Parents! Educators! ANYONE! I need your assitance ---pls read

[Heddi]

Hi!

I'm a nursing student and next week (!!) I have to lecture a group of 6th graders regarding nutrition.

Now, I've got no kids, don't even really know any kids, and haven't been in a school in at LEAST 12 years. So there.

I don't know how many 6th graders I"m going to be lecturing. I have to meet the whole gaggle of them on Monday or Tuesday, explain what I'm going to do (which I've not figured out yet), then have the ones that are interseted in my blather sign up and then I'll come back and talk to them after school one afternoon.

Okay. So the prinicpal wants me to talk about Nutrition (this coming from a girl who is nearly 75lbs overweight---but enough about me).

1) What is a GOOD way to GET the attention of and KEEP the attention of 6th graders?

2) What kind of information should I present to them? I don't want to get into college-level biology and nutrition stuff---simple things, but what? I suppose I could gather Nutritional info about 'popular' foods (soda, fast food, etc)....but blah...I'd even fall asleep

3) Should I do some kind of game? Like a jeopardy thing? What kind of prizes to give out. I thought about candy but I think that would really just defeat everything I had just told them about nutrition previously.

ANY and ALL Help is greatly appreciated. I'm super nervous. I had a hell of a time in middle school and just seeing those kids gave me the heebie jeebies today. I hope they can't smell my fear like wild dogs can.


:scared:

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Try some of these, sweetie, and good luck *hugs*

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=nutrition+lesson+plans+middle+grades

[Heddi]

4. oooh thanks!

:)

[neuvocat]

2. Give them all booze.

Then all the attention is directed away from your presentation.

[Heddi]

3. Yeah I thought about bribing them with cigarettes

but I really don't want to spend $40 on a carton, ya know, and have half of them prefer Menthol or some shit

[neuvocat]

5. Booze is much cheaper.

Mix it with some Hawaiian punch and you're all set.

[skygazer]

6. Rest assured, they CAN smell fear

I have no advice to offer, only condolences. :hug:

[Heddi]

12. Do you think they'll throw me in the trash can?

I just imagine gum in the hair. eek.

At least now, glasses are cool. Or at least, the glasses I wear now are cool. As opposed to the owl-eyed face sheilds I was forced to wear as a child. Good god those things were huge. My mom used to use the lenses as serving platters at Thanksgiving.

[Maddy McCall]

7. Is there any way you can find some of the myths that are out there...

the ones that kids hear, and focus on those in your lecture?

Like, for instance, chocolate gives you zits. You can tell them where zits really come from and that chocolate doesn't contribute, and then tell them about foods that really do help their compexion.

These kids are totally self-absorbed. You have to make the lecture meaningful to their everyday life for it to matter to them.

I'd look on the net for nutrition myths and go from there.

I'd also talk about the dangers of fasting and dieting for kids their age. So many girls that age are already on the road to eating disorders.

[Heddi]

10. Ooh good idea

Maybe I can get pictures of some severe anorexics. Although that might backfire because I know a friend of mine who had a middle-schooler was shocked to find a pro-ana (pro-anorexia) group of girls (about 15 of them) who would compare weekly how much their bones stuck out from the week before.

I wish I WISH I could show them really grody pictures from my medical texts, but I have to clean up enough vomit in the hospital...I don't want to do emesis care on 100 12-year-olds

[Maddy McCall]

17. Gross

Gross will hold their attention. Seriously.

You can also talk about hair and nails, and the foods that contribute to beautiful hair. Use the myth that brushing your hair 100 strokes before bedtime is good for your hair, and then tell them what foods are really good for their hair, and how starvation causes hair loss...just to gross out the ones who are starving themselves.

You know, you have more than a trivial role to play in these kids' lives. It's swimsuit time, and probably more than a few of the girls are dieting by fasting. Tell them about dieting causing hair loss and how forced vomiting can cause tooth loss. Hell, you could even show a photo of Terri Schiavo and ask them if they know why she was in the condition she was in. Bullimia. Forced vomiting.

You can touch more than a few of these kids. I know you'll do a great job. :hug:

[blondeatlast]

8. Make it GROSS--seriously.

Graphics will help immensely, too.

Show them what a pound of human fat looks like. Anything like that will be a sure winner.

[Heddi]

9. Where do I get human fat?

I think our nursing lab might have one of those hunks of plastic or something.

Or, alternately, I could just show them my upper thigh. That'll scare the bejeezus out of them.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Heheh. But seriously, remember how sensitive some of these kids are. I

started worrying about being too fat when I was a 6th grader. By 9th grade I was bulimic.

[Heddi]

14. holy shite.

