Medium Post #2 — Teens & Alcohol

My second Medium Post is focussed on teenagers, and why they are so likely to start drinking alcohol at such a young age. The article states how teenagers start to drink in this time period of their life because they are curious, they want to take risks or impress their friends, or they have a certain personality that pertains to involving consumption of alcohol. I think this article is important to pay attention to and to share in my classroom with my students because I want them to know and realize how big of an impact has on them at this time in their life. I also want them to know that drinking is a choice, and not something they must do to fit in. I also want them to understand why some of their classmates may drink, and understand that most kids will at least try alcohol for the first time in their teenage years. So, I think this article would work well to share in a health class that I would teach to a 9th grade class of students.

In terms of connecting this article to my content area standards, this article would connect well to this standard:

Montana Health Education Standard 7.3 (Grades 9–12) — Discuss ways to advocate for a variety of behaviors to avoid or reduce health risks to self or others

This standard would work very well when it comes to using this article in a health class about alcohol. The reason it would work well is because in the class we want to understand why teenagers are so eager drink alcohol, and then this would lead to discussing ways that they can avoid drinking alcohol until they reach the legal age. Even if this is not the case, and students are going to try alcohol before the legal age, it will be important to teach them ways to be safe about it if they do it and how to keep others safe who may be consuming alcohol. So, this standard works very well with this article and lesson.

When reading this article in class for a lesson about alcohol, there are certain thought provoking questions that should be asked before and after the class reads the article. These questions would help the students think about the subject of alcohol and the real effect it has on kids in their age group. Four questions that would be great to ask are these:

1. Why do teenagers want to drink?
2. Are more teenagers scared to drink at a young age, or are more eager to try it?
3. Can drinking at young age lead to other health complications?
4. Are YOU worried that by not drinking that you will not fit in?

These questions will do a good job of helping teenagers think about alcohol in teenage culture and how big of an impact it really has on their lives and the other students they go to school with everyday.

I believe discussing this article and the topic it holds in the classroom would lead to a very discussion driven and knowledge enhancing lesson. The first thing I would do to teach it in my class is connect it to one of the 4 Grand Challenges of Education. The Grand Challenge I would connect this article to is this:

2. Understanding the American Experience

The reason I would connect the article to this Grand Challenge is because the consumption of alcohol is a big part of American life and experiences. It has become a big part of teenage culture as well in the last 60 years, and the influence alcohol has on teenage culture in America continues to grow with each year. So, I think this Grand Challenge works very well with this article and lesson. When teaching this article, I need to it to support my focus of Imaging. I also need to use a routine that supports the Grand Challenge and content area standard I have chosen.

This article would connect well to 3rd IEFA Essential Understanding, which focuses on Native American culture and spiritual beliefs. The reason this article connects with the essential understanding is because the abuse of alcohol and drugs have become a big part of American and Native American lifestyle and culture. It is a sad reality but it is the truth. I wanted to integrate this IEFA understanding because it has become a huge problem on reservations over the past few generations of Native Americans. So, with this article and the activity that comes with it, I also want to help teens on reservations and who are part of tribe to understand why people start drinking at a young age and how they can better keep themselves away from negative consequences of drinking and taking drugs.

To do this, the routine I have chosen from the ’50 Routines’ book is to have a class that involves Read-Write-Pair-Share. The students will read the article, write down the answers the thought-provoking questions, pair up with a partner to share their answers and thoughts, and then the whole class will have a discussion sharing their answers to the questions and other thoughts about the article. This article connects well to the focus of Imaging, because need to create images of why alcohol has such a big effect on teenage culture. It also connects well with the content standard because it involves discussion about how students will be able find ways to reduce or avoid health risks. Lastly, the activity works well with the Grand Challenge because the teenage drinking culture is a big part of American culture and experiences, so it will work well to discuss the effects it has. Overall, this article works well in a lesson like this and the activity will help students think and try to come up with real-world solutions.