eat well, and exercise. But what happens if a teen feels they are doing those things and still are experiencing high levels of stress?
Course Focus
This unit will focus on three main life skills to give teens the ability to decrease stress, feel more in control, and manage life events more effectively. The unit plan will be split up into three separate days (45 minute segments), each day focusing on an important life skill.
Course Goal & Objectives
The main goal of this unit plan is to teach teens to be self-reliant in the ability to have a productive and balanced life. To do that they will start with a self-assessment to judge which areas they can improve most on. Then, there will be instruction and activities that teach and implement steps to gain an understanding of each life skill. Understanding and applying life management skills as a teen or young adult can set up an individual to have a very successful and stress free life later on when they don’t have they safety net of parents or teachers.
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Target Audience 7th-12th grade students
Target Setting
Classroom-type setting consisting of 20-40 students Lesson Plans
I. Problem Solving II. Goal Setting
III. Time Management
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Lesson I Problem Solving
Purpose To introduce the subject of life balance to students. To give students a skill they can implement on their own and find the best possible outcome for life’s problems.
Objectives
Cognitive: Students will learn different strategies and skills to solve various problems. Affective: Students will feel confident on their ability to solve problems. Behavioral: Students will recognize and practice their new problem solving skills.
Activity I – Self-Assessment Pretest (10 minutes) Materials Needed: “The Balancing Act Quiz” worksheet Description: Print one quiz for each student, with the quiz on the front side and the ‘calculating your scores’ on the back side. Give each student the worksheet and have them complete it in class. Collect the quizzes after they have totaled their points and save for the end of Lesson 3.
Activity II – Brain Teaser (5 minutes)
Materials Needed: White board, markers Description: Write down these brainteasers on the board. “A boy and a doctor were fishing. The boy is the doctor’s son but the doctor is not the boy’s father. Who is the doctor?” “You have a fox, a chicken and a sack of grain. You must cross a river with only one of them at a time. If you leave the fox with the chicken, he will eat it. If you leave the chicken with the grain, he will eat it. How can you get all three across safely?” Wait 2-3 minutes to see if any of the students can figure out the answer before it’s given. Answers: The doctor is his mother. Take the chicken over first. Go back and bring the grain next, but instead of leaving the chicken with the grain, come back with the chicken. Leave the
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chicken on the first side and take the fox with you. Leave it on the other side with the grain. Finally, go back over and get the chicken and bring it over. Describe to the students brainteasers and riddles are meant to be difficult because one has to think differently than the obvious answer. Sometimes in life we have to be creative to make things work; not every problem is going to have a perfect answer and we may have to work to find the best one just like the river crossing riddle.
Activity III – Jenny’s Dilemma (15 minutes) Materials Needed: White board, markers Description: Read to the students the scenario of Jenny. “Jenny’s parents both have to leave for work before she has to be at school. Jenny lives 2.4 miles from the school and district rules state: students may be bussed if they live 2.5 miles or more from the school’s property line. What are some possible ways to solve Jenny’s problem of how to get to school?” The goal is to get 10 possible outcomes listed on the board as the students say them. If there are only a few answers on the board, give some examples, even if they are completely implausible. The key is to get the ball rolling. Examples: walk, ride her bike, go to school early, ask her parents to change jobs/schedules, teleport, carpool, drop out of school, change the time school starts, move, ask the district to change the rules, have a friend drive her. Ask the students why options like teleporting or dropping out of school wouldn’t work. Point out one wouldn’t work because there are not realistic machines that can successfully teleport human beings and the other would have severe negative consequences. Ask the students why you didn’t write down “complain about not having a ride to school.” Explain that complaining or acting out are reactions and not possible solutions.
Activity IV – Solutions Game (15 minutes)
Materials Needed: Lined paper, writing utensil, 3-4 ‘Smarties’ candies Description: Split the class into groups of 3-4 students. Each group will have one blank piece of paper. Tell the students they need to come up with as many possible solutions for a problem in 5 minutes as a group. The group with the most realistic answers wins! The winners will get ‘Smarties’ candies. However, if another group wrote the same answer, it doesn’t count and needs to be crossed off. Each group will shout out an answer until all answers
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have been vetoed (not realistic) or counted (realistic and no other group used it). Problem: There is a guy in your class who is always mean to you. He always bumps you when he walks by and he calls you names. He knocks stuff out of your hands and makes you feel stupid. You don't think you can take it anymore. What could you do? Problem 2 (optional): You forgot your lunch at home. What could you do?
Evaluation
Students can be evaluated on the cognitive objective if they were paying attention and answered the questions involved in activities 2 and 3. Students can be evaluated on the affective objective if they were straightforward in their answers during the activities or if they weren’t sure of themselves. Students were evaluated on the behavioral objective if they were participating in activity 4 where they were left to solve a problem on their own.
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Lesson II Goal Setting
Purpose To give students the specific steps they need to take in order to set and achieve goals.
Objectives
Cognitive: Students will know the difference between a long-term and short-term goal. Students will learn what a SMART goal is. Affective: Students will feel inspired to make changes by setting goals. Behavioral: Students will get the opportunity to implement a SMART goal.
