"I Can't Breathe" Pam Laffin Video: Streaming on Vimeo

During my later elementary school and early middle school years, I remember seeing many anti-smoking advertisements sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The advertisements that I remember the most focused on a local woman named Pam Laffin. Pam was in her late twenties and suffered from emphysema. The advertisements were more graphic in nature than other advertisements I had seen, and I'm sure the DPH wanted to hit viewers with emotional advertisements.

If you know me as a teacher or have seen some past posts of mine, you know that I am not a fan of showing videos in a health education classrooms. I feel that videos are too often used as a cop-out by teachers who have no health education experience, or that they are not used appropriately. I do use a handful of video clips in class, but I only show two or three videos that could be considered somewhere close to a full length class period. Videos CAN be used appropriately, and the students sometimes enjoy them, but as I am shifting to a more skills-based classroom I don't see the need. Plus, it's not as fun as actual teaching!

One of the videos that I do show is an MTV True Life Episode entitled, "I Can't Breathe." "I Can't Breathe" was produced by MTV with assistance from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and documents Pam Laffin's experience with cigarette smoking and the negative health effects (cumulating with emphysema and a failed lung transplant) she dealt with. The video is short and to the point, and I use it to tie together the previous lessons we dealing with tobacco: smoking's effects on the body and the straw walk. The video is only twenty minutes long, but by using my go-to video viewing protocol (Record, Elaborate, Extend) as well as answering the numerous student questions that come up, this takes the full 53 minute class period.

I will say that some students will find this video a little graphic. They compare a healthy lung to a smoker's lung on an autopsy table, and the lungs are cut into to be examined. There are also some clips of Pam's lung transplant surgery. I know where these points are and give the students warning before they come up. 

You can stream "I Can't Breathe" directly from Vimeo. My district blocks YouTube and for some reason Vimeo is not blocked. Please note that I am not sure how that video is posted there or the copyright laws it may be violating. All I know is that this video has been effective in my classroom and you may find it effective in yours.

Here is a link to "I Can't Breathe" on Vimeo. Here is another link to the video viewing protocol I use for the few videos I do show.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Using Music In Health Class, Part One: Rise Against's "Make It Stop"

Part One in a series detailing how I am using (or plan on using) music in my middle school health education classroom.

Music is a powerful force that many teenagers can find connections with. Music is a large part of their lives, and teenagers are constantly plugged into their iPods or on YouTube, listening away; music can be interpreted in as many ways as there are people. It also has the ability to influence us, in ways positive and negative.

Last school year, I experimented with a part homework, part classwork activity that involved analyzing song lyrics relating to sexuality. The eighth grade students I completed this assignment with really enjoyed it; it was not difficult for them to find songs dealing with sexuality related topics or issues: love, breaking up, cheating, stereotypes, sexual violence, sexuality, gender issues, sexism, body image, etc. Songs came from many genres, some were parodies and some were serious. The details about this assignment are not to point of this post, but rather to highlight one band's song that is tackling a big issue facing American teenagers.


DISCLAIMER: I wouldn't call myself a "fan" fan of Rise Against, but I do enjoy a lot of their music. I used to listen to "Broken English" in college during my warm-up runs before races. I am in no way affiliated with them, just trying to spread the word about a positive thing: choosing to speak up about an issue many are ignoring.

Earlier this summer, the punk rock band Rise Against released a new song and music video that takes a stand against homophobia, and the song is also part of the nationally known It Gets Better campaign. The song is entitled, "Make It Stop (September's Children)" and was written during the influx of gay and gay-perceived teenagers committing suicide in September of 2010. Rise Against has always been into activism of any sort (they've been known to tackle political issues in their songs), and in that way, this song is no different from many of their other songs. MTV interviewed frontman Tyler McIlrath earlier this summer, and the video is meant to showcase Tyler's frustrations that so many teenagers across the country, from all sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, races, etc. don't feel accepted at school.

I'm not entirely sure how I would use this in my classroom, but I do know that in order for students to fully understand with what they're learning, they have to be able to make a connection with it. This music video may be one such avenue with which to do so; as I mentioned before, music plays a large part in the lives of many teenagers. Whether the goal of music is to entertain or serve as a form of social protest doesn't matter, it can still help change the way people act. This video easily fits into numerous health topics. Hopefully, more bands, singers, performers, actors, athletes, and others who serve as role models for teenagers will begin to address issues like Rise Against has. As a teacher, it is part of my job to bring awareness to these issues, to begin those types of conversations, and to provide opportunities for tolerance within my classroom, hopefully extending out into the world.