I think I will focus some on the dangers of trying to fit society's image of 'perfect'. I'll see if the school has a laptop or a way I can use PowerPoint and show them pictures of how models and cover-girls look BEFORE they're touched up and de-wrinkled just to show that no, honey, they're not perfect either

There's a great website that shows actual shots taken of models, and then the "after" of what they looked like after airbrushing and tweaking and trimming off the waistline, etc. One gal looked perfectly normal in her "after" picture (they show you those first), but the before picture was strange. I finally realized that they had elongated her legs to absolutely inhuman proportions. IN real life, if her legs were that long, she would have beeen 9 feet tall. But looking at it without any previous reference, it looked like a normal fashion model, adequately proportioned, etc.

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. With my middle school cheerleaders, some of whom are a little

barrel-shaped because they are storing up fat to sprout up like bean poles at some point, we never talk about being too fat either appearance-wise or activity-wise. We just focus on being healthy.

(I try to discourage junky snacks at practices, for one thing. But hey, this is coming from a woman who is teetering on 200lbs at the moment so I dunno how seriously they take me, except maybe for when I say "Don't ever give up exercising and being active. I did and now I am so sorry for it." *l*)

[intheflow]

29. My first thought when reading this was

"Yeah, but what are you going to tell the guys about nutrition?" But then I realized, just the lesson that no female is perfect like the pictures is an amazingly healthy message to send impressionable boys.

I know you're going to do a great job! :pals:

[blondeatlast]

15. Actually, a tub of lard isn't too far off the mark.

I like Maddy's idea about the myths, too, if you don't want to get too gross.

On the other hand, encouraging them to eat chocolate may not be the best idea, either?!

[Maestro]

16. I concur

Anything to grab their attention.

[MollyStark]

30. dupe

dupe

[Maestro]

13. They do smell fear like wild dogs,

but as a teacher and administrator, do this:

1) Don't try to be hip and cool. You are not like them. Just be yourself. Be loose and not overly formal and vary your voice tone. Of course that is good for adults too.

2) Games are good but if you have too many kids it can defeat its purpose. Not enough kids will get a chance to play and then you lose them. Do you have any multimedia presentations on nutrition via PowerPoint. If you personally don't, I bet the school can get an LCD projector for you and PowerPoint is relatively cheap. It is probably something you will use again and again in nursing. If they have a laptop or desktop you could borrow, they could hook everything up for you and you just burn the presentation on a disk. Also, if they have access to the Internet, you could show them so nice kid-oriented nutrition places on the web.

3) Talk to them not at them. Don't make your presentation like a lecture. Walk around, move, be active. If you stay in one position and just talk they will get bored.

4) Don't give out candy. That is for sure. Personalized pencils or erasers are fine if you want to give out something. You can get some here. Oriental Trading Co.

If I think of anything else, I'll post more.

[Heddi]

18. THanks so much esp about the Cool Thing

I remember when I was a middle schooler, our school had every freaking motivational speaker on the planet come in...every day, another clown, another puppet presentation---I remember thinking "Duh! We're, like 12---that's PRACTICALLY a teenager! We don't need no stinking puppets" and everyone would doze off or smoke in the bathroom.

That was my secret biggest fear. Walking in there and just being a TOTAL dork...looking all 80's or I don't even know---just looking ODD and completely show that I'm trying to hard to be a Kool Kid(tm)

I think I'm going to wear scrubs & my lab jacket. That makes me look professional AND diminishes my need to figure out whether I"d look more 'now' in the dark blue jeans without fading, or the light blue jeans with fading...aye yi yi. I feel like *I* am in 6th grade all over again :)

Pencils sound good, and I was already thinking about a powerpoint. I have that on my computer, and hopefully they'll have a laptop/desktop with projector there I can use.

Totally
Scared
Shitless

[Heddi]

21. Actually, the more I think of it

The more I feel this is akin to walking into a prison to teach inmates. Just a wild bunch of jackals hanging from the rafters...all hopped up on lik-m-aid and chocolate milk....a mouth full of spitballs ready for the spitting.

Me scared :)

Teachers brave. Heddi retreating back to her lameo 6th grade self.

Oh god. I *KNOW* i'm going to get a pimple. or fart or something.

[barackmyworld]

19. Tell them about things they care about

At this point, it might interest them that a good diet makes the skin and hair look better, you have more energy, you can concentrate better on schoolwork

Maybe give them some ideas of tasty healthy snacks, like celery and peanut butter?

Maybe show them in a clear cup how much sugar is in a can of pop (my mom always said it was 7 tablespoons)

[Shakespeare]

20. Heddi, send Ulysses a PM

He teaches kids approximately this age--he may have some good ideas.

[Maddy McCall]

22. Heddi. If you want to go the myth route...here're some links.

From Vegetarian Times:
8 nutritional myths: debunking accepted "truths" about your diet - Special Women's Health Issue

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0820/is_n239/ai_19587346

Teen Body Image and True Beauty a About.com:

http://teenadvice.about.com/od/bodyimage/

Teen bodybuilding:

http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/TeenBodybuilding.htm

I am sure there is much more out there. Probably some good books on the topic at your local or unversity library, too.

