Impementing cancer lessons in your classroom

The LIVESTRONG resources in Joann’s picks this week shed light on a very important topic in many of our lives and the lives of our students. A cancer diagnosis can bring questions that you, the educator, may be unprepared to answer. The LIVESTRONG resources give you tools to tackle the subject with confidence. The resources are very comprehensive, including student and teacher reproducible materials, extension activities, and videos. They even have a booklet that goes along with an ARTHUR PBS Go episode called “The Great MacGrady” to introduce the topic to younger students. The problem remains that I discussed in the last post, though. How do we integrate this into our standards-based teaching? How will this resource fit in with everything else our students need to be learning this year?

“Getting Sick,” the resource Joann highlighted for grades K-2, is aligned to national McRel Health and Language Arts standards. This alignment is useful for looking at the resource and quickly determining where it will fit in your classroom. Since we are required to meet the particular state standards for the state where we teach, we might need more information. It would be nearly impossible for resources like these ones from LIVESTRONG to include alignments for state standards in all of the states. This is where the standards suggestion tool pilot on The Gateway can come in very handy. I discussed how to use the tool in the last post, so please check there if you need help figuring out how to use it.

“Getting Sick” is aligned to the following national McRel Health standards: 1) knows environmental and external factors that affect individual and community health. 2) knows essential concepts about the prevention and control of disease. Instead of searching through a copy of my state standards to figure out where this resource would fall in my state, I decided to try out the new standards suggestion tool. Let’s say I am a 2nd grade teacher in Mississippi. The standard suggestion tools points me to a life science standard about the characteristics, structures, life cycles, and environments of organisms. This is pretty close match, and it will help me figure out where in my state standards I can find the skills required for this activity. I used the tool for the “Runaway Cells” activity also. The suggested 6th grade Mississippi standards for this resource involve understanding cells and the effects of disease. Perfect! If the tool works for you, we want to hear about it. If it doesn’t seem to help you, we want to know that, too! Please take the short survey and let us know what you think.

The Gateway to 21st Century skills is a huge portal of resources like the ones we are highlighting this week from the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Not only do many of these resources include everything you need to quickly and successfully implement them into your class, they also include extras like extension activities, web resources, and alignment to national standards like McRel. We hope that including a tool like the standards suggestion tool will make this portal even more useful to you. Join in our discussions on Facebook and Twitter to get new resource suggestions every day and to learn more about The Gateway and the importance of 21st century skills for our students.

~Peggy's Corner 4/25/2010~

The Elephant in the Classroom

Over the past several years, my 12 year-old has had to deal with a teacher battling breast cancer (successfully), another teacher whose young husband ultimately lost his battle with cancer during the school year, a friend whose father is dying, and a teammate who is currently in remission. As you can imagine, it’s brought on a lot of discussion in our house. What’s been missing, though, is a discussion of it in the classroom. It’s not been uncommon to hear the kids talk about cancer during a carpool session – “What exactly is cancer? What does it do to your body?” It’s a topic that lurks in the shadows, and one that many adults don’t want to discuss.

Some teachers may feel that topics such as cancer are best discussed at home. Others, however, may want to tackle the issue head on. This week’s featured resources are all from LIVESTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Armstrong is the 7-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor who’s made it his mission to focus international attention on obliterating cancer. Each lesson includes teacher Q&A sheets, extension activities/worksheets, and a supporting video. One of the things that I like about these resources is that they present the information in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner that is always positive. Lessons are aligned to McREL standards.

We give power to things we fear. Educating our students about topics such as cancer gives them a vocabulary with which to articulate questions, and equips them with information that will ultimately help them to make life choices. Isn’t that what education is all about?

Getting Sick
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2009-09-08.0428279192
Subjects: Health
Grade: K-2
In this lesson, students discuss why some people get sick, and the difference between illnesses you can, and cannot, catch from other people. Students also learn that cancer is not contagious, and discuss ways to reduce their risk for both contagious illnesses as well as cancer.

Strength
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2009-09-08.7398616090
Subjects: Health
Grade: 3-4
Students in this lesson learn about how cancer is treated, and how cancer treatments can affect a person. They learn about the three most common types of treatment – chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery – and how different types of cancer may need different types of treatment. Students also view a video about how students and their families handled their own cancer diagnoses.

Runaway Cells
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2009-09-10.8254317427
Subjects: Health
Grade: 3-12
This extension activity teaches students about cell division, and demonstrates in a hands-on exercise how, through cell division, cancer cells can run rampant in the body. The importance of regular annual physical checkups is stressed, as one way to maintain a healthy body.

~Joann's Picks - 4/24/2010~