Hey there! 

 My name's Megan & I'm a third year health and psychology student here at Queen's! Since joining QHO in October I've been hard at work preparing lessons, practicing teaching and starting up teaching lessons in a combined 6/7 & 7/8 classroom at Frontenac Public School. Along with two of my colleagues (Kayleigh and Ron), I've been heading into FPS once a week since the middle of November - we've been having fun and learning how to living healthy! 

Last week we did a very basic overview of Substance Abuse focusing on the knowledge the students already had.  We began with a discussion on illegal, legal or substances that became legal at a certain age.  We then looked at specific substances and categorized them.  We spent a large portion of the class playing "Substance Abuse Bingo" which involved substance names, or ways of administering drugs.  After each word was called students categorized it and told us any information that they already knew about it.  This helped us all familiarize ourselves with the terminology.  Class ended with the question box.

This week we focused on the definitions and differences between Use, Abuse, Addiction, Tolerance, Withdrawal and Overdose.  We worked in six discussion groups.  Each group was given a word that they had to define and provide examples of.  One student would present this to the class and then the PE's would elaborate.  We moved onto a scenario activity.  Groups were given 10 different scenarios and had to discuss whether this depicted USE, ABUSE or ADDICTION; we then presented and discussed.  The rest of the lesson involved discussions between the PEs, teachers and students around Prescription Drug Abuse and Steroids with connections to the media, celebrities and sport.  Class ended with the question box which gave GREAT feedback.

In the next few weeks we will be delving further into the general topic of substance abuse, with specific lessons dedicated towards illegal substances and their effect on the body and differences between them.

I'll keep you posted!

Megs