The video is embedded below. Please be aware that some people may find it fairly intense. Be sure to check out the It Gets Better Project, too.

Great Video!

I haven't been posting here as much recently, mainly due to balancing graduate classes with teaching. I've also been busy blogging away with my friend Matt about our Sugar Challenge. Please check that out and spread the word about our challenge, too!

I saw a video today that I absolutely have to post here. Please pass on this video to everyone you know! I'm going to post about it on our Sugar Challenge blog, too. The video speaks for itself! I stumbled upon this after viewing the webpage of a physical education teacher from California. I began following him on Twitter after finding a list of teachers, grouped by subject, who have Twitter accounts. Twitter has been a great resource for me to gain information from teachers and health advocates from all over the country!

I do have some posts in the works for the next week or two, so check back soon!

Jack LaLanne Videos

A few days ago, I was saddened to hear about the passing of a true American legend, Jack LaLanne. Jack LaLanne was a man far head of his time, teaching Americans about the importance of exercise and good nutrition long before it was medically accepted that both were vital for good health. I am a proud owner of his PowerJuicer, although unfortunately I haven't used it recently.

Last year, I found some videos on YouTube of Jack's television show from the 1950s-1960s. I threw some on a CD and kept it in my classroom, in case I had a class that was ahead of another or found some extra time at the end of a lesson. I showed some clips to a few classes and explained what Jack was all about. Today I showed a clip from Jack's TV show to some seventh graders, and three of them started doing the chair exercises Jack was doing, in the middle of health class!! I told one of them that he could be the next Jack LaLanne if he wanted to be.

I've embedded a few Jack LaLanne videos from YouTube below. I may make a webquest for my students as well. Please pass on Jack's wisdom, knowledge, and dedication to your students. The next Jack LaLanne is out there, and that student may be in your classroom!!

Video Viewing Activity: "Record, Elaborate, Extend"

I'm sure that I've mentioned somewhere in an earlier post that I'm not the biggest fan of using videos extensively in my classroom. I feel that there are too many other ways to effectively teach students health education that encourage them to be active, as opposed to passive, in their education. Unfortunately, in some districts health education is thrust upon teachers who are not trained or who have no interest in teaching health; this has led to health education being stereotyped as a class where videos are shown and nothing else really goes on. This is not to say that videos should be banned from the classroom! I do use short video clips whenever I can, to bring a different element to the classroom. In the May/June 2010 issue of the American Journal of Health Education, there's an article about using video clips in a health literacy program and their implication for providing context for classroom topics. I rarely show full length videos, but find that video clips can help stimulate discussion about topics, among other things.

In the situations where I do show actual videos, I don't want the students to sit there idly and fall asleep; nor do I want them to simply write down "facts" as they watch. After all, there is a point to the video! I want them to take specific information away from their viewing, and to expand upon this information later in class or during our unit. Recently during our seventh grade ATOD unit, I showed an eighteen minute video called, "Spit Tobacco Exposed." It's a little dated, from the era when green screens and flashy graphics were popular, but the content is accurate and is presented in a way that gets the attention of students. It also reviews some other information we will have already covered regarding tobacco and nicotine, so I'm able to get some review in while also presenting new content. The rest of the lesson builds off of this video.

Prior to the video, each student received a handout with a chart on it. The chart was entitled, "Record, Elaborate, and Extend." (Please see below for an embedded version of the chart) I came upon this idea from a colleague in the social studies department, who read about it in Educational Leadership. The article, entitled "Putting Gel Pen to Paper" is written by a seventh grade history teacher. The article's premise is that students can improve their writing skills while enhancing their understanding of course content.

Because the video I showed was brief (and only part of the lesson for the day) I didn't really need to focus too much on what I wanted the students to look for. But, if you look at the handout embedded below, you'll see I did highlight specific information I wanted the students to pick up on. Some students recognized the format and knew immediately what to do because they had seen this format elsewhere with other teachers. I model what to do using the Boston Red Sox as an example.

Below is a brief summary of the chart, with some information quoted from page 65 of the article "Putting Gel Pen to Paper." After the summary of each section, I've written what I specifically was looking for for this lesson.

Record (during video). "While they view the video, students jot down key points and significant ideas in the Record section of their viewing guide. Students should keep their points brief, recording only short phrases, because the process of transcribing should interfere as little as possible with the process of watching and listening." Record brief notes and short phrases on smokeless tobacco: what it is, its effects on the body, why people do it, negative health effects, etc.

