Drugs in the Schools
Drugs in the Schools: Preventing Substance Abuse
Teacher's Guide
Rationale
There is no question that safety and order are essential for learning to occur. Yet the problems of violence, discipline, and drug use confront students and educators to some extent every day in virtually every school in the nation. Schools must proactively address these issues if they are to provide the safe environment and quality education necessary for a healthy and prosperous nation.
Instructional Objectives
As a result of participating in the instructional program, Drugs in the Schools: Preventing Substance Abuse, students should be able to
- explain the problem of substance abuse in schools and the effects of the problem on the school and community
- explain some common causes of substance abuse in the schools and identify people who share responsibilities for solving the problem
- work cooperatively with others to develop solutions to the problem by creating a substance abuse prevention plan for a hypothetical middle school
- evaluate the plan to ensure that it achieves stated goals and does not unnecessarily infringe on other important values and interest
- develop strategies to maximize the chances that the plan would be adopted
- take responsibility for their learning by reflecting on the effectiveness of their participation in the program
- exercise an important right and responsibility of citizenship to explore problems and express ideas about how they might be solved
Organization
Drugs in the Schools: Preventing Substance Abuse consists of nine instructional lessons of varying duration. The lessons are based on the problem-solving model on page 3 of the text. Each lesson includes a reading and discussion component, critical thinking exercises, and suggestions for extending and enriching the learning experience.
The illustrations in each lesson are intended as an integral part of the instruction, either to stimulate discussion or review ideas presented.
This guide offers specific instructions for teaching each of the nine lessons. Each lesson plan includes an overview, objectives, necessary materials and preparation, and step-by-step suggestions for classroom implementation. We would like to refer teachers to two websites that have additional background information on drugs and their use by teens:
[http://friendsofnarconon.org/series1/glossary.htm]
[http://www.anstec.com/doed/List.html-ssi]
Some lesson plans also recommend the involvement of community resource people and/or additional materials designed to enrich student understanding of the concepts. The purpose of this guide is to serve as a resource for teachers, not to limit their creativity.
Drugs in the Schools: Preventing Substance Abuse
Lesson 5: How can Jackson Middle School meet its responsibility to deal with the problem of substance abuse?
Lesson Overview
Ms. Sage thought about what could be done about the problem of substance abuse at Jackson Middle School. She made a list of the responsibilities of her school in addressing the problem. Before crafting a solution, she decided the next step was to investigate what other schools were doing to decrease and prevent substance abuse.
In this lesson, students will identify the school’s responsibilities in maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment, enforcing the law, protecting individual rights, and protecting the welfare of the community. Students will evaluate various components of some typical substance abuse prevention programs as to their effectiveness in addressing those responsibilities. They will begin to consider the resources needed to implement these solutions.
Lesson Objectives
At the conclusion of this lesson, students should be able to do the following:
- identify the various responsibilities of a school in dealing with substance abuse
- describe the problem of substance abuse in the schools as a joint responsibility of students, administrators, other school staff, parents, and community members
- evaluate some proposals aimed at dealing with the substance abuse problem to determine whether or not they might help the school fulfill its responsibilities
- explain how fulfilling one set of responsibilities might conflict with other responsibilities or with the rights of individual citizens
Preparation/Materials Required
Student text pages 31–44
Optional:
A copy for each student of the "Amendments to the United States Constitution," "Case Studies on the Bill of Rights," and "United States Supreme Court Rulings" in the appendix, at the back of this guide.
Invite your school principal, school board member, attorney or representative of the juvenile justice system.
Teaching Procedures
A. Introducing the Lesson
Have students brainstorm a list of what they think are the school’s major responsibilities. Post the responsibilities they have identified in various locations around the room. Ask students to stand in front of the responsibility they believe is most important and be prepared to tell the class why they think the responsibility they have chosen is the most important. Call on one or two students from each group to defend their position and give other students a chance to move if they are persuaded to change their choice. If there are no students standing in front of one of the responsibilities, ask students to hypothesize as to the reason no one selected that responsibility as important. The objective of this activity is to get students to begin thinking about why all of these responsibilities are important rather than to reach a conclusion about the overriding importance of any one responsibility.
B. Critical Thinking Exercise
What are the school’s responsibilities?
Direct attention to the illustrations on page 32 of the student text. Ask students to respond to the captions. Have students read the introductory paragraphs on page 31 of the student text. While they are reading, post the following responsibilities on the board:
- educate all students
- provide for the health and safety of students
- enforce school rules and the laws
- protect individual rights
- protect the welfare of the community
Divide the class into five groups. Assign each group one of the responsibilities you posted on the board. Ask the groups to read the material concerning the responsibility they have been assigned and prepare a brief presentation to the class explaining that responsibility.
Allow adequate time for the groups to complete their work. Then have each group present the information to the class. As the groups are presenting, record pertinent information next to the corresponding responsibility posted on the board. Ask the class how Ms. Sage’s list of the school’s responsibilities differs from the responsibilities they brainstormed at the beginning of the lesson.
At the conclusion of the presentations, ask students to make recommendations about what might be done to help the school meet each of its responsibilities. The following are some suggestions for discussion:
- educate all students
- What educational programs might the school implement to help students understand the health consequences of substance abuse?
- What educational programs might the school implement to help students understand the legal consequences of substance abuse?
- provide for the health and safety of students
- How might the school help students who are using tobacco, alcohol or other drugs?
- What security measures might the school implement to keep drug dealers from the school campus or the surrounding neighborhood?
- Where on campus do students feel safe? Where do they feel less safe? What might be done to make students feel safer?