[warrens]

23. This one got my daughter's attention

I put two chocolate chip cookies on one plate and six potato chips on another and had her guess which plate was more fattening. Of course she chose the cookies. If you look it up, the chips have more than twice as much fat and calories.

Her eyes got BIG. And she learned something. Find a few oddities like that and mix them in with the more mundane stuff.

Many nutritional choices are not intuitive. Potatoes have carbs, yes, but they are good carbs that get used up very quickly and they are packed with vitamins and minerals. It's the butter and margarine that is bad for you. Simply using a bit of olive oil makes a potato into a big plus.

Nearly all veggies are really good for you, but a lot better if you use some lemon and pepper to season them instead of butter.

Kids really latch on to SIMPLE stuff that they can do at home easily. You can't tell them every thing in the world to avoid, but things like gravy and so on just cover up the flavor of good food. Buy fresh, cook fresh and you don't need it and you can splurge on bearnaise sauce or something once in a while.

Just a couple of suggestions. Anything you can do with a show and tell and get them to vote on something and get them involved works.

Heck, even have a boys v girls quiz show, and ask a bunch of questions. I hate to be sexist about it, but at that age, they love that. The girls LOVE beating the boys, and usually can.

[hunter]

25. Ask the teacher if it's okay to bring food.

When I was teaching it was still okay.

Nowadays, in some places, you never know.

A big cut of lean beef vs. fatty beef might be interesting. "This is your muscle. This is your muscle on potato chips. Here, have some potato chips."

Actually you have to be very, very sensitive here. Many of the kids will be overweight, and if you knew what they usually ate at home you would be sad.

Most teachers I know take the "happy fruits and vegetables" route. I have a good one here in front of me, it's called:

"Happy Latino Recipes Made with Love"

I'll see if I can find internet links.

[Heddi]

26. Happy Latino Recipes

ha!

Actually, the community I'm in has a high latino population. I was amazed to learn how much fat (lard) is in a SINGLE Tortilla...and how much salt---of course, there is also a high population of diabetics in our community as well, and many (not all) are latino and don't understand how something SO GOOD as a tortilla or tamale could possibly be bad for them.

I was just inspired---a teacher of mine long ago had a poster board where she had baggies with salt in them to show how much salt (in tsp) and how much sugar (in tsp) was in a single serving of our favourite meals.

Maybe I'll do that and have a board for sugar, a board for salt, and a board for fat. It was very eye opening to see how much dang SUGAR was in a glass of applejuice. They should just call it sugar-juice instead.

[hunter]

27. Here's a link for handouts (yes, commercial, but you do what you have to!)

http://www.5aday.com/html/kids/kids_home.php

Seriously, if the teacher says it's okay to eat in class, bring food!

[ChoralScholar]

28. As someone who also teaches 6th graders,

it is helpful to have a television tuned to MTV directly above your head. At least you'll feel like they're paying attention. 'Pimp My Ride' and 'Viva la Bam' work best.

No kidding! Not only do my kids watch the crap on MTV, they're obsessed with it! I'm so sick of hearing about Xzibit I can't stand it.
</RANT>
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Now... for me to be serious. Be personable with the kids, and keep their attention by being very dynamic. Move around the room, vary the pitch and volume of your voice, etc. Things that are seemingly outrageous will be very interesting to them. "i.e. Did you know that eating such-and-such can make your hair turn purple?" That kind of thing. Fish for prior knowledge to build on: "What do you know already about XXXXXX? Raise your hand and tell me."

Hope I've been of help...

[MollyStark]

31. First of all, don't let anyone scare you. 6th graders are sweet

You might have a few jerks, but usually most of the kids want you to do well. Tell them something personal about why you are there. Tell them you are nervous but excited to be with them. Get them invested in your sucess.

I would recomend having a lesson with visual aids, powerpoint if possible.
Then play a game based on the information. If you have teams DO NOT LET THE CHILREN CHOSE THE TEAMS. Some children will get chosen last and have their feelings hurt.
Have them count off by four or five depending on how many teams you are going to have. Make some of the questions easy so that every child feels sucessful in knowing at least some of the answers. Make some of the answers nonsense answers to add fun. Make sure the game is cooperative, forcing the kids to talk and agree on the answers. Also make it concrete, use the board and have the kids write the answers or give them index cards and have them write the answers and tape them up or tack them to the bullitan board. Contact the teacher or go to the classroom before you start planning so that you know what options you have.
Give the kids a chance to move around if possible.

Good luck, you will do fine.

[cally]

32. Don't even attempt to be cool or their friend..

Just be yourself. There is no way you can come off as the cool sister. Sorry, your'e too old. Walk in there proud of yourself and information you have.

That gets them. If you are sure of yourself, they may disparage you, but they respect you.

So, speak out. Don't cower, and just be yourself.