Elaborate (during break or breaks). "The teacher pauses the video to allow students to process the information they have seen and heard. Students examine their recorded notes and write a specified number of full sentences in the Elaborate section of their viewing guide that describe what they have learned. Teachers may use sentence stems to help students start writing." Re-read your recorded notes. Write full sentences, making sense of the recorded notes and linking information together. Please note that because of the short length of this video, we did not pause at all. However, the video does provide an opportunity to pause for discussion towards the end; I just choose to wait until the video is over.

Extend (after the video). "The entire class discusses the elaborated points. Students can then respond to an open-ended question in the Extend section of their viewing guides, synthesizing what they have learned from the video." Use your notes to answer the following prompts: (1) Identify three ways smokeless tobacco could alter your life. (2) Justify the need for smokeless tobacco education in schools. For the next round of classes, I am going to change these questions.

Overall, I like using this format; it also allows students to practice note taking skills. They're not sitting back passively, focusing so much on the next question that they drown other information out, and they're not just writing down random facts and tidbits information that might not have relevance to the curriculum. It also ensures one hundred percent student participation. I have not yet had to modify this for any students in my classes, but the format can be made as specific as possible and is easy to modify.

It's also important to highlight that during the video, the students should only record brief phrases, so that they don't spend a lot of time away from paying attention to the video. It's fun to see the light bulbs go off when students link information together and make connections, too!

I've embedded an example of the chart I use below. Finally, here are two student examples from one of my seventh grade classes. These examples are not perfect (I had to clarify some items when I handed them back), but they are real-life student examples from a seventh grade class. If anything, they simply provide a visual of the "Record, Elaborate, Extend" format in action.

Student Sample #1:

Student Example #1

Student Sample #2:

Student Example #2

Here is the example chart:

As always, please feel free to e-mail me with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Article Citation: Yell, M.M. (2002). Putting gel pen to paper.Educational Leadership, 60(3), 63-66.


Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with HRM Video, the creators of "Spit Tobacco Exposed" nor am I affiliated with ASCD, the publishers of Educational Leadership. However, their publication is a GREAT resource that teachers can always take something from!

No One Should Feel Alone: Ellen's Reaction

Last week, Ellen DeGeneres spoke out about the recent bullying related suicides of gay teenagers. While not a resource (those posts are coming up later), Ellen's message is brief and heartfelt. It can definitely be shown in the classroom to stimulate discussion about all that has gone on in the past few weeks.

Please watch the video below:

Back to School!

Today is the first day of middle school for the 2010-2011 school year! A new schedule, some slight modifications to our curriculum, and a new batch of sixth graders will all be entering HRMS this year. I'm excited to try out some new ideas in my classroom and will continue to share my journey with all of you.

Today, I'm rockin' the French cuffs and cuff links, and I'll probably be standing on a few desks throughout the day. All in a day's work, I say!

BU Professor and Dean Discuss School Lunch

While checking Facebook tonight I came upon a link provided by the Boston University School of Education, where I am a part-time graduate student. The link contained a video of Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietitian and professor at BU, and Hardin Coleman, the Dean of the School of Education, engaging in a dialogue about healthy school lunches.

The commentary covers a lot of angles relating to the loaded topic of school lunches. We need colleges and universities to help tackle this issue, because their graduates can hit this from so many directions: from within schools as educators, in the government as policy makers, in labs conducting research, or through helping people in any field such as personal training, etc. Many points mentioned are right on, especially the factors of not eating breakfast (and its effects on how students behave and learn...I'm amazed at how many kids complain about being hungry during the day) and the rushing of the school lunch block. I was impressed with Dean Coleman's knowledge of the shift in physical education curricula, too!

Check it out below!

One Week Left...

One week from today, middle school officially starts up again. Today and tomorrow I'm participating in professional development with some colleagues, and every teacher reports for duty on Tuesday. I've started to set up my classroom again and I'm eager for the year to start!

As the beginning of a new year approaches, I wanted to post a scene from one of my favorite movies. I'm sure some of you will recognize it. A "School Year in Review" post will come before the end of the summer.

Enjoy!

HIV/AIDS: Using "Dispatch: Zimbabwe" in HIV/AIDS Unit

One of my favorite units to teach is the HIV/AIDS and other STDs unit that is in our eighth grade health curriculum. I often supplement material contained in our curriculum with material from outside sources, because I find it a fascinating topic with so many things to bring to the classroom and add to the experiences of my students. I could spend the whole trimester on this one topic! The transmission simulation activity is perhaps the favorite in the eyes of my students, but I enjoy trying to get my students to see the big (global) picture with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Last year I used two video resources during this unit, one from PBS Frontline which I use to show short clips about the beginning of HIV/AIDS.

