To explore the idea of good health and the ways learners define good health, maintain their health, and think about health. To set a tone of sharing and trust among learners in anticipation of the challenges of talking about cancer in Units Two and Three. To begin the creation of the Community Health Wall. To introduce learners to the Passport to Health as a resource tool for the curriculum and for maintaining good health for them and their families.
1. Give each student three 3x5 cards. On the board, write the sentence "Good health is__________ ." Invite students to think of themselves and their families and children when answering the following questions:
What is good health?
What do you do to stay healthy?
How do you make sure that your children are healthy?
How do you make sure that you are healthy?
Then ask each student to complete the above sentence on three different cards. (You should also fill in three cards.)
2. When the students are done, invite them to share their answers. Write their responses in a cluster diagram on a large piece of newsprint. You will be clustering similar responses to create categories that students can review and identify at the end of the lesson. (You can ask students to copy the diagram and take notes on the Good Health Map Journal Page as the discussion proceeds, or, if more appropriate, students can copy the completed diagram at the end of the discussion.)
3. Extend the discussion by asking clarifying questions. For example, if someone says good health is taking a walk every day, ask: In what ways does taking a walk help with your health? Or if someone says good health is eating good foods, ask: What kinds of foods? Why? (Special note: Although nutrition is important to discuss, keep in mind that it is not the focus of this curriculum.)
4. Review the diagram. Ask each student what is similar about
the ideas in each group. Examples of categories are:
personal habits/lifestyle (eating, sleeping, safe sex);
nutrition (good food, fruits, vegetables, vitamins);
professional services (visit my doctor or dentist); spiritual
(go to church, pray); community (a clean environment).
This is an example of how a Good Health Map might look.
5. Pass out a Passport to Health to each learner. Explain that the group will be using this book throughout the curriculum. Explain that they will see many of the ideas that they just discussed about good health in pages 1-10. Read aloud the title of each of the pages from 1-10. (Students can take turns in the reading aloud.) Give the students about 5-10 minutes to look over these pages. Ask them to think about these questions: What was similar about the information in the book and their discussion? What was different? What, if any, information surprised them? Ask students to share their observations. Add to the good health diagram as needed.
Learners can use their notes from the class discussion and the Passport to Health to help them with this writing project. Invite students to write a paragraph about what they do in their lives to stay healthy. Use the Staying Healthy Paragraph Journal Page for the first draft. See the Good Health is a Good Life by Ranka Cetic Journal Page for an example of a student's work developed from the activity. You could also write a paragraph.
The writing journal paragraph can be developed into a final draft. Each paragraph can be word-processed and a photo of each learner can accompany the finished product.
Final drafts with accompanying photos can be displayed on the Community Health Wall. These photos help to animate the stories and draw readers in the school community to the Community Health Wall. Invite students from other classes to think about and respond to the question: What do you do to stay healthy?
Use the Passport to Health pages 1-10. Encourage learners to read these pages at their own pace at home.
An alternative suggestion for beginning the activity in step 2 is to use visual prompts. To stimulate discussion about good health, use photos of people in various settings that exhibit healthy and unhealthy behavior or situations. This could be especially useful with an ESOL group that has difficult generating vocabulary independently.
Imported images from a digital camera or computer disk can add great visuals to Staying Healthy paragraphs. Photos of learners can draw readers to stories when they are displayed on the Community Health Wall.
You may also want to look at the SABES Health Web site for links to health materials developed by learners. Available at: http://www.sabes.org/health/index.htm