Activity I – Letter To The Future (10 minutes)
Materials Needed: Paper, envelopes Description: Have each student write a letter to his or her future self. The time frame should be around 10 years from now. Have the students include specifics on where they think they will live, what they will be doing for work, kids or no kids, etc. Then have the students address the envelope with a ‘Do not open until date’ and seal their letters inside.
Activity II – SMART Goals (20 minutes) Materials Needed: “SMART Goals” handout, 5 poster boards (or large pieces of paper), markers Description: Print “SMART Goals” handout on cardstock and hole punch. Give each student a copy and briefly describe each section. Tell the students this handout is for them to keep and you highly recommend they put in somewhere (like in their class binder) they will see often and have easy access to. (5 min) Next, split the class into 5 groups. Each group will be assigned a step in the SMART goal. Tell the class their main goal is “To get best attendance record for the grade.” The students will then brainstorm and come up with their portion of the main goal and write it on their poster board. (10 min) Example: Specific will be “Every student will come to class and on time all quarter.” Measurable, “The goal will be kept track of with the daily roll taken at the beginning of class.” Attainable, “Each student will try his or her hardest to come to class on time unless sick or have an excused absence.”
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Reason, “Having a higher rate of attendance gives students a higher chance of success in the class and they won’t fall behind in class work.” Time-based, “At the end of each week there will be a chart posted of how many absences and tardies to see where they compare during the quarter.” Each group will present their poster and describe how they came to that conclusion. If any of the groups didn’t quite have a grasp of the correct answer, gently steer them with other suggestions. Hang each poster on the wall for all to see and tell them this is their goal until the end of the quarter. A prize will be given if they beat all other classes. (5 min)
Activity III – Long-Term Goal (15 minutes)
Materials Needed: Lined paper, writing utensil Description: Tell the students to think back to what they wrote in the ‘future letter’. Tell them to pick one thing they wrote down for themselves and make a SMART Goal for it. Discuss there are long-term and short-term goals. The attendance goal was more of a short-term goal, but now they will be writing steps to attain their long-term goal. Explain it is important to split up the long-term goals into shorter goals and make specific SMART goals for each of those. The target is to split their long-term goal into 3-4 separate short-term goals and then write a SMART goal that corresponds with each. Walk around the room and give help and encouragement as needed.
Evaluation Students can be evaluated on the cognitive objective by how well they listened and participated in the group activity. Students can be evaluated on the affective objective by how they acted during each activity and if they seemed to feel comfortable with the subject and working in groups and on their own. Students can be evaluated on the behavioral objective by watching how they participated in each activity and looking over their individual ‘SMART goal’ paper.
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Lesson III Time Management
Purpose To teach students better time management strategies.
Objectives
Cognitive: Students will understand the importance of time management. Affective: Students will feel confident in making schedules and managing other responsibilities. Behavioral: Students will implement their time management skills by making their own scheduled lists.
Activity I – Time Journal (5 minutes)
Materials Needed: The day before class, assign each student to write down everything they do and how long they do it for and bring it back to class the next day. Description: With the ‘time journal’ have each student write down which activity they did from longest time to shortest time. Ask them if they were surprised by what they discovered. Point out even the action of writing down what we do makes us more conscious and we may cut down the our TV time and increase our study time purely because we don’t want to look bad on paper.
Activity II – Time Management Worksheet (15 minutes) Materials Needed: “Time Management” worksheet, “Time Journal” Description: Now that the students know where they spend most of their time, have each student take his or her ‘time journal’ and use it to fill out the ‘Time Management’ worksheet.
Activity III – An Unbalanced Life (15 minutes) Materials Needed: “An Unbalanced Life” Worksheet Description: Have the students work in teams of 2-3 and complete the “An Unbalanced Life” worksheet.
Activity IV – Self-Assessment Posttest (10 minutes) Materials Needed: “The Balancing Act Quiz” worksheet Description: Print one quiz for each student, with the quiz on the front side and the ‘calculating your scores’ on the back side. Give each student the
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worksheet and have them complete it in class. Collect the quiz to be compared with their pretest scores. Open the class up for discussion and ask if they feel more equipped to handle situations on their own. Ask them if they do anything else that hasn’t already been discussed in order to stay on top of their responsibilities.
Evaluation Students can be evaluated on the cognitive objective by how well they do on the worksheets. Students can be evaluated on the affective objective by how they answered their questions during the follow up discussion and their attitude toward solving problems. Students can be evaluated on the behavioral objective by comparing the self-assessment pre and post scores.