- enforce school rules and the laws
- What might be done to ensure that other students understand the rules and laws and the reasons they exist? What opportunities might be provided for students to voice their opinions and to assist in making school rules?
- What methods might students suggest for discovering students who are breaking the rules or laws related to substance abuse, confiscating illegal drugs, and enforcing penalties for those found guilty of breaking the rules or laws?
- protect individual rights
- What might be done to ensure that procedures for discovering substance abuse and substance abusers do not violate students’ rights to privacy?
- What might be done to ensure that
- students who violate the rules are informed of the charges against them?
- they have an opportunity to respond to the charges?
- others are allowed to speak in their behalf?
- decisions are made in a fair manner?
- penalties are reasonable?
- protect the welfare of the community
- How might administrators and teachers learn more about substance abuse in the surrounding neighborhood that might be affecting students on their way to and from school?
- How might administrators and teachers inform parents and law enforcement agencies about substance abuse problems they know or hear about?
The question of protecting the welfare of the community while respecting the rights of individuals is a current and very important topic. You may wish to have your class explore the dilemma that often results from conflicts between the government’s duty to protect the fundamental rights of Americans and the government’s duty to promote the general welfare.
During the discussion of responsibilities, you may want to develop students’ understanding of the school’s legal responsibilities in reporting substance abuse and the constitutional provisions that require those in positions of authority to respect the rights of individuals. Citizens of the United States have the constitutional right to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure and the right to due process. It is important that students observe laws related to substance abuse and constitutional protections when designing their substance abuse prevention policies and applying the "Constitutional Checklist" in Lesson 7.
Substance abuse laws vary among jurisdictions throughout the country. You may want to invite a community resource person from the juvenile justice system (juvenile court judges, probation officers, child advocates, etc.) to visit the class and clarify the laws in your jurisdiction.
If you have invited the principal, a school board member, or an attorney to visit the class, you may want them to explain the legal requirements with which the school must comply in enforcing laws related to substance abuse. For example, under what circumstances are school administrators legally required to report drug possession to law enforcement authorities?
The student handouts that can be found in the appendix at the back of the teacher's guide can help students learn more about relevant amendments to the Constitution and some related Supreme Court cases that define how such protections apply in a school environment.
With the class, review the constitutional amendments in Student Handout 5-1 in the appendix. Then have the students work with a partner to respond to the problems in the "Case Studies on the Bill of Rights" in Student Handout 5-2 in the appendix. Ask them to share their responses with the class. Finally, review and discuss with the class the "United States Supreme Court Rulings" in Student Handout 5-3 in the appendix. Since these rulings are quite complex, you may want the assistance of an attorney in explaining how they apply to schools.
C. Optional Critical Thinking Exercise
Deciding a Supreme Court Case
You may want to involve students in a moot court activity based on one of the "Case Studies on the Bill of Rights" in Student Handout 5-2 in the appendix. A moot court is a simulated Supreme Court hearing in which nine students serve as the Supreme Court Justices who will decide the case. The rest of the class is divided into two groups who will advocate positions for the appellants and the defendants. Unlike a mock trial, the facts are not in dispute. Students will argue and decide the case based on the constitutionality of the lower court decision. If you are not familiar with this useful instructional strategy you will find more information in the appendix at the back of this guide. You also may have an attorney assist you. Local Bar Associations can direct you to an attorney who will be pleased to be involved with you and your class in conducting a moot court.
D. Reading and Discussion
In the school and community, who is responsible for Jackson Middle School’s substance abuse problem?
With the class, read the introductory paragraph in "In the school and community, who is responsible for Jackson Middle School’s substance abuse problem?" on pages 34-35 of the student text. In small groups, have students respond to the questions that follow the introductory paragraph. Reconvene the class and have each group share its responses. You may want to record and save the responses for student use when they develop recommendations for preventing substance abuse at Jackson Middle School in Lesson 8.
E. Reading and Discussion
What actions have other schools taken to help them fulfill their responsibility successfully?
Read with the class, "What actions have other schools taken to help them fulfill their responsibility successfully?" on pages 35–38 of the student text. Make sure that students understand each of the proposals.
F. Critical Thinking Exercise
Which substance abuse programs can be most effective at Jackson Middle School?
In this exercise, students will evaluate the proposals they have just read as to their effectiveness in addressing the responsibilities of the school in preventing or reducing substance abuse. Students also will begin to consider some of the realities related to the resources that might be necessary to implement an effective substance abuse prevention program. You may need to help students understand that resources often involve money that might have to come from other valuable programs.
After reading "Which substance abuse programs can be most effective at Jackson Middle School?" with your students, divide the class into groups of five students. Assign each student within the group one of the following roles:
- student
- parent
- teacher
- school staff (administrators or support staff)
- community members (police officers, social agency staff, health professionals, concerned citizens, etc.)
Ask each group to use the outline in "Evaluating Substance Abuse Programs" on pages 39–43 of the student text to evaluate the proposals in "What actions have other schools taken to help them fulfill their responsibility successfully?" on pages 35–38 of the student text. To save time, you may want to divide the proposals among the groups instead of having each group review the entire list. Students within each group should evaluate the proposals from the point of view of the role they have been assigned. Allow adequate time for the groups to complete the exercise. When the groups have finished their work, reconvene the class and ask each group to share their responses with the class. Finally, ask the class which of the proposals they would recommend and the reasoning that supports their recommendations.
G. Concluding the Lesson
Ask students if they have thought of any other proposals that might prevent or reduce substance abuse in the schools. Have students work individually or in small groups to complete the exercises in "Thinking about the lesson" on page 44 of the student text.
©Center for Civic Education. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies. This text was originally prepared under Grant #95-JS-FX-0023 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice.
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