EDPB 503: Child and Youth Development

Instructor: Amina Turton

Mallory Chester, Lisa Brise and Erin Lonsdale

Due: November 21st 2017

The Human Cube

Physical and Healthy Living Education Grade 8

“Healthy relationships can help students lead rewarding and fulfilling lives”
 Section 1: Main Concept/Big Idea

This unit is a week long health unit that will take students out of the gym and into the

classroom. The goal of this unit is to get students thinking not only about how to define healthy

relationships, but also how to identify and work to prevent unhealthy relationships. This unit

coincides with the Physical Education and Healthy Living Big Idea for Grade 8, which states that

students should learn about healthy relationships and how these healthy relationships can help

lead students to live rewarding and fulfilling lives.

Some of the main goals of this unit include: debunking the idea that relationships are

only unhealthy if there is physical abuse, identifying signs of emotional and physical abuse in

relationships, getting students comfortable with communication in regards to relationships and

having students begin to consider their relationships and the roles they play in their lives, both

good and bad.

Talking about the different types of relationships, both good and bad, can be

uncomfortable in a classroom setting. This discomfort stems largely from the fact that it is hard

to pin down the different kinds of relationships that students are experiencing in their lives in a

way that can be understood by everyone. As a result, the ultimate goal of these activities are to

get students to start thinking about what a healthy relationship means to them as an individual,

and how fostering these healthy relationships over unhealthy ones can help them lead

rewarding and fulfilling lives. We also want students to think about how they can encourage

these relationships in the lives of friends and loved ones, and how to be supportive when these

people may be battling unhealthy relationships as well.

This topic requires special care/attention when being addressed in classrooms with

students such as Kassy Doe. The section below does into greater detail about Kassy’s situation,

but for now we will just acknowledge that teachers must take her assumed situation into

consideration when teaching about healthy relationships. We don’t want Kassy to feel like we

are zoning in on her and the possible issues that we know she may face with her home life and
or her relationship with Chase. We do, however, want to get the message of healthy relationship

building across in a way that is still accessible to her without being about her.

Section 2: Student Profile

NAME: Kassy Doe

AGE: 14

SIBLINGS: None

PARENTS: Divorced (mother is the sole caregiver)

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: Inner City/Low Income Housing

ACADEMIC STATUS: At Risk

Student Background

Kassy is somewhat of a social outcast: She sits alone in class and does not appear to

have many friends. She is often at the back of the class texting or doodling in her art book (art

seems to be the only class she shows little to any interest in). She is not the target of bullying by

her classmates, but more of a fly on the wall. Other students do not attempt to make

conversation with her, and she does not make any attempts either. Kassy responds to one on

one conversations on some occasions with teachers, but usually tends to avoid eye contact and

any sort of conversation.

The only social interaction that teachers have observed with Kassy is with an older male

student named Chase, who is assumed to be her boyfriend. Chase is in Gr.11 at the school,

making the age gap between he and Kassy about 3 years. Chase is not a social outcast, but

spends his time with students who can be considered the ‘bad crowd’. Chase can often be

found with his friends in the smoke pit, often skipping class. Chase encourages Kassy to skip

class with him, which she has started to do. Although teachers and faculty have not witnessed

any incidents between Chase and Kassy, it has been suggested among students that there may

be instances of physical and or emotional abuse between them. Chase does appear to be quite
controlling over Kassy who is incredibly quiet and submissive. Teachers have been notified to

keep an eye on Kassy, and to be vigilant in observing possible signs of trouble between the two.

Kassy’s parents divorced sometime within the last five years and there is a legal note in

her file saying that her father is not to contact Kassy at the school (authorities are to be informed

if he does). Kassy lives with her mother, Miss Doe, who works two jobs: she is a Personal

Support Worker at the hospital during the day and the night shift aid at a nursing home, so

Kassy spends a lot of time home alone. Her mother seems concerned about Kassys

progression in school, which seems to have become an issue since the divorce, but she is too

busy trying to make ends meet to invest much time into ensuring her academic success.

Kassy has no known medical needs on her record, although her teachers have been

asked to watch for signs of any possible physical abuse that may be taking place between she

and Chase.

