The HEAL:BCC Curriculum is designed as a series of lessons divided into four units. The lessons are designed to build one upon the other so that learners and teachers arrive at sensitive points ready to share and deal with not only the facts but with the emotional and personal experiences associated with illness and health. As a whole, the curriculum guides teachers and learners toward a deeper understanding of health in general and breast and cervical cancer early detection and screening specifically. The curriculum is designed to engage learners in what they think, know, and feel, and from there build their knowledge and skills.
The curriculum explores many questions. For example:
The "answers" for these questions and others are explored through a variety of learning activities. Activities such as maintaining a Health Journal , brainstorming and word mapping, vocabulary development, reading, paragraph writing, viewing videos, beading, test taking, and oral presentations call on learners to use an array of learning strategies to build their literacy skills and knowledge.
Throughout the curriculum, there are opportunities for learners to ask their questions and explore their knowledge with family, friends and health educators. For example, there are follow-up assignments that ask teachers and learners to interview family or friends, to gather resources from their health clinics, and to display work on a Community Health Wall in their learning center. A health educator presentation provides learners with an opportunity to use their knowledge to listen, understand, ask questions, and talk about these health issues with an "expert".
The curriculum culminates with projects that call on learners to use what they have learned to teach others. Just as the curriculum builds on what adult learners already know, it also builds on the many roles that they play in their lives. Indeed, many of the joys and challenges of teaching adult learners come from the complex nature of who they are in the world. Their roles as parents, workers, community members, and church members often call on them to pass on knowledge and in fact "teach" others. The role of "teacher" can be a natural one for the adult learner. The culminating projects offer different ways for learners to become teachers.
The cancer facts and screening methods discussed in this curriculum are based in established Western medical practices. Breast and cervical cancer early detection and screening is advocated through this work. When cervical cancer is detected in its early stages, it is almost 100 percent curable, and breast cancer survival rates increase dramatically when detection and treatment begin in the early stages of disease.
However, this curriculum recognizes that health beliefs and practices are intertwined intimately with cultural and familial traditions. Opportunities to explore personal health beliefs and practices occur throughout the lessons. The strength of this curriculum is that it raises questions, explores what learners already believe and know and presents new information and choices. As teachers move through this material with learners it is important to continue asking questions such as: What are your beliefs about how to stay healthy? Where do those beliefs come from? What are your health practices? In this way the dialogue will be more open and richer, and the possibilities for change in health habits and attitudes increase. For how does change occur? Usually it occurs through exposure to new ideas, through dialogue, over time, with support, and in the context of one's family or community. Through learners' experiences with this curriculum, we hope that they make changes in their lives that help them stay healthy.
Working with health issues in the adult education classroom provides opportunities for rich cross-cultural exchange and discussion. The curriculum guides teachers in creating this kind of dialogue. In each unit overview, there are cultural notes that help teachers address, observe, and anticipate culturally-based health concerns or practices.
This curriculum was designed specifically for use in adult learning centers with learners at the pre-GED and high intermediate/advanced ESOL level. The assignments and activities in each lesson focus on academic skills that learners are developing at these levels. There are ESOL Tips at the end of lessons that will guide teachers in adaptations or considerations you may need to make for an ESOL population. We also recognize that you are in a position where you must make choices. The adult education classroom is a fluid, seemingly ever-changing environment. Given the demands of the adult learners' lives, learners may come and go. Given adult life experiences, learners bring a wide range of skills to any particular class. Therefore, level of skill within one class may be widely disparate. Most adult educators learn quickly to find ways to fit a curriculum to their learners' educational needs and goals instead of fitting their learners into a curriculum. This talent will be invaluable when using this curriculum. Reading through the whole curriculum before using it will give you a sense of the rhythm and scope of the lessons in each unit. You can evaluate how different aspects of the curriculum interface with the learning goals and educational skills of your students and then make choices and adaptations when necessary.
The adult education classroom can develop into a trusting caring place where learners share not only their academic growth but their personal growth as well. Education about health issues thrives in this kind of environment. However, even when trust does exist and communication flows in the classroom, teachers have expressed apprehension about addressing such a sensitive and weighty topic in the classroom. In fact, just the title of this curriculum provokes many questions for teachers: Will students respond positively to this material? Will they learn the academic skills they need? How can I prepare myself to teach such sensitive content? What about the men in my class? Does it work? And more...
The HEAL:BCC Teacher Support for this curriculum is bound separately to make it easier for you to review and copy. In the HEAL:BCC Teacher Support you will find materials you will need to teach the curriculum as well as materials that will help you in preparation. There are several articles and resources to help you think through some of the questions you might have and feel more prepared to work with the material. The What Difference Does it Make? interview with a HEAL:BCC teacher and the It's Not An Earache That I Have article talk about the challenges and successes of doing this work in the ABE and ESOL classroom. The Why Teach Health? article gives insight into the role of health-based curriculum in the adult learning community and in the lives of adult learners. There is also a guide to how the HEAL:BCC Curriculum can work in the pre-GED classroom. An annotated bibliography for Finding Resources and Materials and the HEAL:BCC Publications and order form provide additional support. You can also find these and other support materials on the HEAL:BCC Web site at: http://www.worlded.org/us/health/heal.
There is one additional resource you should investigate before beginning this curriculum in your class. The curriculum advocates for screening and early detection of breast and cervical cancer. Participants in many adult learning centers have limited health care access. However, in most communities there are free or low-cost screening sites for both breast and cervical cancer. In the HEAL:BCC Teacher Support is a list of Breast and Cervical Cancer Organizations and Contacts that includes toll-free numbers to call for help in finding sites in your local area. A health educator in a local hospital or clinic can be a resource for this information as well. Teachers should be prepared to share this information with learners.
Utilizing these resources can help you feel more prepared to bring this curriculum into your classroom. However, the curriculum does not require that you know everything about these health issues before beginning. In fact, practitioners have found that they too have learned more in the process of teaching the HEAL:BCC Curriculum. Indeed, one of the joys of teaching is learning. An open mind and an open heart are a key aspect to the preparation for teaching this curriculum.