Cory R.

Underwood 1
Final Project Information/Media Literacy

Analysis
The unit plan includes a variety of activities for students on a daily basis. Day 1 begins
with a KWL chart which stands for Know, Want to Know, and Learned. Students are to fill out
the K and W columns of the chart so that I can see their level of prior knowledge on the topic of
drugs. Also by seeing what they actually want to know, may give me a heads up as to certain
issues I may need to spend more time on or to incorporate into my lesson. Once the unit is
finished I would give the partially completed KWL charts back to students so that they can fill in
the Learned column and we can use that for a class discussion.
Whenever possible I use Socrative for warm up activities which is an online platform that
can be accessed using an internet webpage, or by downloading an application on phones and
tablets. I use this for a few different reasons. It helps with student engagement and participation.
Student love to find reasons to use their electronic devices, and even if it is related to school they
dont mind. Using Socrative makes tracking student responses and assignments much easier
since they are stored in a database within the application. So with using Socrative for this
assignment, students are to list ways medicine can promote good health. As they answer, I will
use a projector to display their answers in real time. This gives students an opportunity to feed
off of one another and also prepare for a discussion based on student responses.
The introductory activity is to first compare drug use, misuse, and abuse. This is
necessary because students need to know how to verbalize and understand the difference
especially between misuse and abuse. Once an understanding has been established, I will ask
students to give examples to check for understanding. If it seems like the concept between
misuse and abuse has been grasped by the majority of the class I will go over the information as
needed. Then we will discuss basic information of what happens in the body when medicine is
taken. There are chemicals in the body that react to the medicines that we take and it is
important for students to understand the effects of these medicines.
The guided activity allows students to use their electronic devices to assess information
through reliable sources. With doing this they will research the benefits and the risks associated
with over the counter and prescription medicines. By doing this they will learn that certain over
the counter medicines have very different effects than prescription medication. Also during this
activity I will discuss with students why the body weight of a person will determine the dosage.
This is a common reason of misuse and I will be able to tie this back to the earlier activity.
During the guided practice students should also research prescription drugs and analyze the
labels of some that are well known. It is just as important to know how to read a prescription
medicine label as it is to read the nutritional facts on a container of food.
The independent task is for students to design and create their own prescription
medicines. This is a way for me to assess what they retained when looking up prescription
medications and analyzing the information that is included on the labels. Afterwards I will
assess students using Socrative for an exit ticket where they are to explain what they learned,
what they are still confused about, and to list the benefits and risks of medicines as a review.
This allows me to determine the amount of information that was learned by the students that day
and what would need to be reviewed.
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Final Project Information/Media Literacy

The Padlet assignment will also be given on the first day of the unit so that they can
progressively add more information as they learn it. The information that they contribute to the
Padlet site will be used to inform not only their peers, but anyone who accesses the webpage.
To start the next lesson, the students will pick either tobacco or alcohol and list the
negative effects. By each effect they should tell whether it is a short term effect or a long term
effect. I suspect a discussion will stem from this as they may not know what is considered to be
long term versus short term. Learning not only the short term but long term effects is important
because some students already engage in behavior where they use these substances. They may
feel confident that they are fine but should know that eventually the health hazards will catch up
to them later in life.
The introductory activity is important because the immaterial as well as material things in
life that they wish to attain should not include the use of drugs and alcohol. This activity is used
as an eye opener so they understand the seriousness of using these drugs and how in doing so
may be the cause why they are unable to obtain these immaterial and material things.
For guided practice we will discuss the many chemicals that are present in tobacco and I
think they will be surprised at how many there are. Also in that same discussion it will be
important to discuss how many chemicals are released when tobacco is burned. This is one of
the reasons why second hand smoke is so deadly. Students need to know this information
because some of them smoke and harm others with second hand smoke, or maybe they dont
smoke at all but live in a house with a smoker.
Students should have now gained some knowledge and information on the effects of
alcohol and tobacco use so now we will refer back to the warm up activities and have them add
some of the effect they recently discovered. To challenge themselves, student will have the
option to choose the drug they did not initially pick when first doing the warm up activity.
To assess students on the knowledge gained on the effects of alcohol and tobacco, they
will create a public service announcement pamphlet. The pamphlet is to be informative and
reflect the benefits of a drug free life. Students should put a lot of thought into the pamphlets as
they will be posted in the school to inform others of the dangers of these drugs.
On the final day of the unit, students start by using Socrative to list refusal statements
when they are being pressured to use drugs. Not everyone is assertive in speaking on how they
feel in situations such as this, so it will be helpful to find strategies provided by others to
possibly help them in their situations.
Students will then complete a questionnaire on drinking and drugs. Doing the
questionnaire helps students become familiar with signs of developing a substance abuse
problem. Some students may be predisposed to substance abuse because of it being in the family
history and they not know it. This is important so that they can find out this important
information from home and can reduce the risks factors by avoiding situations.
The YouTube video for the guided practice is to inform students on how powerful
addiction is and for them to later formulate ideas and strategies to avoid these addictive
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Final Project Information/Media Literacy