Social and Academic Needs

Although Kassy does not have an IEP, her academic success is a concern to her

teachers. Kassy has identified as a strong reader and writer, although it is difficult to actually get

her to do work. She does not give teachers a hard time or attitude, but it is not easy to get her to

produce work. She is simply not interested in participating in class work and the classroom

environment, which has lead her grades to suffer. She often seems disengaged and

uninterested in the class, and appears to have little to offer in terms of handing things in or

volunteering answers. According to Kassy’s elementary teachers she has never been a

particularly outgoing student, but issues such as this seemed to have increased significantly

since her parent’s divorce.

Ms. Doe has been contacted about Kassy and her struggles in school. It has been

suggested that Kassy be removed from the traditional classroom environment and be placed in

a learning environment that may be more suitable for her, ie learn at home. Although Ms. Doe

can recognize that Kassy is struggling, she would really like for her to remain in a traditional
classroom. Ms. Doe has expressed concern over Kassys lack of engagement in her education,

as well as her seemingly dysfunctional relationship with Chase, but is so busy trying to support

herself and Kassy as a single parent to be able to put much time into addressing the issue at

home. She has placed great faith in the schools ability to turn things around for Kassy, and

hopes that they will provide the tool to turn things around for Kassy.

Activities

Side 1: Red Flag Activity

Every student in the class gets a red flag. We are going to use multiple resources to

introduce different concepts and determine the red flags in them all. Examples include, watching

a short film, reading a short passage, and reading ads in magazines. As a class, we will go

through these various resources and the students will raise their flags if they think there are

signs of an unhealthy relationships, or a red flag of something hinting at something becoming an

unhealthy relationship. Before going through the various resources, we will ask basic questions

or introduce different scenarios and have the kids determine if they are a red flag (by raising

their flag), or not. Some of these statements could include but are not limited too: “Understands

that no means no”, “Makes you laugh”, “Criticizes you”, “Cheers you on at games or

performances”, “Gets jealous when you talk to other people”, and “Constantly accuses you of

cheating when you have not”. These basic statements are a good introduction to get the

students minds thinking about healthy and unhealthy relationships and different ways that may

look.

This activity will work well for Kassy because it doesn’t single her out at all or force social

interaction with people she may be uncomfortable with. It allows the class to work together to

point out unhealthy interactions. Assessment will be done by ensuring Kassy participates by

engaging in the material and resources we are looking at as a class, as well as using her red

flag when appropriate.

 Bandura’s study on “[S]ocialization is an inclusive process that influences almost every

kind of behavior, even technical skills” (Crain 214). This relates to the activity because students

may feel social pressures to raise their flags a certain way, depending on the majority or social

norms of the class. Kassy may feel these pressures more than the other students because she

does not have a lot of friends, and would not want to stand out in front of her peers or would feel

like she wasnt fitting into the social group. A key concept of this activity would be to get the

students comfortable with voicing or showing their own opinions in front of other people, and not

being scared of it being different. This would be especially important for Kassy, since she tends

to struggle socially to begin with.

Side 2: Visual Analysis Activity

As a class, we will watch two different movie clips. The first clip will show an example of

what an unhealthy relationship looks like. The students will be recording or making notes

everytime they see a sign of an unhealthy relationship as they watch the clip. The same will be

done for a video clip of a healthy relationship - students will watch a clip that demonstrates what

a healthy relationship looks like and will take notes everytime they see a sign of it. After we

watch both clips, we will go through and see what everyone recorded down and determine if the

students caught all the signs in both clips. This will open up the floor for questions or comments

about these clips, as well as things that may have come up for students emotionally while

watching. This would be an opportunity to introduce how Hollywood, media, and pornography

portrays relationships and how this can be detrimental to our real life relationships.

We think Kassy will be comfortable participating in this activity because it doesn’t involve

social interaction - she can make notes on her own and then it is up to her as to if she wants to

share her ideas. Kassy will be assessed by making sure she was taking productive and relevant

notes during the clips. She may not be comfortable sharing to the class, but we could have a

look at what she recorded.

 This activity works well within the range of Bandura’s theory of observational learning.

Bandura’s theory states that students learn through social interaction, more specifically, that “

we [students] learn a great deal through imitation, and imitation involves cognitive processes.