The second resource comes from one of my favorite bands, Dispatch. Although the three members no longer play together, the band's impact is still felt throughout the way in which they reach out, globally, to help those less fortunate than them. Dispatch is huge on advocacy work, and the members frequently travel to other countries in order to help others.

In 2007, Dispatch reunited for a three performance stint at Madison Square Garden, and sold out each night. The benefit concerts, entitled "Dispatch: Zimbabwe" were designed to raise money to fight famine, disease, and charities in Zimbabwe. During the concert (and on the DVD of the concert) Dispatch created small vignettes about a variety of topics. One is entitled, "Health."

The "Health" vignette focuses on HIV/AIDS and its impact on a man named Eria. The five minute clip provides a nice introduction to the global issues of HIV/AIDS, although it does focus on how it is affecting Zimbabwe. I use it as an introduction to a class discussion on the global impact of the disease, in which I use some maps from organizations that are trying to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

I've embedded the video below.

PBS Frontline in the Classroom

I'm not a big fan of using videos in health class. Even if I did use them a lot, I wouldn't have enough time in 45 minutes to use a decent full-length video, and would never dare to take up multiple classes unless the video was REALLY good. I do use video clips in a variety of ways, especially if I can find one that's up to five minutes long and can introduce a topic, reinforce a point, or tie together loose ends during a lesson.

In order to use video clips, I use a Firefox add-on to download YouTube videos. I can't access YouTube at school, so I make sure to get the leg work done at home. However, sometimes I find a longer clip that begs to be shown, and sometimes this happens to be streaming online.

Enter PBS Frontline. I used this last year during a unit on advertising (using resources and clips from The Persuaders) and I just recently showed some clips as part of our ongoing unit on HIV/AIDS Education. I used parts of two clips, about twenty minutes total, in some of our past classes. The episodes can be viewed online in segments, eliminating the need to download any videos. The segments break up longer episodes, making it easier to pause and ask questions/refocus students during segments.

Frontline contains episodes about a myriad of topics, and the collection of episodes on their website is extensive. If you click on the "Watch Online" link, there are consistent episodes going back to 2003, with a few select episodes going back to the 1980s. A great advantage of using Frontline clips/episodes is the extensive amount of extra material accompanying each topic. Interviews, timelines, maps, charts, articles, etc are all provided. These resources can prove to be a huge asset when trying to supplement curriculum material or expand upon information on a higher level. I highly suggest you try using clips from Frontline in your classroom!

If I do use longer videos in class, I have a specific exercise students complete as the video plays. I'll be sure to post that soon. As always, please e-mail me with any questions, comments, or concerns.

School Lunches: The Saga Continues...

Ah, school lunches. All of a sudden, everyone is talking about them. I'm starting nutrition with my sixth graders this week, so I'll post how I'm incorporating this into our curriculum at a later date. For now, I'm pretty positive that school lunch is the teenage pregnancy of 2010, as far as hot health topics go. And while there was a lot of hype in in 08-09 about teenage pregnancy (specifically after what happened in Gloucester) it seems like the dialogue on that issue has faded. It did resurface a little bit during the health care debate, but the media let that fade too. Now, something new has surfaced.

School nutrition is even appearing in commercials! The American Beverage Association recently aired a commercial patting themselves on the back for eliminating full calorie soft drinks from schools across the country. Full calorie soft drinks? Are people still really concerned only with calories? What about sugar? What about high fructose corn syrup? Why should we be satisfied with less-calorie drinks in our schools when they are still serving drinks loaded with other junk?!? I laughed at this commercial. Way to go, corporate America.

And now, the media blitz of our new hot topic. I've posted on this before, and I'm not the only one. Mrs. Q is chronicling her experience eating only school lunches on her blog, Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do! Then there are the countless news articles that have appeared recently. USA Today has an ongoing section on school lunch safety, which is eye opening in itself: many cafeterias are not passing health and safety inspections, food of a poor quality is making its way onto the trays of students, etc. This week an article appeared in the Boston Globe about struggling families and their reliance on school lunches. This effect is two fold: one being on the students eating the lunches, and two being on the districts who have to serve them without a reimbursement rate that is inadequate. For a comprehensive round up of what's going on in the news relating to school lunches, check out the school lunch roundup posted on Mrs. Q's blog by Brandon Smith.

