Standards (using technology to add value to the classroom)

Discipline Health and Safety, Grades 9-12

The standard I chose to work with for this class is Discipline Health and Safety, Grade Level: Grade 9-12. I do not currently work with k-12 students, but I do work with college-age men and women who participate in individual and group work largely based on independent living skills and social skills, and I feel that this standard fits into curriculum. These are topics that I don't teach at this time, however, they are embedded in the everyday "educative experiences" I encounter with my students in a variety of situations. At any given time, any staff member may be inducted as the crisis counselor of the moment, whether it is regarding employment, conflicts with peers, or a scheduling/organizational upset. Using digital imagery and Inspiration has the potential to be extraordinarily helpful to individuals on the autism spectrum. For the purposes of this assignment, I will work with the "Substance Abuse Prevention" standard, Demonstrate skills necessary to manage emotions, cope with stress, seek help for oneself and others, and locate intervention resources.

The use of digital imagery could be extremely useful--engaging, creative, even humorous, on the topic of managing emotions. I envision high school students approaching an opportunity to express themselves and their emotional/personal side with sincerity (whether reluctant or eager to share). First, as a class, we would review the variety of emotions a person may experience that could potentially lead them to use alcohol or drugs. After much discussion, and assigned reading, I would present the class with an example of how to use digital imagery to illustrate one of these emotions, such as stress. The example (and the assignment) would use an image as "self-portrait," such as using an actual digital photo of the individual, or another image to symbolize the self. The class would be assigned to create a self-portrait using digital imagery to illustrate a specific moment or time when they felt emotional (angry, sad, lonely, anxious, stressed, etc.), and provide a brief explanation of what triggered the emotion, what that state felt like (physically, mentally, etc.), and how the emotion was resolved (or whether it was resolved or not).

Next, each student would use Inspiration to create a concept map that will serve as a resource for them in the future. The map would be required to:

1. provide two emotional states they have experienced or experience on occasion,
   
2. clues to help the student recognize each emotion (for example, "hot in the face" would go along with anger),
3. strategies for remedying each emotion
4. resources for those strategies (for example, if doing yoga is a strategy, resources could include "yoga dvd at home," "yoga on youtube," "classes at _____," etc.

These two assignments would be presented and shared with the class, and possibly even printed up to serve as a student-created "manual to managing emotions."

I feel this assignment would foster self-reflection, problem solving, and shared communication. I would be very excited to present this assignment to a class.