Jocelyn Dumaresq

Dr. Devlin-Scherer

Instructional Theory

February 20, 2002

 

Direct Instruction Lesson

 

Topic: The Health Hazards of Smoking

 

Grade Level: 5th grade 

 

Curriculum Standard: In health, this lesson will meet Standard 2.3: All Students Will Learn The Physical, Mental, Emotional, And Social Effects Of The Use And Abuse Of Alcohol, Tobacco, And Other Drugs.  And in my field, this lesson will meet Standard 3.3: All Students Will Write In Clear, Concise, Organized Language That Varies In Content And Form For Different Audiences And Purposes; especially objective 4 that states: Write for a variety of purposes, such as to persuade, enjoy, entertain, learn, inform, record, respond to reading, and solve problems.  Besides these specific curriculum standards, the persuasive writing in my lesson is also a necessary skill for the GEPA test.

 

Anticipatory Set: Smoking is always a big issue in our society and the classroom I observe is practicing persuasive writing.  Therefore, I decided to focus on how students can convince people to stop smoking after being given the facts about its negative health effects.  I will begin with a very brief picture prompt of a healthy lung and a lung exposed to years of smoking.  After showing the healthy lung I will ask the students if they know what it is.  Then, I will show them the picture of the exposed lung and repeat the question.  Once the class correctly identifies or understands the images, I will explain that the purpose of today’s lesson is to teach them about the adverse effects of smoking on one’s health and what they can do to get people to quit.  (Less than 5 minutes.) 

 

Objectives: After completing the lesson, students will be able to: understand that smoking has negative health effects, recognize both serious effects and side effects of smoking (including numerous diseases), inform others of the negative effects and provide a convincing argument against smoking.

 

Input: Since some of the effects of smoking include difficult and complex diseases, I will provide the students with a one-page handout.  This handout will include serious effects, other effects, reasons to quit and a few hazardous chemicals.  See attached.

 

Modeling: After providing the class with the necessary material, I will present the information on the sheet.  This presentation will involve reviewing pronunciation and definitions of the diseases and chemicals while mentioning other important components of the health effects.  Many of the diseases like bronchitis and emphysema need to be more fully explained and not merely mentioned.  (Input and modeling should take about 10 minutes.)

 

Check for Understanding: Throughout my presentation of the material I will be checking to make sure that the students understand the implications of smoking on one’s health.  However, after I present the new material, I will then ask the students for personal stories about anyone they know or have heard of someone who has been ill because of smoking.  Then, I will ask if they know or have heard of anyone who has died because of a smoking related illness.  After they have shared their stories, I will ask them, “If you could talk to this person right now, what would you say to them about smoking?”  This will give me an opportunity to make sure that the students understand the negative effects of smoking while preparing their minds for persuasive writing. (About 5 to 10 minutes.)

 

Guided Practice: Once the students have grasped the main ideas, I will offer them a scenario: Jolene has just found out that she is about to have a baby!  But…she is a smoker.  Why is it important for her to stop smoking?  How would you convince her to stop?  I will ask the students to write a brief paragraph addressing these questions to be turned in by the end of class. (15 minutes to write the response.)

 

Independent Practice: By pointing out that we all should try to convince people not to smoke, my closing will set up independent practice.  This part of the lesson will be an overnight or two-day, creative assignment.  Before the students leave, I will ask them to design a “No Smoking Pamphlet” for homework, being as creative as possible.  (Construction paper, glitter, stickers, colored markers, etc.)  I will show them an example that I have created (see attached) and have them model their assignment after it.  The assignment will include the health effects of smoking and why these should make someone want to quit.  Hopefully, because of the creative nature of the assignment, the students will enjoy their work while practicing persuasive writing and learning about the effects of smoking.

 

Bibliography

Inaba, Darryl S. and William E. Cohen.  Uppers, Downers and All Arounders.  Fourth Ed. Ashland: CNS Publications, 2000.