behaviors. Often times peer pressure get teens to start a drug other factors cause addiction and
without that information they are all at risk.
Independently students will read what is called End of Story where teenagers are put in
a bad situation dealing with drugs. My students are to read the story and then figure out how the
story ends, because in the story they read it ends without having an actually ending. They need
to also include recommendations for one particular character in the story that seems to have a
drinking problem. The situation is one that Im sure some of them may find familiar or one that
they may have experienced before so giving real like scenarios helps put themselves in the story
and gives them better chances at a positive outcome. To assess students for the day, they will
complete the exit ticket using Socrative and tell what they learned from the lesson and what they
still have questions about.
The project that is assigned at the beginning of the unit is very important. Students
should now know how to navigate the internet and find reliable and credible sources to obtain
information. They are to gather the information and put it together using a presentation tool
(PowerPoint, Prezi, or Emaze) to complete a project on a drug of their choice which must be
approved by me. They will be responsible for learning important aspects and information
regarding the drug they choose. They will not only be graded on the presentation itself, but how
well the information is presented as well.
My unit plan fits into the curriculum nicely because the other aspects of health get
covered prior to drugs. I feel it should precede the unit on diseases as substance abuse is many
times the cause of disease being spread. My unit should tie into and lead into the next lesson that
way all of the units get linked together as they complement one another.
The specific discussions that will be held in class will be and are determined by the
population of my students. When ninety-five percent are African American in a very large
county that is no stranger to crime and low income housing, I not only have to tread lightly and
be careful of my word choice, but I know that I can also have heart to heart conversations.
Talking to my students has taught me that too many of them live nightmares every day, and some
of which is caused by substance abuse in the family. Now while it may be hard to talk about at
times, its a serious issue that needs to be discussed and a topic that all of my students should be
educated on.
Reflection of the Unit Plan
In creating my unit plan and even daily lesson plans there are many obstacles to
overcome. The lack of technology I have available in the classroom makes it difficult. I like to
use my projector, but without a screen, I am forced to use white board space, or one of my walls.
Both alterations work fine but not without some headache to go along with it. Also I dont
always have the resources required by the curriculum to use so I am often forced to create
modified versions of the curriculum provided. I am usually responsible for coming up with my
own assessments as well as creating my own worksheets for class. It helps me stay creative and
current with the information that I am teaching but it would be nice to get assistance from
resources that should be provided by the county.
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Final Project Information/Media Literacy

In preparing this unit I honestly learned that this is what it takes to properly plan a unit
and its a skill that is rarely practiced or carried out by the educator. Often, lessons are used and
recycled without modifications being made which does not leave room for professional growth
in enhancing the lesson which leaves students with lessons that have the potential to do more and
challenge their level of knowledge. Something else that I didnt learn but more so remembered
to think about as I plan is the different students in my class. A lot of students that I teach now
have individualized education programs which require modifications to the lesson and
specifically for them. Without accounting for these students, I would be doing an injustice if I
did not differentiate the lesson.
The unit reflects my philosophy on teaching because looking at the topic should interest
students alone. Once the unit has begun I wanted to incorporate enough activities and
opportunities for students to gain something from each aspect of it. Learning should be fun and
comfortable, and the way I have formatted my unit plan does just that. It gives my students an
opportunity to share and relate real life to the situations to the lesson. Many students share many
of these experiences so this gives me an opportunity to facilitate and allow the students to self-
teach.
The next time I plan a similar unit I want to explore more avenues in terms of technology
used. I did not get a chance to incorporate Educanon which I have really been looking forward
to using. Educanon allows the educator to upload videos from YouTube and other sources, and
place questions within the video for students to answer as they watch. This would have been
good to use for the YouTube video that is in my unit plan, but I will have to stick with traditional
methods for questioning. I also wanted to use a screencast video to show students how the brain
is affected by drugs and alcohol. I think this could have been beneficial and a time saver for me
as well.
Reflection on the Semester
This semester there was a discussion that benefited me from the time it started and
probably will continue for the rest of my teaching career, and that is discovering Web 2.0 tools.
This has opened my eyes to an entire world of useful and educational technology that I had no
idea existed. This matters to me because I truly take my students education seriously and want to
find way to incorporate technology and increase participation in my class. Finding the many
tools to use will continue to benefit my classes and future classes.
I feel like I now know what to look for and how to search for such tools. Im happy to
know that these tools that I wish to acquire do exist and can be easily accessed. I feel like I am
more prepared for the classroom when I enter and making lesson plans is more enjoyable. I get
to find new ways to incorporate tools to enhance my classroom experience.
In the next two years I hope to run a technology based classroom with a minimal need for
paper. I want to continue to increase the level of participation in my classrooms and continue to
learn new tools to share with my students and colleagues. I plan on continuing my exploration of
educational tools to collaborate with the world of technology. In two years I hope to finish my
program and look at opportunities at an administrative level. I know with the knowledge gained
from my current courses and future courses that I will have a lot to contribute to the school I
pursue and will be able to provide innovative and creative ideas.
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Final Project Information/Media Literacy

I feel good about the feedback received from doing the Wiki assignment. I always feel
like the assignments are really strenuous until they are finished and I look back at it. It can be
very challenging to work as a group when face to face interaction is not present but I am
fortunate to have had group members that communicated well and worked well together. For my
own knowledge I would actually like to continue my research on digital citizenship and provide
a website for the internet world.
I appreciate everything this course has done for me and I am highly appreciative of the
professor and great classmates. The other students in the course had very good discussions as
well as insightful feedback. We all seem to have very different backgrounds even in our
similarities, and that helped provide for better discussions, different perspectives, and very
important and useful feedback.