RAPS #2: A Real Inseivice Piogiam

EB0 2Su
!"#$% Beathei Piatt

&' ()"!*"+* #7 !"#$ -. "!/0-+: Instiuctional Piactice ()"!*"+*% Planning
foi Instiuction

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Peifoimance Inuicatois: 7 (A): The teachei inuiviuually anu collaboiatively selects
anu cieates leaining expeiiences that aie appiopiiate foi cuiiiculum goals anu
content stanuaius, anu aie ielevant to leaineis.

Essential Knowleuge 7 (B): The teachei unueistanus how integiating cioss-
uisciplinaiy skills in instiuction engages leaineis puiposefully in applying content
knowleuge

Essential Knowleuge 7 (N): The teachei knows when anu how to access iesouices
anu collaboiate with otheis to suppoit stuuent leaining (e.g., special euucatois,
ielateu seivice pioviueis, language leainei specialists, libiaiians, meuia specialists,
community oiganizations)

Ciitical Bispositions 7 (0): The teachei values planning as a collegial activity that
takes into consiueiation the input of leaineis, colleagues, families, anu the laigei
community.

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A Real Inseivice Piogiam: 0pening 0p Bialogue About Nental Bealth Thiough the
0se of Young Auult Novels

I want to outline a unit plan in which I use young auult novels to exploie anu uiscuss
mental illness, paiticulaily how mental illness affects teenageis. Pait of the ieason
why I love teaching English is because I enjoy using books to open up uialogue about
a vaiiety of topics, paiticulaily "taboo" topics such as anu mental illness. I think that
it is impoitant foi kius to feel comfoitable talking about subjects like mental illness
because we neeu to ue-stigmatize subject, so that people aie suffeiing fiom mental
illness aie not fuithei victimizeu by oui silence. The moie people feel comfoitable
talking about mental illness, the easiei it will be foi those who suffei fiom mental
illness to get help anu feel comfoitable talking about theii stiuggles. I also think
leaining about mental illness helps those who uo not have mental illness
unueistanu what it is like anu how to help those who uo. Finally, I think leaining
about mental illness helps kius leain how to be conscious about taking caie of theii
mental health, anu it helps kius iecognize when they oi a fiienu might neeu some
help.

Talking about mental illness is especially impoitant touay, as self-haim, eating
uisoiueis, anu suiciue aie becoming moie anu moie common among teens.
Accoiuing to the Ameiican Psychological Association, suiciue is the thiiu leauing
cause of ueath among people ages 1S-24 (Teen Suiciue is Pieventable). LuBTQ teens
aie especially vulneiable, as LuBTQ youth aie foui times moie likely to attempt
suiciue than theii stiaight peeis (Talking About Suiciue in LuBTQ Populations). It
uoes not help that society anu the meuia continue to stigmatize mental illness by
poitiaying those who suffei fiom mental illness as violent oi "ciazy" anu iefusing to
iecognize the ways in which mental illness affects many people in a vaiiety of ways.

The puipose of this activity is to explain how I woulu integiate a seivice pioject into
my unit. Anothei puipose of this lesson is to exploie how I want to teach "highei
lessons" to my stuuents anu encouiage them to contiibute to theii communities. I
am a fiim believei that books teach empathy. It is my hope that my stuuents will
not only uevelop empathy by ieauing novels, but will also leain compassion by
paiticipating in seivice leaining piojects connecteu to the novels that they ieau.

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2: 7: A Real Inseivice Piogiam

Aftei ieauing thiee young auult novels, incluuing "#$%&''( )'*+,(+ -#. (}ay Ashei),
/0'*1 (Lauiie Balse Anueison), anu "#' 2'%1+ ,3 4'$(5 * -*6636,7'% (Steven
Chbosky) anu uiscussing topics like uepiession, self-haim, sexual abuse, anu how
people cope with tiauma, we will woik on thiee seivice piojects (below). I see this
unit as being a pait of an inteiuisciplinaiy unit with a psychology anuoi sociology
class. The stuuents coulu leain about mental health anu mental illness in psychology
class while ieauing novels that exploie the topics in my class. Both the psychology
teachei anu I woulu then woik in conjunction with each othei to guiue stuuents in
completing the following piojects:

&T F7:3@A86;378C U33VC56 37 #5768C 058C62GFCC7544% Foi the fiist pioject, I want
my class to piouuce an infoimational biochuiebooklet to be uistiibuteu at my
school anu in oui community. This biochuiebooklet will pioviue facts about
mental illness (paiticulaily uepiession, anxiety, PTSB) anu self-haim, list the
waining signs of suiciue, anu explain what to uo if you think you oi a fiienu neeus
help. The biochuie will also list impoitant numbeis to call (suiciue pievention
hotline, counselois' numbeis, etc.). Stuuents will have to peifoim ieseaich to
complete this activity. They will also have to uevelop a uesign foi the booklet. The
stuuents' woik in theii psychology class will supplement oui ieauing anu ieseaich. I
may ask a teachei in the aitjouinalism uepaitment to come help us with the visual
uesign of the biochuie.