Because my blog is rather young, there have only been a few posts about school lunches. This will definitely be an ongoing discussion (I have more posts in draft mode) and I hope this conversation continues. It's being hit from many angles: the First Lady, Jamie Oliver, national newspapers, and young, blogging teachers, to name a few.

There seems to be a general outrage about nutrition, but not much is being done. We can watch Jamie Oliver (I have to catch up on Hulu) all we want, but will we join him? While getting a conversation started is the first step (and a critical one!), action is what is needed. What can concerned parents do in their own communities? Here's my own list that I created, as someone with no expert experience in this type of situations. This is only from my head, and I thought about it over the last day or so. Let me know what you think! Here it is:

1. Organize. A group of fired up parents can do a lot to get something within school districts changed! If you do not like what your child is being served, find others who feel the same way you do. Talk with the administrators and teachers in your district. Most principals I know will at least hear you out, even if they can't (for whatever reason: money, etc) change anything immediately. Plan some meetings, get together, and make a game plan. It's better to have too many ideas than none at all!

2. Connect. Connect with local school officials. Tell them you want to work with them, not against them, in helping create more healthy meals for the student body, aka your kids. Reach out to local community organizations: garden clubs, health departments, community coalitions, etc. Nothing around like that? Start one! Social media has made it very simple to connect with others through e-mail, Twitter, Facebook group/fan pages, etc. There's no need to reinvent the wheel; many people have made changes to school lunches in their districts. Connect with these people and see what worked for them! Contact local representatives or other government officials and see if they can help you, too.

3. Research. Read, read, read about food and academic performance! Read articles like this one describing how one district makes fresh breakfasts, from scratch, for their students everyday. Make sure you research data on topics such as the impact of breakfast on academics (warning: company sponsored website), how food service professionals expand their breakfast offerings and be sure to find up to date information from reliable research publications.

4. Model. Want your kids to eat healthy? Eat healthy too! Many people complain about not having enough family time together, but cooking a homemade meal is one of the easiest ways to accomplish two things at once: family social time and healthy eating. My friend Matt has said this for a long time, and I'm in agreement. Realistically, most people can't eat only fresh, unprocessed foods. However, you can be aware of every food item you put into your body, and YOU can make healthy choices.

Also, please realize that schools are held to budgetary constrictions, and a lot of schools simply don't have the facilities to handle a lot of freshly prepared meals. Both are discussed in my post about what Anthony Geraci has done with the food being served in the Baltimore public schools.

Personally, one of my physical education colleagues and me and teaming up to revamp the bulletin boards in our school cafeteria to highlight different information about nutrition. We're still in the process of figuring out logistics, but once we get rolling I'll be sure to post about it, with pictures too.

Will school lunches change? I hope something about them changes. Our children are our future and if we want to have a healthy population in the future, we cannot continue on the road we are on.

As always, please e-mail me with questions, comments, or concerns.

NOTE: Michelle Obama has launched a contest called Apps for Healthy Kids. The goal is to create "innovative, fun and engaging software tools and games that encourage children directly or through their parents to make more nutritious food choices or be more physically active." Check it out, and if you're knowledgeable about that sort of thing, enter the contest!

Food Revolution!

I just watched the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on Hulu. I'm hooked!

I had no idea this show was going to happen, and I'm glad that school lunches are receiving some media attention. It's very hard to change how school lunches are served, but Jamie seems like the man for the job, filled with passion and a firm resolve to help people change. But, as we know from what's happening in Baltimore, change IS possible if you have the tools, desire, and manpower to accomplish it. On a side note, this is the second time I've seen the word "revolution" associated with school lunches; the first was a company mentioned in an earlier blog post of mine.

I just sent this link to my friend Matt Germain. If Jamie Oliver, Jack Lalanne, and Matt all teamed up, this problem would be solved!

Embrace Life Advertisement

Below is an advertisement from the UK about wearing your seat belt. I find it very moving and I like the style of this advertisement. I agree with what the Adverblog says about this advertisement and "the happy consequences of using it (the seat belt), instead of the rawness showing what happens if you don't."

I have always worn my seatbelt, and wearing one prevented a lot of trouble for me one snowy day in January, 2009 when 58 other cards and mine decided to have a small get-together on the highway. Check out the website of The Suffolk Safer Roads for information on this incredible collaborative effort going on in Suffolk. Anyone know of something similar in the United States?

Buckle up folks!