Read through the entire curriculum and all teacher support for the curriculum before using HEAL:BCC in your class. This will give you an overview of the content and skills addressed, and the resources provided. You will also gain a sense of the rhythm and scope of the lessons in each unit and how different aspects of the curriculum interface with the learning goals of your students. The following notes provide explanations for some of the learning tools used throughout the curriculum.
Journal Pages: In each unit, there are activities on Journal Pages that support the content and goals of the lessons. This work can be kept in a separate binder to make up each student's Health Journal. By the end of the curriculum, students will have a collection of work that documents what they have learned and can be used as a reference for the future.
The web page version of all journal pages can be printed out for a student record. It is recommended that the student type in the appropriate spaces and interact with the page by clicking and selecting where necessary before printing a journal page. For instructions on printing journal pages please refer to the following web page: Printing Instructions (opens a new window).
NOTE: These journal pages are not designed to remember input and typing once they are left. Once a student leaves a journal page, his or her work will be erased and cannot be recovered. Please print out the page before leaving it.
Passport to Health and HEAL:BCC Word List: These resources are used throughout the curriculum and are designed to help learners review information and teach others what they have learned. Reproducible copies of these two booklets are found in the HEAL:BCC Teacher Support. Or, you may order booklets for each student. The HEAL:BCC Publications and order form are also found in the HEAL:BCC Teacher Support.
You will be asked to present learners with a complete copy of the HEAL:BCC Word List in Unit One. Pages of the Passport to Health can be copied as they come up in the curriculum. If you order booklets, pass these out to students in Unit One. Learners should be advised to bring these resources to every class.
Follow-Up Work: The units and lessons are designed to be taught sequentially. However, within this framework there is room for individual teacher choice. Lessons include optional follow-up activities. These activities are key to the depth and scope of the learning that students will experience. They extend learners' academic skills, their understanding of the health content and experiences in their respective communities. You decide which of these activities interface with the learning goals of your students.
Community Health Wall: Throughout the curriculum, there are references to the Community Health Wall. Ideally, each adult learning center will create a display area where students' work , along with posters and other display materials, can be shared with the larger school community.
ESOL Tips: In many of the lessons, there are ESOL Tips. These are suggestions and guidance for practitioners working with ESOL learners.
Technology Tips: Technology Tips are also offered at the end of each lesson. These tips provide ideas for integrating the use of the Internet into lessons and links to valuable health resources on the World Wide Web.
Cultural Notes: In the overviews for Units One, Two, and Three, there are Cultural Notes. They are meant to help teachers work constructively and inclusively with cultural and tradition based health-beliefs and responses.
Video: Taking Control of Your Health: The Pap Test and Cervical Cancer video is used in Unit Three. It comes with a viewing booklet. Please order your video as soon as possible. The National Cancer Institute has a limited number in stock. The video and booklet are free. Allow two weeks for delivery. To order call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit : https://cissecure.nci.nih.gov/ncipubs/details.asp?pid=169.
Beads for Life: The Beads for Life activity in Unit Three require different sized beads and stringing material. There are many free or low cost ways teachers can acquire these beads. Teachers have found beads at recycle centers. They have also successfully gathered donations from art and bead stores when they explain the purpose of the beads. See page 76 for an explanation of this activity and for the sizes of the beads needed.
Pre-GED Skills: An overview and matrix of pre-GED skills used in each lesson and how these lessons directly support pre-GED skill development is provided in the HEAL:BCC Teacher Support.