School Corporation: / Ball State School Corporation
School Name: / Awesome Elementary
Contact: / Brian Maloney
Indiana Student Standards for Guidance Addressed
Standard(s) addressed: / Standard 3 / Indicator(s)
addressed: / PS:C1.9
PS:B1.4
PS:C1.7
PS:C1.8
Instructional Development
Grade Level(s): / 6-8
Title: / Managing Peer Pressure and Saying “No” to drugs.
Rationale: / Rates of drug use and abuse in children and adolescents are high and continue to be a problem in schools for all ages. Drug use frequently leads to problems with student health and other aspects of students’ lives such as in education, personal friendships and relationships, self-esteem, and many more. The use of “gateway drugs” can easily lead to more dangerous drugs. Being proactive and teaching students the importance of saying “No” to drugs and handling peer pressure while presenting to them tools that can help them to do so could reduce the many negative outcomes.
Time Frame: / 20-25 minutes
Procedure: /
  1. Introduce the topic of drug abuse and peer pressure and lead a discussion about feelings related to drugs.
  1. Discuss with the students different types of drugs used by students today.
Make sure to include cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and hallucinogens as well as others that students can think of. Also discuss different methods of use.
  1. Discuss the long term effects that these drugs have on their physical and mental health as well as the potential they have to be a “gateway drug” to other dangerous drugs. Explain to the class what a gateway drug is and discuss which drugs are considered gateway (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana).
  1. Tell the class that it can sometimes be very difficult to say no to a friend or classmate.
  1. Do cookies exercise for peer pressure and what factors influence our decisions.
Pick 5 volunteers from the classroom and assign the others to observe what occurs in the activity so they can contribute to discussion. Give each student an index card with pre-written statements each card. Only the cardholder will know what their cards read. Three of the cards will tell the students to “slowly eat one cookie from the plate and try to convince their peers to try a cookie”. One of the cards will tell the student to “wait a few minutes and then slowly eat the cookie”. The last card will tell the student not to eat the cookie.
  1. After the student demonstration, create a discussion with the class on what took place. Tell the students that there are many factors that play a role in the decisions we make. Ask the one that refused to take a cookie what it felt like to have that kind of pressure placed on them. Ask the one that caved after a few minutes what it felt like to give in. And ask the other three what it felt like to put that kind of pressure on someone else. Discuss with the class who is ultimately responsible for the decisions they make.
  1. Discuss with the students different strategies they can come up with on how to say no to drugs and to deal with peer pressure.

Evaluation
How will mastery of the guidance indicator(s) be evaluated? / Students will discuss different strategies they can use to say no to drugs. Students will also gain information about drugs and the long-term effects they have on mental and physical health.
Learning Resources
Resources needed:
e.g., technology resources, media resources, books, web sites / Cookies (at least 5 but better to provide them to the whole class)
Premade index cards (with statements for peer pressure exercise)
Hand out about drug information (optional)
Collaborative Partners:
e.g., advisory teachers, other teachers, community resource people / If session takes place during a class period, the students’ teachers.