We acquire considerable information just by observing models, mentally coding what we see”

(Crane 210). Basically this theory believes that students model their actions and judgements of

situations through watching the actions and judgements of others, which is exactly what we

want to happen in this activity. Our hope is that students like Kassy, who may struggle with

defining certain aspects of harmful relationships, will be able to see the way in which their peers

identify these traits and be able to model their own understanding of negative relationships on

those of others who may be able to see them a little more clearly.

Side 3: Characteristics of Relationships Activity

We will give every student a list of characteristics that fall under different categories that

are part of healthy relationships. They will choose the top five in each category/subcategory that

are most important to them. For example, a category would be communication with a

subcategories of being honest with each other and listening to one another. Once students have

picked their top five individually, they will form groups of 4-5 people, and make one master list of

the five most important characteristics. Once they have one list per group, they will provide

examples of what the characteristics look like, and the opposite (healthy vs unhealthy

relationships). Students will write out these examples and be ready to present them to the class

(in groups) and be ready to defend their responses. Once all groups have presented and defend

their responses, as a class, we will create a master list that ranks all of the characteristics and

identify the top five.

Although the group interaction may be difficult for Kassy, we think this will be beneficial

for her. There is a group of really nice, academic girls in the class and we would pair Kassy with

this group as they will likely be inclusive and supportive (groups would be selected ahead of

time, as to not make this intentional placement obvious). We want to facilitate positive social
interactions for her in the classroom. Since they are presenting as a group, this will not put

pressure on her to speak to the entire class as there will be other members in her group willing

to do this. We will assess Kassy by determining how hard she tried to participate and contribute

to her group. If Kassy is too uncomfortable to share her own thoughts, supporting her peers or

being the note taker would be a part of her assessment as well.

We acknowledge that interacting with these girls in a group work setting may be difficult

for Kassy, we hope that she may imprint on them in a way that is similar to Lorenz’s theory of

imprinting. These girls are very strong academically and socially, which is something we hope

will positively influence Kassy to break out of her shell and hopefully model their behavior. We

hope she will imprint on this group of girls, in a sense, which will hopefully lead to the process

that Lorenz believes will “ determine not only the following response [in Kassy during the

activity] but in later social behavior as well” (Crain 49). We acknowledge that Lorenz’s theory of

imprinting focuses largely on very early development, and that Kassy does not fit within that age

range, we do believe that this style of learning model may be effective for someone like her who

does seem to be less socially developed than most students her age. If Kassy imprints on these

girls, she will hopefully begin to model their social behaviors and break a little further out of her

shell.

Side 4: Art Activity

This will be the first activity in our unit. Each student will get two pieces of paper and will

have access to a variety of materials - paint, pastels, markers etc. First we will ask them to think

of a healthy relationship they have in their life. It could be with a friend, a family member, a

boyfriend or girlfriend, or anyone that you feel you have a positive relationship with. We will

brainstorm as a class and write on the board characteristics of healthy relationships. On their

paper they will be instructed to use colours, shapes, words and cut outs of pictures and words

from magazines to represent this relationship. The criteria will be very open and students will be

encouraged to do whatever they would like for it on their paper. We will play music to help them
get into an artistic mindset. We will then do the same for unhealthy relationships. We will get

them to each think of unhealthy relationship they have or someone they know has. We will talk

about the characteristics of an unhealthy relationship. We will bring up the point that not every

unhealthy relationship is overtly negative. Unhealthy relationship aren’t always obviously

unhealthy it could be one person subtly manipulating the feelings of the other person. We would

give some examples. On their second piece of paper they will again use colours, shapes, words

and cut outs of pictures or words from magazines to represent that relationship. Again, we will

play music to help foster creativity. The purpose of this activity is to bring up the characteristics

of healthy and unhealthy relationships, to get kids thinking about the relationships in their lives

or that they have seen and to introduce the idea that unhealthy relationships can be disguised

as healthy relationships.

We think this will be a good introductory activity for Kassy for this unit as she is quite

creative and artistic. Art is favourite class so this will help capture her interest in the topic. Also,

this activity does not involve social interaction so it will be a good introductory activity. We will

assess Kassy by ensuring her participation in the project, and we will make sure to give her

plenty of positive feedback and reassurance. Considering art is her preferred subject, building

her confidence and building our relationship with her through art will be important and

productive.