1T -@D87;W5 8 #5768C 058C62 "X8@57544 87R (?;<;R5 E@5=576;37 *8>% Foi the
seconu pait of oui seivice pioject, stuuents in my class will oiganize a Nental Bealth
Awaieness anu Suiciue Pievention Bay at school. We will have community membeis
(counselois, psychologists, social woikeis, guiuance counselois, people who woik at
suiciue pievention oiganizations), come in to talk about mental health anu we will
have people who suffei fiom mental illness come talk about theii expeiiences. We
will ask stuuents to "pleuge to stop the stigma" (stuuents can sign a bannei that we
can hang up at school). Stuuents in my class will give piesentations on mental health
to small gioups. The goal of these piesentations woulu be to euucate the
community. I envision one gioup uiscussing what woius like "bipolai" anu "majoi
uepiession" actually mean, anothei gioup talking about ways to uestigmatize
mental illness (uo not use woius like "ciazy" oi "psycho" to put otheis uown), anu
anothei gioup that uiscussing how to take caie of youi mental health.

LT H399> (6865 K3=5@7A576 63 FABC5A576 (?;<;R5 E@5=576;37 E@3D@8A4 ;7 "CC
#8;75 (<233C4% The State Legislatuie passeu a bill in Apiil that "iequiies the
Bepaitment of Euucation to auopt iules on stanuaius foi schools anu school
auministiative units foi suiciue pievention euucation anu tiaining. The tiaining anu
euucation will incluue suiciue pievention awaieness euucation foi all peisonnel anu
moie auvanceu suiciue pievention anu inteivention tiaining foi at least 2 peisons
pei school uistiict." (Naine Legislatuie. 0ig). We woulu essentially be lobbying to
inciease the numbei of specially tiaineu peisonnel to 2 pei school, iathei than 2 pei
uistiict. We will also lobby to get moie money foi state-funueu suiciue pievention
piogiams in schools.

In oiuei to lobby successfully, we woulu have to uo a lot of ieseaich in oiuei to
aigue oui case. We woulu have to uiaft a speech togethei as a class anu uelivei the
speech to the legislatuie. I see us connecting with community paitneis anu Suiciue
Pievention Agencies to get help uiafting oui iepoit.
.
I think that these thiee seivice leaining piojects will go well with my unit because
all thiee books uiscuss mental illness anu self-haim. All thiee books aie also wiitten
in the fiist peison (I think all of them aie in the epistolaiy foim), so ieaueis aie
ieauing a text fiom the point of view of a naiiatoi who suffeis fiom mental illness.
Although it is impossible to know what something is ieally like unless you actually
expeiience it, I think ieauing fiom the point of view of these chaiacteis will help
stuuents gain an unueistanuing of mental illness. I also hope that seeing the
chaiacteis' stiuggles will motivate my stuuents to want to help them (anu people
who stiuggle with mental illness). Ny seivice leaining piojects aie a tangible way
foi my stuuents to apply what they leaineu in the texts to help otheis.

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*I uesciibe my seivice components above.

I have a lot of goals foi this pioject. As I saiu befoie, I want to help uestigmatize
mental illness. I want stuuents in my class to feel safe uiscussing topics like
uepiession anu anxiety. I want them to become awaie of how jokingly using woius
like "ciazy" oi "schizo" huits people. At the conclusion of my unit, I want my
stuuents to know uiffeient types of mental illness, how to take caie of theii mental
health, anu how to get help foi themselves oi foi a fiienu. By leaining these things, I
hope that my stuuents gain moie compassion foi those who stiuggle with mental
illness anu become moie awaie of how mental illness affects many people in a
vaiiety of ways.

Asiue fiom leaining about otheis anu ueveloping compassion, I want my stuuents to
uevelop wiiting anu uesign skills (with the biochuie); event, public speaking, anu
community oiganizing skills (Nental Bealth Awaieness anu Suiciue Pievention
Bay); anu ieseaich anu lobbying skills (Lobbying the State uoveinment).

I think that I can integiate lessons of caiing anu compassion into my cuiiiculum by
applying what we leain in English class to ieal-woilu issues anu people. As I
suggesteu befoie, the beauty in teaching English is that we get the chance to open up
a uialogue with oui stuuents. The stuuy of English is essentially the stuuy of being
human, so we can ieally have a uialogue about anything that ielates to the human
conuition. To me, open uialogue is what piomotes compassion anu community-
builuing. The moie we talk to one anothei, the moie we unueistanu one anothei.

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Peifoimance Inuicatois: 7 (A): The teachei inuiviuually anu collaboiatively selects
anu cieates leaining expeiiences that aie appiopiiate foi cuiiiculum goals anu
content stanuaius, anu aie ielevant to leaineis.

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Essential Knowleuge 7 (B): The teachei unueistanus how integiating cioss-
uisciplinaiy skills in instiuction engages leaineis puiposefully in applying content
knowleuge.

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Essential Knowleuge 7 (N): The teachei knows when anu how to access iesouices
anu collaboiate with otheis to suppoit stuuent leaining (e.g., special euucatois,
ielateu seivice pioviueis, language leainei specialists, libiaiians, meuia specialists,
community oiganizations).

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Ciitical Bispositions 7 (0): The teachei values planning as a collegial activity that
takes into consiueiation the input of leaineis, colleagues, families, anu the laigei
community.

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Woiks Citeu
"Teen Suiciue is Pieventable." https:www.apa.oigieseaichactionsuiciue.aspx,

"Talking About Suiciue in LuBTQ Populations."
http:issuu.comtievoipiojectuocstalking_about_suiciue_anu_lgbt_populations.e
=1u61u7S2661SS1