The other day I was teaching an 8th grade middle school LST lesson in the Media Influences unit. Boy, oh boy, do we have plenty to discuss lately about this topic! The Media Influences unit throws a spotlight on advertising techniques for products, particularly tobacco, alcohol and e-cigarettes. But I'm noticing more and more that students are savvy enough to realize the wider range of influence that the media has on all consumers, not just teens. Our conversations have really migrated from advertising to social media to election conspiracy theories to fake news and beyond. These students are so inquisitive, and they make great connections all the time!
Working with smart kids is one of the many reasons I love my job. They love to take a lesson off-road, and we have inspiring discussions about a wide range of topics that expand well beyond the ink on my LST teacher's guide. Because of my smart students, I have to work a little harder to be sure they hit the objectives of each lesson and unit. I'm sure I'm not the only teacher whose students want to push the scope of their lessons a bit further than what's on the script.
That's why having the LST Classroom Assessment Tool is so helpful. It keeps me on track, making sure I know whether my students have hit their targets. For example, I gave my students one of the questions on the LST Assessment tool as a lesson activator the other day: "Name any three common advertising techniques that we have studied in class." Most students were able to complete the task, but I realized that not all of them could. So I invested a few minutes of class in reviewing these techniques, connecting them to examples of ads that students had identified in a previous lesson. Objective reached.
Here's the link to the LST Assessment Tools for levels 1, 2 and 3:
http://www.lifeskillstraining.com/lst_classroom.php
Keep doing that AMAZING prevention work!
Kate
Western Massachusetts Lifeskills Network Coordinator