This activity can be related to Piaget because during his studies and “[I]n order to learn

about children’s potentially unique ideas, Piaget abandoned the standardized tests, which

forced children’s responses into ‘artificial channels of set of question and answer,’ and devised

a more open-ended clinical interview that ‘encourages the flow of spontaneous tendencies’”

(Crain 121). We are incorporating his idea into this activity because art allows students to be

creative and leaving their evaluation open-ended. Rather than giving Kassy a standardized test,

that she likely will not do or pass, we are giving her an opportunity to demonstrate her
knowledge other ways. We would not necessarily evaluate her on the quality of her art work,

rather her interpretations and effort.

Side 5: Communication Scenarios Activity

There are four types of communicators (a conversation can involve multiple types of

communicators)

We would go over the four types on the board:

1. Passive: non-participatory, little interaction, “go with the flow,” seemingly not very

invested in the conversation

2. Passive-aggressive: is manipulative, may seem to avoid confrontation but will

manipulate others to say things for them or say things behind someone’s back

3. Aggressive: try to control and dominate the conversation, try to “win” conversations and

will put others down to do so

4. Assertive: open and honest, respectful and turn potential win-lose situations into win-win

or win-learn situations, direct, use “I” statements, sensitive to others, the most effective

style of communication

Students will be put in groups of 5 and given a scenario. One person will be the one that has a

problem and the other 4 will pick one of the styles of communication to represent. They will take

turns and each have a conversation with the one that has a problem and respond in a way that

corresponds with the style of communication they picked.

Again, we will ensure Kassy is with the group of girls that are academic and kind. The

social interaction may be challenging but it will be good practice for her and given the girls are

so kind, we think that it will go okay. We will assess Kassy by participating in the conversations

and helping her group identify the type of conversation that is being had.

This activity relates to Piaget’s Stages of Moral Judgement. Piaget’s Stages of Moral

Judgement states that “Children younger than 10 or 11 years think about moral dilemmas one

way; older children consider them differently” (Crain, 160). Crain states that Piaget’s model
demonstrates that “Younger children base their moral judgements more on consequences,

whereas older children base their judgements on intentions” (Crain, 160). This activity relates to

this model because the types of communication can be linked with one’s morals or moral

judgement, and it may be interesting to see Kassy’s stance on certain types of communication,

based on her age and where she should be sitting in this model. Communicating ineffectively or

aggressively could be directly related to one’s morals, which could also relate to one’s moral

judgement.

Side 6: Pair Support Activity

Pair up with a friend and help them through a difficult scenario.

We will come up with the characteristics of a good listener as a class. Then we will right on the

board the steps for helping a friend with a problem (1. Listen 2. Reframe what they are saying

as a question to ensure you understand 3. Ask about their feelings 4. Keep the focus on them 5.

Help brainstorm ideas). Students will then be instructed to get into pairs. We will give each a

scenario. This will be a role playing activity where one friend has a problem and the other

person will go through the steps of listening and helping. They will then receive a second

scenario and switch roles. After, students will explain their scenarios to the class and their

potential solutions. Classmates may add ideas to the potential solutions.

Kassy doesn’t really have any friends per say in the class but there is a group of girls

that are really nice and friendly towards her. We would be sure to make sure that she ended up

paired or in a group of three with these girls. She would definitely be more comfortable

interacting with them than any of the others in the class. If she is comfortable, she can help

explain to the class or one of the other girls could do this part of the activity.We would assess

Kassy by her ability to work with well with the girls in her group. Kassy should attempt to

communicate her opinions, but if she is unable too, she needs to be an active listener. Hopefully

the girls in her group will be encouraging, and perhaps Kassy will be able to share her thoughts

confidently.
 Grouping Kassy together with this group of positive girls again plays on Lorenz’s theory

of imprinting, similarly to the Characteristics of Relationships Activity. We hope that Kassy will

feel encouraged and supported by these girls to participate in the sharing activity like they are,

and will hopefully be able to model their social abilities now and in the future. It is our hope that

Kassy will imprint on this peer group and hopefully begin to become more comfortable within not

only their group, but in the classroom setting as a whole.

 Reference List

Crain, William. (2014). Theories of Development Concepts and Applications (6th ed.). Essex,

England: Pearson Education Limited.