Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.2A Grade 6 CPI 3

 

Standard: 2.2 - Integrated Skills

 

Strand: A -   Communication 

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 3 - The student will demonstrate and evaluate the effective use of communication skills, including refusal, negotiation, and assertiveness.

 

Grade: 6

 

Framework Activities:

 

·        SAY NO AND MEAN IT! - Divide the class into several small groups. Give each group a situation that requires refusal skills and assertiveness (e.g., being offered a cigarette, a friend asking you to cheat on a test). Provide each group with a handout that outlines ways to say no and mean it (see box below). Each group develops refusal strategies using each tip from the handout and then presents its ideas to the class.

 

      SAY NO AND MEAN IT!
1. Avoid the offer.
-        Don’t put yourself in a position to be pressured.
2. Escape the offer.
-         Just walk away.
-        Give an excuse.
-        Give the person the cold shoulder.
3. Refuse the offer.
-         Simply reject the idea.
-        State your position.
-        State the consequences.
-        Be a broken record.
-        Hang out with kids who don’t want to be pressured. There is strength in numbers.
-        Reverse the pressure.
-        Become an activist—explain why you won’t participate.
-        Suggest something else to do.

Variation: Provide students with a situation that requires the use of refusal skills. Using each of the refusal techniques, students write a response and share the response with classmates.

 

·        SKILL PRACTICE: RESISTANCE AND REFUSAL - There may be times when an unexpected situation involving alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs may arise. This activity helps prepare students for such situations by giving them a chance to think about the potential problems related to a situation, to predict the effects of the substance involved, and to apply effective resistance strategies. In small groups, students complete an open-ended scenario using effective resistance strategies. Students identify and analyze the potential risks in each situation, make predictions, and then write the story or script. Students present the story and receive feedback on the effective use of resistance skills. Sample scenarios might include the following:
-        You are invited to your best friend’s house. Your friend’s parents are not home. He/she knows where his/her brother hides the “stuff” and dares you to try some.
-        Your friend invited you to go to the mall. When your friend’s parents come to pick you up, it is obvious that they have been drinking rather heavily.
-        You have been invited to your first “party.” When you get there, you realize that the parents have supplied the kids with plenty of beer and many of your friends are drinking.

 

·        PEER PRESSURE - A peer educator reads the following monologue to the class: “I’m at my first real party. The lights are low, the chaperones are upstairs watching TV, and the party-goers want to play a game. I was afraid this was going to happen. I’ve heard about some of these games. But I really want to be invited to more parties, so let’s see what happens. Well, the game begins and just as I thought, guys and girls are pairing off and going
into a closet to play the game. Actually, they go into the closet and take off some of their clothes while they are making out. Well, not only do I feel weird about taking off my clothes, I’m not real experienced in the making out department. Did I hear someone call my name? Where can I hide? I really don’t want to do this but...”

Peer educators discuss the scenario with small groups of students, using the following questions to frame discussion:
-        What is happening in the story?

      -        Why did the character go to the party?
-        What is the role of peer pressure?
-        Why does the character feel uncomfortable?
-         How can the character say no to the game and save face with his/her friends?

After discussion, each group creates a role-play ending for the scenario that illustrates strategies to say no. Each group performs its role-play and the class votes on the best ending.

Variation: Students write a conclusion to the story that illustrates ways to make a positive health decision.