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References & Resources
“101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving” by Arthur B VanGundy “101 Strategies to Teach Any Subject” by Mel Silberman Bad behavior and why it’s related to a lack of problem solving skills
http://www.empoweringparents.com/the-surprising-reason-for-bad-child-behavior.php Decision making/Problem solving with Teens
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/pdf/5301.pdf “Discovery Focus on Your Values and Accomplish Your Goals” by Franklin Quest “Early adolescents’ achievement goals, social status, and attitudes towards cooperation with
peers” http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:SPOE.0000018547.08294.b6#page-1
Facts about teens’ brains and development
https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/The-Teen-Brain-Behavior-Problem-Solving-and-Decision-Making-095.aspx
Problem solving scenarios
http://www.home-speech-home.com/problem-solving-scenarios.html Riddles
https://riddlesbrainteasers.com/fox-chicken-sack-grain/ SMART Goal handout
http://indulgy.com/post/mpSHIKIJE3/back-to-school-with-your-favorite-books-smar “Stress Management for Life” by Michael Olpin and Margie Hessen Teens are just as stressed as adults
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/02/teen-stress.aspx Time management and stress
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/stress-teens-psychological/5266739/
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Appendix
Lesson 1, Activity 1 & Lesson 3, Activity 4 ‘The Balancing Act Quiz’ ............................................................................. 14 Lesson 2, Activity 2 ‘SMART Goals’ handout .............................................................................. 16 Lesson 3, Activity 2 ‘Time Management’ worksheet .................................................................. 17 Lesson 3, Activity 3 ‘An Unbalanced Life’ worksheet ................................................................. 19
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Name: _______________________ Date: ___________________
The Balancing act quiz Always Sometimes Never 1. I am stressed.
___ ___ ___ 2. I am organized.
___ ___ ___ 3. I feel most of my life is
out of my hands.
___ ___ ___
4. I feel like I am a productive person.
___ ___ ___
5. I am easily frustrated if I don’t get my way.
___ ___ ___
6. I can balance my responsibilities.
___ ___ ___
7. I complain about negative situations.
___ ___ ___
8. I try to solve others’ problems.
___ ___ ___
9. I don’t set goals. ___ ___ ___
10. I make To-‐Do lists daily. ___ ___ ___
11. I don’t finish my To-‐Do lists.
___ ___ ___
12. I attain most of the goals I set.
___ ___ ___
13. I watch TV every day. ___ ___ ___
14. I set time aside to do something I WANT to do.
___ ___ ___
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Calculating Your Score
Even numbered questions: Always = 3 Sometimes = 2 Never = 1
Odd numbered questions:
Always = 1 Sometimes = 2 Never = 3
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Name: _________________________
Time Management ABC123 Priority List This time management method focuses on WHAT more than WHEN. This method is essentially a beefed-‐up To-‐Do list. To use this method:
1. List all the tasks you would like to accomplish. Remember to keep in mind all of your roles (student, friend, athlete, sister/brother, etc. to help remind you what your responsibilities are).
2. Prioritize this ‘To-‐Do” list by writing an “A” (for very important tasks that MUST be accomplished today-‐ urgent!) next to the task, a “B” (for tasks that would be nice if they were accomplished today-‐ semi urgent), or a “C” (for tasks that can be accomplished once everything else is done).
3. After each task belongs to a lettered category, look at all the tasks in the “A” priority list and assign them a numerical value starting with 1 being the most important. Do this with the remaining lettered categories.
Example Your Turn • Feed dog
• Basketball practice • Email Grandparents
• Clean room • Finish English paper
• Start History project • Catch up on The Walking
Dead
• Get hair cut • Buy new shorts
A1 Finish English paper A2 Feed dog A3 Basketball practice B1 Clean room B2 Get hair cute C1 Start History project (due in 3 wks) C2 Email Grandparents C3 Watch The Walking Dead C4 Buy new B-‐ball shorts
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Calendar/Schedule Now that you have a prioritized list of tasks, it’s time to make sure you have time for them during the day.
Daily Priorities Date:
Priorities (ABC123 List) Schedule 7:00
8:00
9:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
Tomorrow’s Priorities 5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00
10:00
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Name(s):____________________ ______________________________ ______________________________
An Unbalanced Life
Instructions: With a partner or small group, read the story about Sean and answer the following questions. Remember: problem-‐solving, goal setting and time management steps. Story: Sean is 15 years old. He is on the track team and has practice every Monday and Wednesday afternoon with meets on Saturday. Today is Wednesday and Sean is exhausted because he stayed up playing video games until midnight last night. Sean doesn’t do well during practice so his coach tells him to practice on his own Thursday after school so he can be ready for their meet on Saturday. Sean says he will and leaves to go home. On his way home, Sean walks by the elementary school to pick up his little sister and walks with her the rest of the way home. Sean’s little sister is very excited and chatty about something today but Sean isn’t paying attention. He is upset about doing so poorly at practice. When Sean gets home he throws his backpack on the floor and sits on the couch. He is still really tired from staying up so late. Sean dozes off while his sister turns on cartoons. An hour later, Sean wakes up by his mother asking if he fed the dog and did his homework. Sean snaps at his mom for interrupting his nap. He then remembers he has a big history project due on Friday and runs up to his room to start it. Ten minutes later Sean’s mom hollers for him to come to dinner and he gets upset because he feels like his mom doesn’t care about his homework load. They begin to argue about his ability to do all that he has on his plate and his mom threatens to make Sean quit the track team. Questions:
1. Why is Sean having such a hard time? What is the main problem?
2. What are some steps Sean should take be more productive?