Medium Post #3 — Suicide

For my 3rd Medium Post, I have decided to focus it on the topic of suicide. This is a very sensitive topic to talk about in school, but I have a strong feeling that it should be discussed in all schools. The reason why is because students need to know the signs of it, and they need to understand the consequences of everyone’s actions and understand how certain events can lead to suicidal events. The article is talking about how suicide rates have skyrocketed in America, and how the very foundation of American society is creating this “crisis” in suicides across the nation. The author states how the numbers of suicides go up every year, and how people feel no worth in terms of their place in society and its functions. He finishes the article by saying we as a country need to find a way to fix society and its motives to where we are not bringing people down to their worst and instead motivating them to find more meaning in their lives.

In terms of connecting this article to a standard of my content area (PE & Health K-12), I would connect it directly to this standard:

Montana Health Education Standard 2.1 B (Grades 6–8) — Explain how the perception of societal norms influence healthy and unhealthy behaviors

This standard will work well with this article because it focuses on society and its actions, and how it has created a big impact on the topic of suicide. It will even help focus on how society itself has caused to move so many people to such a dark place and act out in unsafe ways. It will also work well with the article because it can help the students focus on how they can help fix societal norms to where people do not feel so much pressure and stress in everyday actions to where they will cause themselves harm in any way possible.

In terms of this article connecting to a Grand Challenge of Education, it would of course connect to this grand challenge:

#2 — Understanding the American Experience

The reason this article works well with this standard is because suicide has become a big issue in the American experience and culture. People are stressed to the max these days with work and exceeding expectations and it is getting hard to handle. The biggest problem of all is the bullying problem we have in most schools, which causes kids to back themselves into a dark corner. American culture has allowed itself to manifest to the point where suicide is a normal thing. It has also allowed certain features of everyday life in America to become so overwhelming to the point where people are starting to break emotionally, physically and mentally to where they cannot handle it anymore. So, this article and its content will connect very well with the Grand Challenge.

If I were to teach about the article and what it is trying to teach, there would a certain plan I would use. My focus I am using in class is to create an Image. So, I want to create an image of what society is doing with the topic of suicide, and by the end of the class I want my students to create an image where society can help solve the crisis that is suicide. For the activity, I would use the routine from the “50 Routines” book known as Response Writing. This is where I would have the students write their response to what they have read, before and after they have read the article. To do this activity, I would need some questions that would help lead this activity. The questions I would ask are these:

Before Questions:

1. What is suicide?
2. Do you know some of the signs of someone who is depressed and might have suicidal tendencies?

After Questions:

1. What has society done or allowed to where the suicide crisis has become so bad?
2. How will you help society fix this suicide crisis?

The students will answer the before questions on a piece of paper. Then they will read the article about how American society has let this suicide crisis escalate to a big problem. After they have read the article, they will then do the response writing portion of the lesson, by completing the after questions. I believe that this whole lesson will do a great job of connecting to the American Culture Grand Challenge and the Educational Standard I have chosen. The reason why I believe it will work well is because as a class we will identify how American society has let suicide become such an issue, and then we will use to the educational standard to understand the problems and then fix it. The activity will work best by using response writing. The reason why is because I want the students to think about the topic and content, and then write their response to the point where they are sharing their true solution to this suicide crisis in America. Overall, I think this article will work well in one of my health classes.